Convening the Community

You might assume Our Jewish Story is searching for the most dramatic tales — the daring escapes, the famous ancestors, the remarkable histories. And yes, we want those stories too. But at the heart of this archive is something different: the everyday.

The choices your grandmother made about which traditions to keep. The reason your family serves that particular dish on Friday night. The moment someone decided to stay, or leave, or return. What makes this archive powerful isn't any single remarkable tale — it's understanding who we are in aggregate, across thousands of voices, each one unique in its own quiet way.

In this episode, Stephen Smith lays out exactly how communities can participate. It starts with a convener — a federation, synagogue, JCC, historical society, or passionate individual who can bring people together. Their first task is a mapping exercise: Who actually makes up this community? Not just the institutions, but the people. Where are the Russian immigrants, the Sephardi families, the young professionals, the interfaith households, the unaffiliated Jews who still identify with their heritage?

From there, Stephen recommends two gatherings: a community storytelling event to inspire participation, and a workshop for professionals to train interviewers in the art of capturing stories with care. The goal is to build a local team — organizers, interviewers, volunteers — because this only works with broad participation.

The interviews themselves are simple but profound: 45 to 90 minutes of flowing conversation about family origins, migrations, traditions kept and abandoned, food, holidays, choices, and hopes for the next generation. When a community commits to this process, what emerges is a portrait — young and old, religious and secular, the voices that usually dominate and the ones rarely heard at all.
That portrait belongs to the community. And it joins a larger tapestry: thousands of stories from around the world, forming a living record of Jewish experience in our time, told in our voices.
In this episode:

Why everyday stories matter more than dramatic ones
The role of the convener in community storytelling
How to map your community's diverse voices
Two essential gatherings: storytelling event and interviewer workshop
Building a local team of organizers, interviewers, and volunteers
What the interviews actually cover
How your community's portrait joins the global archive


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