From Facebook and Instagram to Twitter, Snapchat and just about every new social-media app available, inspirational Jewish messages and Torah thoughts, pictures and videos of sizzling latkes and bright menorahs, and families and friends celebrating Chanukah together are slated to light up the next week for Jews around the world, with Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries online to promote the celebration of the holiday, which starts on the night of Dec. 24 and lasts until Jan. 1.
It’s about taking technology to the next level, they say, to connect not only with friends close to home, but with the extended and increasingly interconnected Jewish community worldwide.
The global social-media campaign called #sharethelights, for example, aims to get the message out to as many people as possible to light the menorah. Now in its fourth year, the idea is that those who see the postings will share them with family and friends.
Since Chanukah falls during winter break for many universities this year, Rabbi Shmuli Brown, who co-directs Chabad at Liverpool Universities in England with his wife, Tzivia, is getting the word out early, with a giant menorah on campus and Chanukah kits already distributed. Social media needs to play a big role since he won’t be spending the holiday with students.
He’s posting links to public menorah-lightings in London and running nightly competitions, entering students who post and tag pictures of themselves lighting menorahs on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for a chance to win raffle prizes. “This way, it encourages the lighting of the menorah,” he says. “More and more people are coming closer to Judaism because of social media.”
As a campus rabbi, it’s a big help in his work with students, young professionals and academics. And he notes that pricey radio, television, billboards and banner advertising have been replaced by more efficient and cost-effective online messaging.
The platforms have different uses and users. Facebook, the most widespread medium, is “the bread and butter, the online Rolodex of everyone on social media,” explains Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, social-media editor at Chabad.org, “though conversation is mostly limited to people within a user’s social circle.”
Twitter, he says, speaks to a wider global audience, with messages limited to 140 characters. “Since it’s visible to everyone on the web, conversations tend to span oceans, interacting with unknown people around the world.”
The audience for Snapchat, the new kid on the block, “skews to college students and the young,” continues Lightstone. “It’s fast and fun, with the ability to draw on pictures, and add stickers and filters that make it more enjoyable.”
And then there’s WhatsApp, the massive messaging app owned by Facebook and a favorite for creating groups of people invested in similar issues, work, causes and social circles.
Brown taps into Twitter—he’s known on social-media sites as “@unirabbi,” “uni” being shorthand for “university”—to send out personal, motivational and inspirational quotes, as well as to let people know what Jewish events and holidays are coming up. “You can get hundreds or thousands of people seeing the information within seconds, which is very powerful,” he says. The rabbi has more than 3,000 followers and often gets re-Tweeted, meaning his messages get the chance to quickly multiply in their reach.
As far as Facebook goes, Brown uses it to get to know students better and to help them out. “Facebook is a platform where all our students post their interests, their feelings—all different kinds of things,” he explains. “If I see that a student isn’t feeling well, I’ll write: ‘I’ll be over at your place within half an hour with hot chicken soup and matzah balls. Are you up for it?’ ”
‘They Come and Stay Awhile’
Rabbi Matis Devlin, who co-directs Chabad of UCR (University of California-Riverside) with his wife, Nechama, has been using Snapchat to advertise their pre-Chanukah care packages of doughnuts, chocolate gelt and candle-lighting information ahead of the Festival of Lights. Each night of the holiday, Devlin plans to post a short meditation about Chanukah on Snapchat.
Usually, Chanukah means live parties, but when that’s not possible, online is the next best thing, encourages Devlin. “All the more so,” he says, noting how late in the month the holiday falls. “We’re stepping up our presence on social media.”
Now in their second school year on campus, he and his wife like the casual tone of Snapchat for messaging and use it to advertise events they post on Facebook. “We have a much bigger focus on Snapchat for increasing event attendance and sending inspirational daily messages,” says the rabbi.
They recently gave out burgers and cupcakes—comfort food to help students through finals. Most of the students who came were tempted by a photo of homemade cupcakes posted by Devlin. “That was a very whimsical, last-minute thing. Just by putting it out there, we got a bunch of people to show up,” he says. “And when people show up, they come in, they stay a while; we have a little conversation with them.”
‘Keep Them Inspired’
When Rabbi Nosson Potash, who co-directs Chabad of Cole Valley in San Francisco with his wife, Chaya, moved to the area in 2010, his main online communication tool was email. These days, he has nearly 1,000 Twitter followers and is a big fan of WhatsApp to connect him with local families, adults, seniors and young professionals.
“We have conversations with people where they’re at and in the mediums they’re using,” he says. “Now we have a whole virtual Chabad House.”
The goal is to connect through technology and then meet in person, says Potash. Recently, they hosted a communal Shabbat dinner where the speaker was one of the administrators of the Cole Valley Facebook group, forming concentric circles of communication.
This year, he’ll put up signs around the neighborhood for their upcoming Chanukah event, and post pictures online of his handiwork and the local business people he meets along the way. It’s about weaving the online and offline communities together, he says.
On deck for this Chabad is a volunteer night to pack holiday gift bags for seniors on Dec. 26; an annual Chanukah celebration in the neighborhood park on Dec. 27; and a bike-menorah parade on Dec. 29, followed by a menorah-lighting with plenty of jelly doughnuts.
Rabbi Zev Johnson, who co-directs the Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center at the University of Texas in Austin with his wife, Ariela, will encourage students to visit their local Chabad centers for Chanukah events since school will not be in session.
Johnson’s no stranger to social media: In September, he used the Facebook live tool to show students streaming through the doors of the Chabad House prior to the start of a Shabbat dinner co-hosted with the local chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Within a few days, it had some 3,400 views. And at the recent Conference of International Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim) last month in New York, his Snap on Snapchat was one of a dozen that was shared in the app’s New York City “local story.” It topped 30,000 views within hours.
He also uses Twitter to post meaningful Jewish quotes for the benefit of students and others.
Over the holiday, he plans to post videos of his family celebrating, using Snapchat as a main medium to do so. “I hope students will see how fun and enjoyable Chanukah is, and be reminded to light up the night as well,” he says. “Without a doubt, social media is the primary way to reach a student who’s away from the university and keep them inspired.”
Chabad.org’s Periscope account (Twitter’s live broadcast app) will be featured as part of a year-end holiday series curated by Twitter. Log on to see videos of Chabad-sponsored public menorah-lightings on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, the first night and day of Chanukah.
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