AI Web MakerSynagogue Website Example: Beth Shalom Community Synagogue
This synagogue website belongs to Beth Shalom Community Synagogue, a congregation invented for the example. It shows how a synagogue can set out an example week of services that points to the current sheet, prepare first time visitors for dress, head coverings and Shabbat customs, describe life cycle events and classes, mention giving once, and take visit requests.
Beth Shalom Community Synagogue exists only in this example, and its rabbi, members, visitors' words, times, fees and contact details are all made up.
A congregation's site has to serve the member checking when Shabbat comes in and the neighbour who has never stepped inside. The sample answers the member first, with a table of services laid out by day and example time just below the opening view. Because candle lighting and Havdalah follow sunset, the table is labelled as a winter example and readers are pointed to the sheet pinned in the entrance. Weekday and Sunday morning services sit in the same table, so the whole week can be read at a glance. Good synagogue website design begins with that honest timetable, because a wrong time costs more trust than any missing photograph.
For the neighbour, the sample spells out the customs that visitors are often too polite to ask about. It explains how people usually dress, that kippot wait in a basket by the door, that shoes stay on and that phones and cameras are put away on Shabbat. Life cycle events, from a baby naming to a funeral, are described as conversations that begin with the office rather than as packages to buy. Classes for children and adults come with days, times and a short note on cost, along with a promise that cost keeps nobody away. This is what a website for synagogues can do at its best: open the door to newcomers while giving members exactly what they came to check.
Beth Shalom's page, from the ark curtain to the office door
Beth Shalom's single page follows the order in which a visitor's questions tend to arrive. The rows trace it from the arched sanctuary photo down to the request form.
| Page | What it opens with | Its sections |
|---|---|---|
| Opening view | Shabbat comes in at sunset, and the doors open for it | This week's services · Arrange a visit · Shabbat at sunset |
| Services | Services: how a winter week looks | Candle lighting · Kabbalat Shabbat · Shabbat morning · Children's service · Havdalah · Weekday mornings |
| Visiting | Coming to a service for the first time | What to wear · Kippot by the door · Phones on Shabbat · Photographs |
| Life events | Marking the moments of a life | Baby naming · Bar and bat mitzvah · Weddings · Yahrzeit · Funerals and shiva · Learning about Judaism |
| Classes | Learning for every age | Sunday Hebrew school · Bar and bat mitzvah class · Adult Hebrew · Torah study · Toddler Shabbat · Evening course |
| Hall and rooms | The hall and rooms for a simcha | Community hall · Garden and sukkah · Meeting room |
| Festivals | Through the Jewish year | Rosh Hashanah · Yom Kippur · Sukkot · Simchat Torah · Hanukkah · Purim · Passover · Shavuot |
| Gallery | Inside Beth Shalom | Sanctuary · Kiddush · Sukkah · Hebrew school · Library |
| Questions | What visitors usually ask first | Who may come · What to wear · Photographs · Moving Friday times · Planning a bar or bat mitzvah · Funding |
| Request form | Arrange a visit or ask about an occasion | What it is for · Preferred date · Number of guests · Best part of the day · Notes for the welcome team |
What the page owes a member, a first time guest and a family planning a simcha
A winter week of services, labelled so nobody arrives late
Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday, so a table of fixed times would be wrong within a week. The sample lays out a winter week in full, from candle lighting to Havdalah, and labels it plainly as an example. It then tells readers where the current sheet hangs and when it is handed out, so the real times are never far away. Weekday and Sunday services sit in the same table, which shows newcomers how the week is shaped. A timetable that admits its limits protects both the congregation's time and its good name.
Customs explained before a guest reaches the door
Visitors often hesitate because they fear breaking a custom nobody has told them about. The sample meets that worry with a calm section on clothing, head coverings, shoes, phones and photographs. It explains that the prayer book carries a translation and that page numbers are called out, so nobody has to keep up with every word. It also asks visitors to send the form before a first visit, so someone from the welcome team can meet them at the door. Guidance written with this much care lets a nervous guest arrive feeling expected.
Life cycle events written as conversations, never as packages
Families planning a baby naming, a bar or bat mitzvah, a wedding or a funeral first want to know where to start. The sample gives each occasion a short description and a first step, such as calling the office or booking a year ahead. Nothing is priced as a package, because these moments begin with a talk with the rabbi rather than a checkout. A note reminds couples that a religious wedding may need a separate civil registration, depending on the country. Treating each occasion as a conversation keeps the page in step with how a congregation really works.
Rooms for a simcha, with the kosher kitchen explained
Hall bookings keep a community building busy between services, so the sample lists three rooms with capacities and starting prices. Each card says what the room suits, from a kiddush after a bar mitzvah to a committee meeting. A note explains that the kitchen is kept kosher and that rooms are not hired for parties on Shabbat or festivals, which saves awkward calls later. The enquiry form asks for the date and the number of guests, so the office can answer at once. Clear room details make the hall a steady and well understood part of community life.
Support mentioned once, plainly and without a pitch
A congregation depends on contributions, yet a page that keeps asking for money pushes away the very guests it hopes to welcome. The sample raises support only twice, in a panel beside the contact details and in a single reply further down. Those lines say that members contribute each year, that gifts go through the office and that the accounts are presented at the yearly meeting. The page also states plainly that nobody has to give in order to attend, visit or learn. That restraint is what keeps a place of worship from sounding like a shop.
How Beth Shalom's page fares in the search checks
People look for a synagogue by place and by need: this week's Shabbat times, a Hebrew school for their children, how to begin a bar or bat mitzvah, or what happens at a first service. Naming each service, class and occasion in plain words, and keeping the example timetable clearly labelled, helps a congregation's page answer those searches honestly.
Put your congregation's week where members and neighbours can read it
Rather than starting from a synagogue website template, a congregation describes its services, classes, rooms and festivals in a few lines, and the builder returns a draft holding the week of services, the guidance for guests and the enquiry form, every word of which can be changed before anyone sees it. The office then accepts each visit or room request, offers another date or declines it, and any hall fee is settled with the synagogue directly, with no share taken. Drafting and previewing are never billed. When the committee is satisfied and the site goes live, the treasurer pays $119 a year for hosting, or $19 a month, and the domain is a separate purchase from about 400 endings.
Shabbat times, requests and the treasurer's bill: committee questions
Who made Beth Shalom, and is there a real congregation behind it?
No real congregation stands behind it. Beth Shalom, its rabbi, members and visitors were invented for this example, and the AI Web Maker team wrote every line by hand, checking each custom and festival it mentions, while the photographs came from the platform's image engine. The times, fees and phone number are illustrations only.
Should a congregation publish Shabbat times that change every week?
Yes, as long as the page says what they are. Show the layout with clearly marked example times and send readers to the current sheet, or update the table every week if someone on the committee can take that on.
How do schools and families send a request through the page?
The form asks what the request is for, a preferred date, the number of people and the best part of the day. The synagogue office accepts it, proposes another date or declines it, and anything owed for a room is paid to the synagogue directly, with AI Web Maker taking no share.
What will the treasurer pay each year to keep the site online?
Hosting is $119 a year, or $19 a month for a committee that prefers monthly payments, and the domain is bought separately. Nothing is charged while the pages are being drafted and previewed.
Updated 11 November 2026 · by AI Web Maker · More professional services website guides · All sample websites