Glossary of synagogue software terms
The terms a committee needs in common, especially when the treasurer and the gabbai are in the same meeting.
Yahrzeit. The anniversary of a death, observed on the Hebrew date. Software must store the Hebrew date (not a converted Gregorian one), handle Adar in leap years, and send reminders to the right relatives, including relatives who are not members.
Hebrew calendar integration. The ability to store and display Hebrew dates, compute yahrzeits and holidays, and show them on calendars and in communications. Not the same as displaying a Hebrew date on a web page.
Aliyah / honors. Being called to the Torah or given another ritual role in a service. Honors tracking records who has had which honor and when, so distribution is fair.
Gabbai. The person who organizes the service, including assigning honors. Gabbai tools are the module that supports this work.
High Holiday seating. Assigning seats for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, often sold as tickets, often tied to membership tier, and frequently the most fraught process of the year.
Dues models. Fixed dues by tier; fair-share or sliding-scale dues based on income; voluntary or pledge-based commitment models. The software must support whichever your congregation uses and the exceptions your board grants.
Receivables. Money owed to the congregation: dues, tuition, pledges, seats. A receivables system tracks invoices, payments and balances by family.
General ledger / fund accounting. The full books: income, expenses, assets, liabilities, by fund and restriction. Most synagogue platforms are not general ledgers; they feed one.
QuickBooks integration. Can mean a two-way sync, a scheduled export, or a CSV you import by hand. Ask which.
Member portal. The logged-in area where a household updates its record, pays, enrolls children and registers for events.
CRM. Customer relationship management; in this market, a database of households and contacts with communication and donation history. Chabad-specific products are built as CRMs first.
Fund development / campaigns. Fundraising beyond dues: annual appeal, capital campaign, matching campaigns, peer-to-peer.
Data portability. Your ability to get all your data out in a usable format at any time. The feature that matters most in year five.
Onboarding / implementation. Setup, configuration, data migration and training. Sometimes priced, sometimes bundled, always worth itemizing.
Household. The billing and mailing unit, usually a family. Pricing tiers are often keyed to household counts, so the definition matters.