We are currently the only explicitly anti-Zionist Jewish ritual and cultural community in the Twin Cities. We know that it will take our collective will and labor to sustain this communal home. Many folks feel like members of the World to Come, but we've never explicitly articulated what that means. A membership model is intended to strengthen engagement by providing more clarity around how we nurture this space and each other through accountability, responsibility, and shared decision-making. Our hope is that creating a membership will help us to do what we're currently doing with more strength and clarity, do more when we want to do more, and practice democratic decision-making in the seasons to come.

Membership is open to anyone who agrees with our values and shares our vision. While we welcome anyone who finds value in this project, the World to Come community is made by and for Jews as well as by and for people who are rooted in the Twin Cities (Mni Sota Makoce, on Dakota and Anishinaabe land). This grounding in specific place and culture is a central commitment of our community and will continue to be foundational in decisions around programming priorities and resource allocation.

Children of members under the age of 12 are welcome to participate in any and all activities of the community. Youth members (aged between 12 and 17) are eligible for full membership including voice and a vote in decision-making. Youth member contributions are non-monetary and developed on a case by case basis.

Being a member is a material declaration that the community and values we are building together are worth sustaining for the long haul. Members make a commitment to contribute to the work of the World to Come community according to their means, both financially and through their time. No interested individual or household will be turned away for lack of funds and there are infinite ways to contribute to the work of building this space.

Everyone’s contribution is valuable — our commitment as members is contributing one act of engagement per year by participating in the organizing, leading and operations of World to Come. Engagement can take on as many forms as we can imagine, with a large range of actual time required.

In 5787 we will experiment with these membership commitments. At the end of the year, we will individually and collectively assess how it went. 

Did we find accessible ways to meaningfully contribute to our community? If not, what got in the way of that? What needs to change for the following year?  

We want it to be as easy and meaningful to contribute your time to the World to Come community.  We hope that the options below can serve as a jumping off point for where you see yourself as a member of WTC and help you find your contribution, no matter how small (or big!) Have a different idea for how you want to engage? We welcome your ideas! 

Help build the structure of World to Come:

• Joining the organizing collective

• Joining the ritual leadership team

• Joining the Shabbos team

• Help build out needed teams: culture team, conflict team, communications, caring committee

• Join the Jews of Color (JOC) organizing team

• Create a new team

Create programming:

• Organize and lead rituals, services, or communal events 

• Teach a class

• Host or create an event for a Jewish holiday

• Facilitate a book club

• Host a singing circle

• Create and carry out one-off WTC events

Organize our community:

• Convene people with shared interests around WTC values/vision (create a group quilt, collection of WTC poetry, record an album, etc)

• Gather people with shared affinity

• Mobilize WTC members to participate in a campaign aligned with our values/vision

One-off support:

• Cook for a shabbos potluck

• Help set up and clean up for events like High Holy Days or Shabbat

• Offering rides to WTC events

• Respond to a request for support that’s been shared on the listserv

How will membership engagement be tracked? 

We will ask on your membership enrollment form how you plan to contribute, and ask during membership renewal how you contributed. A year from now we will evaluate current levels of engagement and refine our approach if needed. 

We hope you become a member because this space is a living embodiment of a world and way of being that you want to exist now and into the future. There are also specific benefits:

• Participation in collective decision making about the direction and structure of World to Come as an organization

• Eligibility to take on leadership roles within WTC and join WTC teams

• Receive support for event organizing, both for the wider community and for personal and familial ritual 

• Maintain or gain access to the WTC listserv

• Knowledge that you are contributing to the financial sustainability of this community

We invite everyone to contribute as they are able and no one will be turned away from WTC membership or any events for lack of funds. Suggested membership dues are $18 to $72 monthly. If a monthly contribution does not fit into your budget, we encourage you to consider contributing $36 a year. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds and all financial contributions in any amount are foundational to the financial sustainability of World to Come. 

The World to Come is incorporated as a 501c3 religious institution because it provides the most protection from any individual member needing to take on significant financial liability. 

One of our values in WTC is a commitment to “collective decision-making and power holding that allows people to create, lead, and evolve, both organizationally and in the ritual that we practice.”

• Organizing Collective

  • The all volunteer organizing collective makes the day-to-day decisions about WTC. There is an annual opening for members to join the collective in the fall, around Sukkot. For the last two years, the Organizing Collective has made big picture direction decisions about WTC.  In the coming year we will work to find ways to include members in some of the bigger picture decisions.

• Teams

  •  Teams do the work to build and maintain specific priorities and needs of the World to Come organization. Most decisions are made by the people closest to the work with our shared principles and values as a guide (ie the Shabbat team decides locations for shabbat).

• Whole membership

  • All members come together for at least one meeting a year. This meeting sets large scale priorities and reflects on the current state of the organization.

The listserv will transition to being a members only platform in January 2027. Listserv participants who become members will not need to take any further action to stay on the listserv. Members may unsubscribe from the listserv at any time. WTC will begin sending a newsletter with information about events including shabbos information. You do not need to be a member to receive the newsletter, all current listserv participants and new members will automatically be added to the newsletter list, and anyone interested may subscribe. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter any time. 

To summarize:

If you are becoming a member: You will stay on the listserv and you will also receive a regular newsletter. You do not need to take any action. If you would like to unsubscribe from the listserv, you can do so at any time. If you would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter, wait until you receive the first one and then you can follow the unsubscribe instructions within that email.

If you are not becoming a member: Until January 2027, you will remain on the listserv and you will also receive a regular newsletter. You do not need to take any action. If you are not a member by January 2027, you will be removed from the listserv and you will continue to receive a regular newsletter. If you would like to unsubscribe from the listserv before January 2027, you can do so at any time. If you would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter, wait until you receive the first one and then you can follow the unsubscribe instructions within that email.

There will always be ways for anyone and everyone who wants to attend and participate in World to Come offerings to do so. Shabbos and High Holidays will continue to be events open to anyone. 

Any member of a household who wants to remain on/be added to the listserv will need to fill out the enrollment form individually. If you and members of your household want to pay dues collectively, you can have one person pay dues and the others can decline to make a contribution when prompted.