Finding the national story inside a local building campaign
Raising money beyond your own neighborhood is hard when the cause looks purely local. Kehilat B'orcha had outgrown its building and its donor base at the same time — the scale of construction called for support well past the community that prays there. We were brought in to articulate why a Jerusalem shul's mission mattered to Jews who would never walk through its doors.
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Kehilat B'orcha had ambitious plans for a new building. Local fundraising had gone well, but the scale of the project required support from far beyond the immediate community.
Local causes conventionally rely on local donors. This community believed their mission had wider reach — that it spoke to Jews across Israel and abroad — but that case had never been made out loud.
The campaign also carried grief. Avi, one of the community's leaders, had recently been killed in battle, and the community wanted him honored as part of it.
How do you make one film do all of it at once — argue a national case, honor a fallen leader, and ask for a building — without any of the three undercutting the other two?
Process
Through conversation and research, we helped the community articulate something they already were: not only a local place of prayer, but an active forum for bridging divides in Israeli society, drawing people from across the country even from a primitive facility.
That changed the ask. "Help us build our synagogue" became "fund our building so we can expand a mission that reaches well past this neighborhood."
Avi's life gave the campaign its answer to "why now." We built the film so his story carried the urgency without carrying the ask — the loss stated plainly, and the case for the building standing on its own.
Results
The film landed at exactly the register the community was hoping for.
It's been screened to many audiences, and the response has been consistent: people are visibly moved, and organizers are regularly approached afterward by people asking how they can help.
A few months later, the community secured a donor to fund the entire building.