Jewish community Web platform sets up English site

Hadar Frisch, 31, a mother of five from Petah Tikva, launched the platform in Hebrew half a year ago. Since then, about 330 communities have joined.

By MATTHEW WAGNER
my kehila (photo credit: )
my kehila
(photo credit: )
An Internet platform called mykehila.com that enables Jewish communities to set up their own sites for free has recently launched an English-language platform. Hadar Frisch, 31, a mother of five from Petah Tikva, launched the platform in Hebrew half a year ago. Since then, about 330 communities have joined. Most are Orthodox and are centered around a synagogue. But there are also a few women-only communities and non-Orthodox synagogues that have joined. Members can make announcements, pay dues, manage forums or post photos and video clips. Frisch is a trained attorney who left her practice to set up mykehila.com, which makes money from ads and from charging a seven-percent fee for donations paid by credit card via the platform. "I initially got involved to help improve the level of cooperation among members in my own synagogue," said Frisch. "People simply were not in touch during the week. The only time there was any interaction was on Shabbat. But I soon realized that I could help others do the same thing and also encourage more interaction among congregations."