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Temple Beth El
Style Guidelines
Shabbat Shalom Weekly Email
Revised October 22, 2021
General information:
Shabbat Shalom acts as a supplement to the monthly Bulletin and is published on Thursday
afternoon or Friday morning every week. The purpose is to inform the Temple Beth El
community of upcoming events, focusing on the events of the upcoming weekend (Shabbat and
Sunday) and the coming week. With this in mind, we may elect to hold your submission if it is
received too far in advance, but rest assured it will be published at the appropriate time. Special
announcements such as regular opportunities, groups you can join, etc. will be included only in
the last Shabbat Shalom of each month to save space (and reading time for those who only
have time to skim). We seek to avoid repetition and we welcome your suggestions. Events and
announcements published in Shabbat Shalom should be of interest to the Jewish community of
Tacoma. Other events and announcements will be published only on a space available basis at
the discretion of the editor.
Deadlines:
The deadline is every Wednesday at noon, and submissions may be sent directly to the editor.
Regular contributors (and those who request to be placed on the distribution list) will receive a
reminder at least two days in advance of the deadline.
Submissions should be sent to olivia@tbetacoma.org with “Shabbat Shalom” as the subject.
Because of the tight weekly timeframe, any submissions received after the deadline will be held
for the following week’s issue at the discretion of the editor. The editor and TBE office staff may
occasionally adjust the deadline because of office closures or vacations. Also because of the
tight timeframe, if a submission does not follow the guidelines below and/or requires a great
deal of editing, it may possibly be omitted from the current issue and held until the following
week.
SECTIONS:
What’s Happening at TBE
Yahrzeits
Upcoming Events
Opportunities
Information
Tachlis (the bottom line)
Format for the “Upcoming Events” section:
Temple Hikers monthly hike
Saturday, September 20th, 8:00 a.m.
Join us for a seven-mile round-trip hike to Snow Lake near Snoqualmie Pass. We
should return to Temple by 5:00. For more information or to RSVP, contact David
Wheeler at (253) 564-1234 or templehikers@comcast.net.
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Shabbat Shalom Guidelines
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Please note the following "rules" in the sample above:
The announcement is written in block paragraph form. The paragraph is not indented.
The information is left-justified. There is a paragraph return after the date and time.
Spacing after sentences is one space, not two.
Title of event/activity comes first, followed by a paragraph return, followed by the day of
the week, the date, and the time. That is followed by another paragraph return and a
brief description of the event. The piece ends with how to get more information.
Times are always followed by a.m. or p.m. (with periods, in lower case) and there is a
space between the time and the a.m. or p.m.
Please put one space after the period at the end of each sentence.
Dates are always followed by "th" or "st"--example: 21st
Do not abbreviate dates--use "September" instead of "Sept."
Phone numbers always include area code in parenthesis, then a space, like this: (253)
564-7101.
End your piece with "for more information, contact...." or something similar. Please
include the contact person's name, phone number, and email address. (If you are going
to just include one contact method, include the email address since this is an electronic
newsletter).
Do not put something in all caps, like this: PLEASE COME.
Use exclamation points sparingly!!! A famous author once said that every writer should
only get one exclamation point to use in his or her entire lifetime!!!
Do not capitalize the first letter of anything that is not a proper noun. For example,
"Hunger Walk" is a proper noun. "5th grade" and "family potluck" are not.
If more information exists about your group/event//speaker somewhere on the Internet,
include a link that people can click on if they're interested.
Items are always listed in date order. Don’t ask for your piece to be listed first if it is not
the next event happening chronologically.
Don't worry about bold-facing text or using Ariel—the editor can format that easily with a
style sheet.
Format for the “Opportunities” section:
Camp Atid needs medical personnel
Camp Atid is looking for doctors and nurses to spend a week or two at camp this
summer. Camp runs from August 14th through August 27th. Come be a part of
something special this summer as only a Jewish camp can be. If you are
interested, please contact Anna Reichstein, director of Camp Atid at
areichstein@urj.org or by calling at (206) 443-1234.
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Shabbat Shalom Guidelines
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Please note the following "rules" in the sample above:
The announcement is written in block paragraph form. The paragraph is not indented.
The information is left-justified. There is a paragraph return after the title.
The title comes first, followed by a paragraph return, followed by a brief description. The
piece ends with how to get more information.
Follow the rest of the guidelines listed under the “Events” section, above.
Additional information:
Be brief. Most people are reading the weekly email on their monitor, not printing it out.
Please write for the "skimmers." If you have a lot of information that you want to share
with congregants, please ask the editor to put the more detailed information on the
Temple website, with just a link or a brief summary in the weekly email. We do not send
attachments with the weekly email, but (with enough notice) we can convert documents
to HTML or PDF and put them on the website.
If it is not obvious when your piece needs to start running and stop running, please let
the editor know by stating specific "start" and "kill" dates. If there is a date different from
the date of your event that you want highlighted (for example, a cut-off date to RSVP for
an event), please let the editor know.
Please read your piece carefully before you submit it. Make sure the dates are correct.
Make sure there is a way for people to get more information. YOU are responsible for
ensuring that all information submitted is accurate.
The Union for Reform Judaism’s “Transliteration Guidelines and Master Word List”
will be used to determine the spelling and format of the Hebrew transliterations
published in Shabbat Shalom. This document may be found on our website here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iAfrl7Jh9wfbbS4MtJQYuuMKqbYy-ee9
Our “Shabbat Shalom week” is Friday through Thursday. For example, for the Friday,
September 23rd issue, don't submit something on Wednesday, September 21st that
happens on September 21st or 22nd. Event dates should be Friday, September 23rd or
later.
Try to submit information about your event as close to the actual event as possible.
Think strategically about the marketing for your event. If you publish your announcement
too far in advance, readers may begin to ignore it. If it is already listed in the monthly
Bulletin, it will be only listed in the Shabbat Shalom within one week of the event unless
it is the last Shabbat Shalom of the current month.
Events occurring within a regular Shabbat service (for example, a baby naming,
conversion, engagement blessing, or speech by a congregant or congregant’s relative)
will typically be announced only the week of the event. The event will usually appear
within the regular service announcement in the “What’s Happening at TBE” section.
Please do not expect that the editor will automatically publish your event or
announcement in Shabbat Shalom, even if it has already been submitted for the monthly
Temple bulletin. You are responsible for making sure that the Shabbat Shalom editor
has your announcement, and that it is complete and correct.