Ask anyone at CJP and they’ll tell you the two words I utter more than any others: “Jewish future.” OK, maybe “Birthright Israel.” But for the purposes of this blog, let’s go with Jewish future. The Jewish future is what drives our work. You’ve heard me say this before; this is why federations exist—to ensure and enrich the Jewish future.

Which is why I’m thrilled to announce that CJP’s JewishBoston.com has taken a major futuristic step with its new site. Launched earlier this month, JewishBoston is still the online home of Boston’s Jewish community. But with the new site, it has become much more than that.

First, a little history. JewishBoston was announced as part of CJP’s strategic plan in 2008. Back then, we envisioned a site that would “expand awareness and create opportunity for engagement in Jewish life in Greater Boston,” particularly for young adults and families with young children.

JewishBoston, for its first six years, achieved that with great success, engaging tens of thousands of you each month with its extensive calendar of events, blog posts, recipe ideas and even a downloadable Hagaddah app.

We have, from the very beginning, considered JewishBoston to be an essential tool for connecting our community with organizations, with each other and with the wonderful opportunities we have every day to enrich our Jewish lives here at home.

Each year, we added more and more features, from the wildly popular “Ask A Rabbi” posts to holiday gift cards (and I mean real cards, sent by mail, not emails).

Yet, we still thought it was time to make a change. People visited the site, but they didn’t come back—they would find what they needed and move on. We knew JewishBoston could be something more than a calendar with features. We wanted something more.

Over the past year, CJP and the JewishBoston team garnered widespread input to ensure this website is a valuable asset to connecting Greater Boston’s Jewish community. The new website, developed in partnership with a world-renowned digital agency in Tel Aviv, is a comprehensive market of features, cultural happenings, holiday info and even parenting tips. It features a beautiful design, robust content and new and enhanced functionality. It is also now easy to view on mobile. Many new innovations were incorporated, both visually and editorially, including content produced specifically for JewishBoston by two professional reporters—Kara Baskin and Judy Bolton-Fasman—covering arts and culture and parenting.

Our three-person team of Jeff Levy, Kali Foxman and Jesse Ulrich—with the help of a dedicated advisory board—have created a one-stop shop for organizations, people and synagogues, to connect, learn and share. You can still find the events that you always did, but now there’s really so much more.

Watch the “origin story” here:

I’m so proud to share this site with you and the entire Jewish world. JewishBoston is setting the standard for online engagement with the Jewish community. It truly is a major step into the Jewish future.

The success of this endeavor depends on our vibrant Jewish community. That’s why I’m asking you to visit the site, share the video with your friends, sign up for weekly newsletters, read an article and help spread the word about this incredible new resource!