Four views of communal life
Play as the rabbi, cantor, education director or office administrator. Each role brings different strengths and responsibilities. A second run from another desk changes your perspective.
A free browser game by Shalom Desk
Jewish Community
Simulator
For the people who make Jewish life happen.
Choose the rabbi’s, cantor’s, educator’s or administrator’s desk and lead a fictional congregation through a Jewish year. This free, turn-based strategy game gives you room to try a different approach, with affectionate humor along the way.
Play free Open in your browserNo account or email required. Your progress saves in this browser.
A familiar world
Knowing the people changes the decision.
Years in a community teach you which conversations need privacy. You learn why a familiar melody matters to someone, and when to make room for a young person to lead. That understanding shapes how you do the work.
There is real satisfaction in seeing people find their place in Jewish life. This game was made with affection for the people who help that happen, from the staff office to the volunteer committee.
The pleasure of playing
Try a different way to run the year.
Back the school program you think deserves more attention, or build a team that gives the staff some breathing room. You can experiment with choices that would take months to play out in a real congregation.
Your plans meet a community with opinions of its own. The humor comes from the familiar negotiations of Jewish communal life, with a setting for stranger years if you want a few more surprises.
Promises become part of people’s history with you. Completed projects change what is possible in later months. At the end, the year portrait brings the results together, including what you helped the congregation become.
Your congregation
Choose a community and take a desk.
A congregation with its own practices
Choose a Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox or Reconstructionist congregation. Its language and practices shape the situations you encounter.
Local life matters
Set your year in a Northeast city, a growing Sun Belt community, a Midwestern congregation or a small-town shul. The setting changes the resources and pressures around you.
Decide how unusual things get
Choose a familiar annual cycle, a year shaped by merger talks with another congregation, or a weird year with more improbable interruptions.
The congregations are fictional. Jewish life varies within every movement, and each setting depicts one particular community.
How to play
Play one month at a time.
The year begins after Sukkot and runs through the next High Holidays. Take your time with each turn; the game waits for your decision.
See what needs attention
Read the month’s main situation and check the work still open from earlier decisions.
Choose an approach
Compare the options and their expected effects. Your main decision takes effect when you choose it.
Decide how to spend your time
Arrange the tasks you want to take on with the attention you have. You can change their order before committing the plan.
See how the month turned out
Review what happened and the monthly accounts, then bring that knowledge into your next set of choices.
Read the game field guide (PDF · direct download)
Take a desk that feels familiar, or find out what the year looks like from a colleague’s side of the conversation.
Play freeWhy Shalom Desk made this
A community has a life between events.
A good gathering can start a friendship or give someone a reason to come back. The relationships continue after the room is cleared. Following up with care takes people who know the context, and an office that helps them keep track of it.
Shalom Desk builds Notion workspaces for Jewish organizations. It keeps the information behind communal work connected, so colleagues can find what they need and follow through. Good records help that care continue when someone else takes over.
We brought the same interest in communal life to this game. The complete game is free, and anyone is welcome to play.
Before you begin
Practical questions
Is the whole game free?
Yes. Every role, setting and year type is included. Play without an account, an email address or a purchase. The game field guide is a direct PDF download too.
Do I need to work at a synagogue or know every term?
Everyone is welcome. The game is set in Jewish congregational life, and Words in the room explains terms when you want context. You can learn your way around as you play.
Can I stop and come back?
The game saves one current year in this browser when storage is available. Return to the same game address and choose Resume saved year. Use Export year to keep a file before clearing browser data or moving devices, then import the file there. Starting a different year asks before replacing the browser save.
Saves do not automatically sync between devices or browsers. Avoid playing the same year in two tabs at once.
Will another playthrough be different?
Changing your role, setting or choices gives you a different way through the year. Each new setup also suggests a fresh four-word seed to vary chance events. Some storylines recur.
You can reuse a seed with the same setup and compatible rules to replay its starting conditions. To preserve the decisions you have already made, use Export year.
Does the next year continue this one?
This edition covers one twelve-month campaign. Severe cash or trust problems can end it early. After the ending, you can begin a fresh year or try another role.
I played at the earlier game address. Where is my save?
If you played at the earlier game address, open it in the browser you used. Choose Your saved year → Export year. Open the game here on Shalom Desk and select Import a saved year. Your browser’s stored progress does not automatically move between addresses.
Can I still play the original edition?
Yes. The original game remains available. It uses the earlier interface and rules; its progress does not transfer into this edition.
Further reading
Guides for your real organization
For teams exploring Notion, these guides explain the workspace and how to put it to use. An email address is required to download these workspace guides.
The Jewish Nonprofit’s Guide to Notion
How Shalom Desk Thinks