The 16 available holidays
Unisoft's standard pack delivers 16 holiday pages ready to use. This page details each holiday: what it is used for, what type of collection it offers, and at what time of year to enable it.
1. Passover
Purpose: collect for Passover-related needs (kosher products, matzot, help for families to prepare the holiday).
Collection type: free donation + possible product sale.
Typical period: starting 2 months before Passover (month of Shevat-Adar), until the eve of the holiday (month of Nissan, March-April depending on the civil calendar).
Good to know: Passover often generates a real collection campaign (heightened sensitivity, significant donations). Don't hesitate to enrich the page with a message from the rabbi or a video.
2. Lag Baomer
Purpose: receive a commemorative donation on the occasion of Lag Baomer (33rd day of the Omer, minor holiday celebrated notably around Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai).
Collection type: simple commemorative donation.
Typical period: 1 to 2 weeks before Lag Baomer (May).
Good to know: light page, without items to sell. Ideal for a short communication by email.
3. Sukkot
Purpose: collect for Sukkot and sell related items (lulav, etrog, sukkah decoration, accessories).
Collection type: donation + item sale (lulav, etrog, kits).
Typical period: 3 to 4 weeks before Sukkot (September-October).
Good to know: this is a rich page, take the time to properly configure the items with their price and stock. The lulav and etrog are often ordered in advance to ensure availability.
4. Kapparot
Purpose: receive memorial donations on the occasion of the Kapparot custom, on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Collection type: memorial donation (often in the name of a deceased loved one).
Typical period: between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (10 days of repentance, September-October).
Good to know: provide a free field in the content for the donor to indicate on whose behalf they are making their memorial donation.
5. Yizkor
Purpose: receive donations made in memory of a deceased loved one, on the occasion of the Yizkor prayers.
Collection type: in memory donation.
Typical period: 4 times a year — at Passover (8th day), Shavuot (2nd day), Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret. Enable the page a week before each of these dates.
Good to know: the donor generally indicates the name of the deceased. This information will appear in the submission received in your backoffice.
6. Rosh Hashanah - Yom Kippur
Purpose: collect for the major spiritual period of autumn, covering Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Yamim Noraim, days of awe).
The exact label of the page in Unisoft is "Rosh Hashanah - Yom Kippur".
Collection type: spiritual donation, generally very significant.
Typical period: 3 to 4 weeks before Rosh Hashanah (end of August / early September).
Good to know: this is the most important period of the year for donations. Carefully customize the content, include a message from the rabbi if possible.
7. Home Shofar Blowing
Purpose: allow congregants who cannot travel (sick, elderly people, young mothers) to receive the sounding of the shofar at home during the month of Elul.
Collection type: registration with choice of a time slot + free donation.
Typical period: the whole month of Elul (August-September), until Rosh Hashanah.
Good to know: this is the ideal page to use the time slot Calendar module. Prepare several dozen time slots spread over the days of the month and the possible time ranges. The coordinator (often a volunteer) then retrieves the list with the addresses and the time slots.
8. Birkat Hashana
Purpose: mark the Birkat Hachama (blessing of the sun), a ceremony celebrated every 28 years at the spring equinox.
Collection type: commitment donation, generally unique.
Typical period: only in a Birkat Hachama year (the next after 2009 is in 2037). Page little used the rest of the time.
Good to know: leave this page disabled most of the time. Enable it only the relevant year.
9. Blessing Request
Purpose: allow a congregant or a visitor to request a blessing (wedding, birth, healing, success in a project) in exchange for a donation.
Collection type: form (reason for the blessing) + free donation.
Typical period: all year, page open permanently.
Good to know: provide a generous free field so that the requester can explain the context. The page is processed individually by the rabbi.
10. Hanukkah
Purpose: receive the annual Hanukkah donation, often associated with the tradition of gelt (gift, donation of generosity to institutions at this period).
Collection type: free annual donation.
Typical period: 2 to 3 weeks before Hanukkah (November-December).
Good to know: period conducive to festive communication. Visual with chanukiah, warm message.
11. Megillah Reading
Purpose: organize and finance the public reading of the Megillah of Esther on Purim.
Collection type: registration to a reading + donation.
Typical period: 2 weeks before Purim (February-March).
Good to know: if you organize several readings (morning, evening, several locations), use the time slot calendar so that congregants choose their reading.
12. Purim
Purpose: collect for the holiday of Purim, including for the mishloach manot (sweets baskets sent between families) and the matanot la-evyonim (donations to the poor, central obligation of Purim).
Collection type: general donation + possible sale of mishloach manot.
Typical period: 2 to 3 weeks before Purim (February-March).
Good to know: if your community organizes a collective mishloach manot operation, you can add each basket as an item (Standard basket, Deluxe basket).
13. Passover Menu
Purpose: sell kosher menus for Passover, prepared by the community and delivered or picked up on site.
Collection type: menu sale (items with variants).
Typical period: 2 to 3 weeks before Passover, closes a few days before to allow preparation.
Good to know: typical example of use of items with variants (Adult menu standard, gluten-free, vegetarian, Children's menu). Plan a realistic stock and don't forget to close orders early enough.
14. Passover Seder
Purpose: organize the community Passover Seder meal (1st and/or 2nd night), with nominative registration and payment.
Collection type: registration + payment per participant.
Typical period: 3 to 4 weeks before Passover.
Good to know: use items to differentiate the prices (adult, child, student, free for people in difficulty). For two nights, create two separate pages or use variants.
15. Matzot Sale
Purpose: sell unleavened bread (matzot) for congregants who prefer to order via the community.
Collection type: item sale (packs of matzot, varieties).
Typical period: 3 weeks before Passover.
Good to know: differentiate the machine and shmurah matzot via distinct items. Remember to close the page when your stock is depleted.
16. Hametz Sale
Purpose: allow congregants to symbolically sell their hametz (leavened goods) to the rabbi, in accordance with the pre-Passover halacha.
Collection type: inventory form + symbolic donation (often a few euros).
Typical period: 2 weeks before Passover, imperative closure the day before the holiday.
Good to know: very specific page, almost always used. The form asks for the list of products and their location. Once submitted, rabbi Yossi Azoulay handles the halachic procedure in parallel.
Periods recap
| Period | Pages to enable |
|---|---|
| January - February | Purim, Megillah Reading |
| February - March | Passover, Passover Menu, Passover Seder, Matzot Sale, Hametz Sale |
| April | Yizkor (Passover) |
| May | Lag Baomer |
| May - June | Yizkor (Shavuot) |
| August - September | Rosh Hashanah - Yom Kippur, Home Shofar Blowing (Elul), Kapparot |
| September - October | Sukkot, Yizkor (Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret) |
| November - December | Hanukkah |
| All year | Blessing Request |
| Exceptional year | Birkat Hashana (every 28 years) |