What prompted you to develop your Elul Challenge?

Normally, our building would be so full of people all day, all week with a pre-school, day school, supplementary school, programs, and, of course, services. I wanted a way to bring all the elements of what we might otherwise have created here into every home, be it a family with small children or a single person of any age. A 29-Day Challenge for Elul felt like the right way to reach everyone without being pediatric or stuffy-adult.

Tell me about your process in creating and implementing the challenge. 

I spoke with a number of colleagues to strike the right balance in bringing the full experience of Stephen Wise Temple into the homes of our families. We wanted to bring the feeling of what Wise means in all of its forms. As we thought about it, we chose different kinds of projects from pictures to playlists and from apologies to social action. 

Another key part of the implementation was getting the word out. We paid close attention to the design, and we made a big splash on multiple social media platforms to promote #ElulWisely2020. Responses to the launch were very positive.

What, if anything, would you do differently if you do it again?

 Tracking the success of #ElulWisely2020 has been its own challenge with not every activity aimed at being posted on social media and not everyone remembering to use the hashtag. Next time, I would involve five or more influencers within the congregation to add their own ideas and to make a point of posting each activity with the hashtag to build buzz. I would also include some sort of Zoom share or other non-frontal aspect to bring people together around the challenge.