Creating Anew: An Elul Intensive for Jewish Professionals

A new virtual professional development experience with Rabbi Adina Allen

Date: Tuesday, August 4 - Thursday August 6

Time: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm PT / 12:00 pm - 4:00pm ET

Location: Virtual

Cost: $180 (sliding scale)

Jewish tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah the world is created anew. Elul invites us into that process before it begins. It is a season of reflection, return, and possibility—a chance not only to prepare the calendar, but to prepare ourselves.

Creating Anew is a three-day virtual intensive designed to support Jewish professionals in preparing for the High Holiday season through Jewish learning, creative practice, and reflective leadership. Together, we'll explore the themes of Elul and the High Holidays, gathering fresh Torah, and engaging creative tools to enrich your preparation for the season and enhance your teaching, facilitation, and leadership for the months ahead.

As Jewish professionals, you spend the weeks leading up to the High Holidays preparing others: teaching and facilitating, writing and planning, holding space, and carrying the hopes and needs of students, congregants, and communities.

But meaningful leadership requires more than giving. It asks us to keep renewing the well from which we lead.

Over three half-day sessions we’ll engage in JSP’s nationally-recognized multimodal approach to Jewish learning and explore how creative process deepens text study and reflection. You’ll experience a way of learning and leading that is both deeply transformative and highly practical. Along the way, we'll pull back the curtain on the pedagogy itself, equipping you with adaptable tools and practices you can immediately bring into your own teaching, facilitation and community-building and beyond.

What Jewish professionals are saying about JSP

"This experience gave me time to focus on myself and how I can bring renewed energy and intention to both my work and my life."

"I gained so many ideas for bringing creativity into my programming and using it as a bridge to Jewish practice in new ways.”

“I left thinking differently about how to foster deeper engagement and connection among students."

Whether you are a rabbi, educator, chaplain, Hillel professional, or communal leader, Creating Anew offers a rare opportunity to prepare for the High Holidays and the year of leadership that follows. You'll leave with renewed energy, fresh Torah, and creative practices to support your life and the communities you serve.

What to Expect

Each session includes:

• Engaging Jewish text study

• Guided creative exploration (no art experience required)

• Personal reflection and writing

• Small-group conversations and whole-group dialogue

• Practical insights and facilitation tools you can bring back to your own work

Facilitated by: Rabbi Adina Allen, Jewish Studio Project Founding Rabbi & President (she/her)
Rabbi Adina is a spiritual leader, writer and educator who believes in the power of creativity to revitalize our lives and transform Jewish tradition. Integrating a lifetime of experience in the expressive arts with her rabbinic training, Adina has taught clergy, educators and lay leaders in hundreds of Jewish communal institutions across the country. Adina’s writing is widely published and her original research on using creative process to generate contemporary midrash was published in the CCAR Journal in 2013. She is a recipient of the Covenant Foundation’s 2018 Pomegranate Prize for emerging Jewish Educators and is a fellow of the Open Dor Project for spiritual Jewish entrepreneurs. Adina was ordained in Hebrew College’s pluralistic training program in Boston in 2014 where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Adina published her first book in 2024, “The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom,” which pairs spiritual wisdom with art therapy, liberation theology, and creativity research.

REGISTER TODAY

These daily virtual sessions run from Tuesday, August 4 to Thursday August 6 from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm PT / 12:00 pm - 4:00pm ET. This program is $180, with sliding scale options, and will take place on Zoom with closed captions.

Live participation is encouraged to foster connection and shared learning.

If you’re unable to attend a session, no worries, every session will be recorded, and recordings and materials will be shared afterward.

A Note About Fees:

The participation fee for this series is $180. Our goal is to never turn anyone away for lack of funds so please choose the price from our sliding scale that best meets your needs. If you you need additional assistance beyond what is listed please contact Candace Goodwin at cgoodwin@jewishstudioproject.org.

Refund Policy:

If you need to cancel due to extenuating family or life circumstances, please be in touch with Candace to discuss options.