the Den Collective: Annual Report

June 2020 - May 2021

Overview

The Den Collective (the Den) builds a network of sacred Jewish relationships among a diverse population of people seeking ways to enrich their lives through Jewish connection, learning, and communal belonging. The Den addresses the high rate of people in the Jewish community not finding their way into existing Jewish institutions. We know that a “one-size fits all” approach will not get to the heart of the matter. That is why the Den prioritizes getting to know each person’s story and staying in constant dialogue with them on their journey to address evolving questions and spiritual needs. People are seeking thick, rich, intimate spiritual communities, places where they are known to each other, and where they form the kind of relationships where they show up for each other. The Den’s unique methodology addresses these needs in a variety of ways, beginning with our people-centric approach and our focus on holding intimate classes and gatherings.

In the last fiscal year the Den continued to experience tremendous growth in our work and reach while we continued to adapt and pivot in the face of an ongoing pandemic. We observed a growing need for increased and ongoing pastoral counseling and spiritual care, deep Jewish learning, and wellness-based programming. The Den continues to thrive as a strong provider of accessible spiritual and pastoral care, Jewish wisdom, community belonging, and much needed connection to the widest diversity of the Greater Washington Jewish community.

The past year has proven to us and to our stakeholders the true malleable nature of our organization, and the experimental way in which we can pivot and adapt momentarily. The Den has not only withstood the test of pivoting to a virtual platform during a pandemic, but it has also attracted even more people to join the Den during this time, reaffirming our commitment to our core values of: personal connection, authenticity, accessible and deep learning, and co-creating radically welcoming spaces, whether in person or online.

Staff Team Update

The Den has become a fixture of the greater DC Jewish community and a lifeline for hundreds of Jewish, Jewish-adjacent, and Jewish-curious people throughout DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia (NoVA). The rabbinic, pastoral, and programmatic needs of our community have only grown, with a dramatic increase since the onset of the pandemic, which means the need for additional rabbis and staff to support our work as a holistic team. This year we launched a national search for a community rabbi to step into the Northern Virginia community to continue the momentum of the work we have been doing there over the past several years, an area where it is clear more growth and rabbinic support is in high demand.

We are thrilled to welcome Rabbi Jenna Stein Turow to the Den staff team this July as our newest community rabbi. Rabbi Jenna has already settled into her new home in NoVA and looks forward to getting to know members of our incredible community, as well as all of our valued partners, collaborators, and supporters.

Since the onset of the pandemic, we have welcomed over 100 new people to the Den community. As we will illustrate further in this report, the needs and interests of our community have increased and diversified in areas of pastoral support, Jewish learning, wellness, and leadership development. Due to this increased demand and the growth of our organization, in January 2021, we welcomed Yona Golding to our team, to support the Den’s intricate work behind the scenes, allowing our Executive Director to continue to serve our growing community; their learning and spiritual needs, while also maintaining the high quality of personal connection and content our members have come to know and expect from the Den.

Adapting & Reopening: COVID-19

In March 2020 our team made a sweeping decision to swiftly cancel all in-person activity. Within 12 hours we were able to fully pivot; we created a new landing page on our website for online gatherings, moved 100% of our regular activity to online platforms. Emotional and spiritual needs arising from the stresses of the pandemic led to innovations in mindfulness and meditation and how we approach Jewish text study. Integrating wellness and meditation into our Jewish learning and communal ritual spaces have become a fixture of our community. Our classes, learning cohorts, Shabbat and holiday services, and Jewish wellness programs provided a sense of stability, grounding, and communal support for so many, especially our most emotionally vulnerable community members.

In the spring of 2021 the Den’s COVID Medical Task Force + Reopening Team, made up of medical and legal professionals from within the Den community, worked in partnership with our staff team to create a health and safety policy, along with reopening guidelines for safely gathering in person once again. We rolled out our first series of in-person gatherings in June of 2021.

What we’ve learned from this year’s move to online gatherings:

• Relationships continue to be a core value: We did not lose any of our regular activity, and we seamlessly maintained and grew our previous offerings;

• Location, location, location: We observed an increase in new participation from individuals in our target population who previously were unable to or perhaps were apprehensive about being present in person;

• Going virtual redefined the meaning of “community”: We saw participation from the target demographic living in other parts of the country who have heard about the Den and were happy to be able to join for the first time from their locations in MA, CT, NY, HI, MN, Toronto, and other locales;

• Exploring opportunities for intergenerational community building: We intentionally made a couple of our offerings available as a resource to the greater community. We observed incredible moments of intergenerational connection that would normally not have taken place as easily or as often.

• Even amid a pandemic, people contribute to what matters most: We experienced an increase in unsolicited donations through our online credit card portal prior to launching our first-ever fundraising campaign targeted at our Den participants in March of 2021.

Learning & Gathering

Our customized intimate classes and gatherings develop organically from our 1-to-1 conversations. We invite people to share their questions and spiritual yearnings with us so we can co-create classes that explore the deep, true, and ancient wisdom of our tradition, as we address contemporary issues and questions. Our shift to moving our Learning Circles and Learning Cohorts to zoom cultivated spaces for continued Jewish study in specific areas for each of our affinity groups, fostering much needed connection and a sense of belonging during a time when many felt isolated.

We held over 165 classes and gatherings, with over 700 attendances. We are grateful to now be resuming in-person classes and gatherings. View a detailed list of some of our offerings from the past year:

Pastoral Care & Spiritual Counseling

Pastoral care and ongoing personal dialogue with people in our community are core to everything we do at the Den. Through accessible pastoral care sessions, people seek out rabbinic support as they navigate relationships, professional and personal transitions, and life’s big questions. Many of our community members are reaching out to us for pastoral and spiritual counseling, and many for the first time. Since the onset of the pandemic, our rabbis have held over 187 pastoral care sessions. This has always been a major goal of the Den, to educate a generation of Jewish community members about the value and purpose of rabbinic pastoral care and Jewish communal involvement and support.

This year we also created the Den’s first-ever Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Intern position to help support the increased pastoral needs in the community during the pandemic. Sarah Hurwitz, a member of the Den’s Advisory Council, was enrolled in a Clinical Pastoral Education class, and as part of her training, she served as the Den’s first CPE Intern, providing pastoral support for members of our community in partnership with our clergy.

In addition to socially distant meetings, phone calls, and zoom meetings, our staff team has also personally engaged with our community members through over 6000 text messages, emails, and Facebook and Instagram messages.

Leadership Development

As a result of our intentional approach to creating safe, accessible, and radically welcoming spaces, many of our community members feel drawn to try new things and to lead opportunities for their peers. We offer “pre-game trainings,” covering topics such as: how to create a meaningful and inclusive Shabbat experience, preparing a D’var Torah (teaching of Torah) for the first time, or how to create a text source sheet for a class. Throughout the last several years we have seen more and more Den members volunteer to teach peer-led Jewish text classes, host their first Shabbat and holiday gatherings, and contribute their professional expertise and skill sets to strengthen and impact our community in numerous ways.

During this past year:

• We welcomed 2 new Den members to the Den’s Advisory Council

• 100s of Den members participated in our rabbinic search process. Our rabbinic search team, made up of board members, was successfully co-chaired by 2 Den members.

• We trained new Den leaders to lead holiday classes and invited a group to co-create our COVID Communal Healing Service along with our rabbi and CPE intern.

• Den members have hosted virtual meals for Shabbat, and holidays throughout the past year including: Rosh Hashana, Sukkot, and Passover.

• Den members initiated 2 new peer-led classes: A Mussar Learning Circle: Living an Ethical + Meaningful Life, as well as a new Deep-Dive Torah Study Group.

• 24+ Den leaders met with our Development consultant as we rolled out our first-ever fundraising campaign directed at Den participants.

Looking Ahead

After the growth we saw in FY21, we see the potential for even greater growth in FY22:

• We identified a talented group of NoVA Leaders, dedicated to strengthening our Jewish community and eager to partner with our new NoVA community rabbi, allowing us to bring even more direct engagement to the area.

• We are bringing on a consultant to explore ways to integrate online fundraising and digital marketing tools, allowing us to grow our fundraising efforts while also reaching an even wider audience of people seeking Jewish learning, pastoral care, and communal belonging.

• We’re excited to roll out a myriad of new, innovative, and creative gatherings to infuse meaning and rekindle in-person connections this Elul and High Holy Day season.

• After such an isolating and challenging year, through our highly sophisticated use of data, we are excited to build out our village across DC, NoVA, and Maryland, and connect even more people who live in the same neighborhoods, have shared interests, and/or are in a similar life stage.

Thank you! Your generous support and partnership make all of this possible.