September 4, 2025
Back

Press Release: Atra Launches Elul Helpline as a Resource for Jewish Clergy in Prelude to High Holiday Season

Back

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Atra: The Center for Rabbinic Innovation Launches Elul Helpline as a Resource for Jewish Clergy in Prelude to High Holiday Season

 

Select Rabbinic mentors provide critical guidance during this season of reflection

 

(September 2025) As Jewish communities grapple with a dizzying array of major issues, including a steep rise in antisemitism and a renewed argument about what it means to be a Zionist, Jewish clergy find themselves at a crossroads. They are expected to address urgent global crises that cannot be resolved in a 30-minute sermon. 

Atra: The Center for Rabbinic Innovation is answering the call with the launch of the Elul Helpline, a tool that facilitates one-on-one, no-cost coaching for rabbis and cantors as they navigate this season of introspection. The helpline connects clergy with a diverse selection of trained mentors, including experts in pastoral care and rabbis across denominations. The initiative runs throughout the Hebrew month of Elul, from Aug. 25 to Oct 10, 2025. Interest in the helpline has surged this year, with a record number of sessions booked as soon as they became available. 

“Since the pandemic, there has literally been no break from crisis and rabbis need care and ‘resouling’ in a way that congregations are not designed to provide,” says Rabbi Menachem Creditor, a former pulpit rabbi who now serves as scholar-in-residence at UJA-Federation New York. ”While some rabbis excel at self-care, it is a rare skill. Rabbis are legitimately tired. That is one of the biggest challenges, because we forget how much our caregivers need care too.” 

Rabbi Creditor is one of seven coaches serving the helpline this year. “Our climate is more and more polarized on every issue,” he notes. “It’s not only Israel or American partisan politics. It’s everything. Every issue becomes a make-or-break issue for someone’s sense of belonging and safety. Atra’s Elul Helpline prioritizes rabbinic well-being and is an invaluable resource for clergy striving to do their best on behalf of the Jewish people.” 

For the past five years, Atra has offered the Elul Helpline as an antidote to the pressure facing clergy, who are often expected to serve as spiritual guides, security analysts, accountants and communal visionaries. Over the years, rabbis have sought assistance on everything from strategic advice and tactical help with sermons. Others turn to the helpline as a safe space in which to privately voice their struggles or concerns. 

“I was raised by a congregational rabbi and later served as one myself, so I understand firsthand that rabbis often feel they are being asked to be all things to all people, especially during this demanding time of year,” says Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, executive director of Atra. “The High Holidays create a sense of urgency that involves deep soul-searching not only for congregants but also for clergy themselves. The Elul Helpline is Atra’s way of prioritizing the humanity of our rabbis.”

Several of the helpline coaches return year after year, seeing it as a way to give back or provide a thoughtful sounding board. Each is uniquely well-suited to help ease the inevitable stress that comes with sensitive sermon themes or other difficult topics.

“Rabbis, like social workers, are very rarely asked, ‘How can we help you?’ Atra’s Elul Helpline project is all about helping the helpers. It’s part of a larger need to repair the relationship between congregants and rabbis,” says Faith Leener, chief innovation officer at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Leener serves as a Helpline coach and is also married to a pulpit rabbi. “Rabbis deserve tools like Atra’s Elul Helpline to help manage their own spiritual nourishment and to articulate what they want and need. If the Jewish community wants rabbis to stay in their jobs, we must provide this kind of support.” 

The Atra initiative is one of several created to directly address the expanding scope of traditional rabbinic practice, offering tools to support the ever-evolving role of clergy. Helpline coaches often promote this service through their own social media channels, and sessions can be booked online through Atra’s website https://atrarabbis.org/programs/elul-helpline/. 

“I think the rabbinate is one of the hardest jobs out there,” says Dr. Betsy Stone, a retired therapist who has worked with Atra as a coach on the Elul Helpline for several years. “You’re constantly working and being called on to hold enormous amounts of human suffering. At the same time, rabbis have to know how to balance a budget, manage people and give knockout sermons. More clergy are facing mental health issues themselves and in their families because of the challenge of this work.”

Founded just six years ago, Atra: The Center for Rabbinic Innovation experienced astounding growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people sought spiritual guidance in new ways beyond the traditional synagogue framework. To date, Atra has launched programs to support Jewish clergy across denominations, including the Rabbinic (re)Design lab, The Center for Applied Torah and the Rabbinic Pipeline Initiative. This fall, Atra will release findings from the first comprehensive research study on the rabbinic pipeline, examining who chooses to become a rabbi, what inspires or deters them, where rabbis are serving and the trends shaping rabbinic leadership and training. The data will guide strategic action to ensure vibrant rabbinic leadership for the future.

“It is a privilege for me to use my skills to help these leaders of the Jewish people,” offers Dr. Stone. “In a world that feels phenomenally chaotic and unpredictable, it gives me a sense that I am doing something that matters. I’m not curing cancer or bringing peace to the Middle East, but I’m giving personal and professional advice, and that gives purpose and meaning to my life. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as a resource and bear witness to this frontline leadership in the Jewish community in a way that is urgently necessary.”

About Atra: The Center for Rabbinic Innovation Atra supports rabbis in developing innovative approaches to spiritual leadership while maintaining deep connections to Jewish tradition and wisdom. Through training programs, resource development and pioneering initiatives like the Elul helpline, Atra works to ensure that ancient Jewish wisdom remains relevant and accessible in the modern world.

For more information:

Back