What gets in the way of us hosting boldly? How do we move beyond the default settings of “this is just what this kind of event looks like”? What changes when we stop designing around the category — board meeting, Shabbat dinner, lecture, fundraiser, young adult happy hour — and start designing around the deeper purpose?

In this session, we’ll learn how to begin with the end in mind and use purpose as a practical design tool. We’ll explore how a clear, specific, even “disputable” purpose can help us make better choices about structure, tone, timing, invitation, and the role of the host.

In this session, we’ll explore:

• Jewish Inspiration: Hospitality as Lovingkindness
• Finding a Disputable Purpose
• The Problem with “Being Chill”
• Owning Our Power as Hosts
• The Bold Hosting Worksheet
• Designing with the End in Mind

Participants will try on what others have called an “eye-opening” Mini Mission between Part 1 and Part 2, enabling them to put these ideas to work in their own setting immediately.

What are the virtues we need to activate when we host? How do we help guests thoughtfully “drop into” an experience rather than hover at the edges? What would it look like to practice hospitality not as politeness, but as a bold act of care?

In Jewish tradition, hospitality is not passive. Our ancestor Avraham does not wait for guests to wander into his tent and figure it out from there. He notices. He runs. He invites. He prepares. He stands ready. His welcome has motion in it.

In this session, we’ll explore how to bring that same spirit of audacious hospitality into our communal gatherings — especially for people who are not already inside our closest social or professional networks. We’ll think expansively about what it takes to create a container where people feel seen, oriented, cared for, and invited into something larger than themselves.

In this session, we’ll explore:

• Debriefing Our Mini Mission
• Jewish Inspiration: Avraham’s Audacious Welcome
• What Gets in the Way of Hosting Boldly
• Searching for Guests, Not Just Welcoming Friends
• Helping People “Drop In” to the Experience
• Designing for “Creative Divinity” in Gatherings
• Workshop: Reimagining an Upcoming Gathering
• Practices for Making Guests Feel Seen, Held, and Connected

Erica Frankel (Joyful Coach, Toastmaster, Expert Thrifter) is the Executive Director of Assembly.

Over the past 16 years, Erica has founded and grown five new Jewish organizations and initiatives into existence, has touched the lives of over 20,000 Jewish college students, has trained and supported more than 500 rabbis and Jewish educators, and has seeded a thriving Jewish ecosystem in Harlem. She holds an MA in Dance and Sacred Texts from NYU and was a Wexner Field Fellow.

Erica and her husband Rabbi Dimitry Ekshtut (and their two toddlers) annually welcome ~600 unique young adults into their home for Shabbat and holidays, Jewish learning, and service.

Leah Kahn (Maestra Educator, Artist of Gathering, Shabbat Queen) is Assembly’s Vice President of Education.

She previously served as the Senior Director of the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Experience at Hillel International, where she oversaw the Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF). Over the last decade, Leah has developed a unique pedagogical approach that has been used to train more than 400 rabbis and educators. She is the recipient of the Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize, an inaugural member of the M2 Pedagogies Research Fellowship, and a Wexner Field Fellow.

Leah is also a certified yoga teacher, lifelong modern dancer, Shabbat enthusiast, and a mean vegan cook. She lives in Skokie, IL with her husband and two children.

Melissa Werbow (List Maker, Hosting Ninja, Educational Gadfly) is a Community Builder for Assembly’s project IYUN.

When she isn’t with IYUN, Melissa serves as the Education Director at the Hill Havurah in Washington, DC. She is passionate about creating authentic communities and empowering learners to take ownership of their Jewish tradition. She has spent her career straddling the worlds of congregational, adult, and day school education – three arenas that don’t talk to each other nearly enough.

Melissa and Rabbi Mike Werbow are the parents of three mostly delightful children and one very spoiled dog. She is currently obsessing about gluten-free vegetarian cooking, parenting teenagers, and what novel she should read next.