Businessmen Commit to Phone-Free Elul

It all began a year ago with a simple conversation in shul.

“I was talking with my friend Dov Ber Gurewicz, and we were both noticing how smartphones have become such a distraction for so many of us during davening,” says Akiva Goodman, a financial advisor who lives in Chicago. “We both felt we needed to get back on track, creating a space where we were concentrating on davening without WhatsApp, text messages, social media and everything else tugging at us every few seconds.”

The two friends decided to begin with a commitment to go phone-free during the one hour of davening for the upcoming month of Elul, leaving their phones outside of the shul or tucked into a bag on airplane mode.

As they shared their excitement with fellow mispalelim at Chicago’s Bais Menachem, the momentum continued to build, and soon an initiative was created so more and more people could commit to the same.

“Imagine the effect Above of 1,000’s of Yidden putting their notifications on hold to infuse meaning in their Elul davening.”

After the tremendous success and feedback last year, they decided to take the project to the next level, recruiting 1,500 fellow Jews to do the same.

Help us reach our goal of 1,500 phone-free Eluls. Join by committing to a 1-hour 30-day phone-free Elul Davening by visiting ElulUnplugged.org