Rivka Siegel, a speaker known for her creativity and ability to excite and engage audiences of all ages, made teshuva and prayer come alive for several dozen women in-person and on Zoom from the Young Israel of East Brunswick (YIEB) on Wednesday evening, Sept. 18. The timely topic was “Journey Through Elul and Tishrei: Maximizing the Unique Avodah of Each Day.” The message for the days leading to Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot is to set stretch goals that everyone should strive to rise to in terms of becoming better people in the new year. The more effort put into setting the stage in Elul will create the positivity and meaningfulness to make the job of teshuva at Rosh Hashanah that much easier. Fear of failure can limit goals but enhanced self-awareness at this time of year helps each person to choose the path of how they will choose to live their lives.