Kids at Adas Israel Congregation took part in High Holiday Jeopardy, Rosh Hashanah-themed origami and improv-style skits that tied back to the parshah.

They practiced shofar calls using noisemakers and played “Pin the Tail on the Fish.”

Behind the ideas for these innovative games and activities is Annalee Thompson, Adas Israel’s youth engagement coordinator.

“It’s so great seeing the kids having a joyful Jewish experience,” Thompson said. “If kids leave the synagogue saying, ‘I want to come back here; that’s a fun place for me,’ I’ve done my job.”

The Van Ness resident is responsible for planning and implementing youth programming. She often asks herself, “Did they have fun? Did they learn something?”

“I find if they’re having fun, it’s much more likely that they’re going to learn something,” she added. “It makes all the hours of planning and ordering supplies and all of that 100% worth it.”

Thompson also teaches sixth graders at Adas’ religious school — both a weekly Hebrew class and an art elective, “Creativity is Sacred.”

“We do Jewish-themed or Jewish-adjacent art projects,” she said.

This year’s projects include making a golem — a humanoid creature formed from mud or clay — and discussing Jewish folklore surrounding it, learning about the practice of Jewish incantation bowls, and contributing to a mural based on portions of Bereshit.

“I got to teach it last year, but going into this year, I’ve really refined it, and I’m very excited to watch [students] get to explore that way,” said Thompson, who “dabbles” in art herself.

In fact, she used a Cricut to design personalized siddur covers for each of the third graders, then helped them paint and decorate the covers.

Thompson loves what she does.

“I think the best thing about Adas is the people — both the people I have the pleasure of working with and our families that make up the congregation. They’re just so kind. They’re always willing to lend a hand,” she said. “And the kids are so smart; they’re always surprising me with what they know.”

Thompson is a career Jewish professional, having previously held roles at Virginia Tech Hillel and Roanoke College Hillel before relocating to the nation’s capital.

A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Thompson was raised in the Episcopal Church. She began exploring Judaism during her coursework at Roanoke.

“I had always been interested in Judaism, but the more I started really learning about it as a young adult, I was like, ‘This is what I believe. This really matches my moral and spiritual beliefs,’” she recalled.

The college student went to one of the two Conservative synagogues in the area in January 2020 and announced, “I want to convert to Judaism.”

Thompson got to celebrate Purim in the Jewish community before COVID-19 shut everything down, and she found herself back at home in Chattanooga.

“It was actually kind of cool because I got to really focus on the studying,” Thompson said. “We continued classes and even High Holiday services over Zoom, so I got to focus on learning a little bit more through the experience.”

In 2021, she did her beit din and mikvah immersion.

After graduating from Roanoke in 2022 with a history degree, Thompson wasn’t sure what to do next. She spent some time at home, where her mom suggested, “You should see if you’re still eligible to go on Birthright.”

Roanoke Hillel traditionally had reserved spots on Virginia Tech Hillel’s Birthright Israel trip, so Thompson had a spot on the December 2022 trip.

“It was really such a fantastic experience,” she said. “We had a really, really great tour guide who also was the Israel fellow at the Hillel, so [she] knew us.”

When the tour guides were preoccupied, some students on the trip would ask Thompson their questions “because I studied so much about Judaism,” she said. “I knew a lot of the answers.”

Thompson explained to them the significance of the Western Wall, among other religious landmarks in Israel. It was one of the guides who informed Thompson of a job opening at Virginia Tech Hillel she ended up accepting: the two-year Springboard Fellowship.

There, she supported Jewish students on campus through Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing tensions. Thompson also served as the Hillel advisor for Roanoke College: “It was a full-circle moment.”

A desire to venture into a big city led her to Adas Israel, where she began in summer 2025.

“I felt comfortable coming in because I converted through the Conservative movement and had been attending Conservative shuls, so I felt good there,” Thompson said. “But I had never been to a synagogue as large as Adas, so my jaw dropped when I walked into the sanctuary.”

These days, she continues to use the event programming skills she perfected as a Hillel professional.

“I took this job because I love directly doing that education and engagement,” Thompson said.

She looks forward to running a new program this year, the Mitzvah Project cohort, to help prepare tweens for their b’nai mitzvah projects at Adas.

“It’s a great place,” Thompson said. “I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com