Let’s explore the wide range of burdens being brought to the Passover Seder table this year. Like the matza carried on our backs as we left Egypt, what do we carry with us as we come around the table, retelling this ancient story of our journey from the narrows of slavery to our redemption and leaving Egypt?

Tapping into the wisdom of the Mussar movement, we will explore the nature of fear and worry. In a world that is upside down, how do you function? How do you hope? How do you turn things right? This ancient story has a lot of wisdom to offer us today.

“Shavua tov”, may it be a good week. That’s what we say when Shabbat ends and the week begins. May it be a good one. Join us this Saturday evening for Havdalah Together.

Starting the week together... with prayer, with song, with light. With each other.

“Shavua tov”, may it be a good week. That’s what we say when Shabbat ends and the week begins. May it be a good one. Join us this Saturday evening for Havdalah Together.

Starting the week together... with prayer, with song, with light. With each other.

Song is the soul’s expression of freedom. Join us to explore the power and impact of singing, music-making, composing, and song-sharing as a spiritual practice. We are excited to learn from (and listen to!) some of the most beautiful contemporary song leaders about how melody holds memory, accesses emotion, and speaks a language like no other.

“If you want to walk through the world with your soul being able to express herself, you have to learn her language. We must learn to sing – to allow our soul to walk in the world.” – Chana Raskin, RAZA

Eid al Benat: A Sephardic Celebration of Womanhood

Come light candles and join us in exploring the customs of this beautiful holiday celebrating women*s friendship. Hag HaBanot (translation, "celebration of women") is a ritual celebration of sisterhood that finds its roots in North African Sephardic communities. We will share some of the customs of this beautiful, feminist holiday celebrating women*s relationships.

Addressing Sexual Harm In Our Communities: A Conversation in Preparation for Shabbat Vayishlach

We are grateful to partner with Gluya for this important conversation.

“Ogen” means “anchor” in Hebrew. Join us in anchoring our week with some inspiration, reflection, centering, and connection. Naama Sadan offers us this opportunity to breathe, to pause, to steady.

Join us for any or all sessions. Come when you can. And join the accompanying WhatsApp group as well.

(If SVIVAH hosted Thanksgiving, this is what it would feel like…) There is nothing better... or messier, or more loving, or more painful, or more supportive... than family. Come hang out with your SVIVAH family as we explore our foundational biblical conceptions of family, and how these core relationships impact our own lives and communities.

We are gathering to mark and celebrate the return of the living hostages and to pray for the return of the remaining bodies of the hostages. Even though everything feels complicated, we think it is important to take time and express gratitude for some of the miraculousness of this moment. 

Please join us for this gathering of meaning and song and thanksgiving. After coming together so many times over these past two years in prayer and pain, we want to take a moment for gratitude together as a community.

Be Our Guest: Sharing the Joy of Sukkot with Jewish Women* Past and Present

Sitting in the Sukkah with R' Aliza Sperling, Zoe Fertik, Mrs. Bracha Krohn, and Rabba Wendy Amsellem

How has it been two years? Join us in honoring the memories of those we lost, praying for those we are missing, and holding each other as we honor the grief this day carries for us all.

Grateful to join Rachel Kann as she guides us through an introspective creativity workshop, pulling forth what is already inside out onto the page. Through her unique blend of prayer and poetry, Rachel will help us discover the words we may need this Yom Kippur.

No previous writing experience necessary whatsoever.

Join us as we move through these spiritual weeks leading to the high holidays. Naama Sadan offers us this opportunity to walk through the coming weeks together with an intentional space of reflection and connection.

Join us for any or all sessions. Come when you can. With an accompanying WhatsApp group, when you cannot join in person.

This year – have you yelled at God? Begged God? Thanked God? Bargained with God? Doubted in God?

Before the high holidays, let’s explore the idea of having a relationship with the Divine. From the many philosophical conceptions of God, to the evocative and complex liturgy asking us to talk with God, and the very personal perspectives of humans trying to understand how to relate to the Divine – let’s pause on the threshold of these holy days – and think about how we want to show up when we knock on God’s door.

On this mournful day, we want to reflect on the nature of “lamentation.” What does it mean to share the yearning of one’s soul, the ache that one holds? How do we express our own lamentations – and? – how do we listen to the pain of others? Join us in exploring some of these “lessons of lament” as we sit together on Tisha b’Av.

We’re going to pray. We’re going to sing. We’re going to give each other warmth. We’re going to check on each other. We’re going to strengthen each other’s hearts. 

Because that’s what we can do right now. That’s our job right now.

So if you could use a little space to be together. To breathe together. To pray together. Come?

Join us as we move through the seven weeks of the omer — the time between Passover and Shavuot. Every Monday, Naama Sadan will focus us each week, taking inspiration from the colors of spring and the omer, including an opportunity for reflection and introspection.

Bring a pen, paper, and warm drink as we start our week together.

For some, Mother’s Day is a joyous time. But, what if we are not yet a mother and desperately want to be? What if our mother is no longer living? What if our relationship with our child(ren) or with our mother is strained?

These are only some of the ways the word “mother” can be complicated. Join our supportive circles for an opportunity to reflect on the challenges of Mother’s Day with other women who are going through a similar moment. These small circles will be facilitated by experts in the field who will hold space, share their wisdom and create a supportive and compassionate environment.

Days of memory. Of mourning. Of honoring loss and sacrifice. Days of hope. Through music, stories, poetry, and writing, we will carve out space for the emotions of these days. Join us on this journey through Yom HaZikaron towards Yom Ha’atzmaut. Leaning in to what this memorial day and independence day mean to each of us.

Passover HerTorah

What can the seder and its rituals teach us about living through difficult times?

Freedom From Imposter Syndrome: Coaching Workshop + Conversation for Jewish Women*

No. It’s not just you. It’s ALL of us.

There are so many spaces where and so many reasons why we feel not enough. Join us for this expert coaching workshop and conversation to explore why and when we feel “less than” in so many spaces in our lives — work, family, faith, and community.

Rabba Yaffa Epstein will explore imposter syndrome in our biblical history and poke at why so many of us (no matter our affiliation) feel “not Jewish enough.”

Jen Coken – expert coach and facilitator – will lead us through a full workshop with tried-and-true strategies to turn our “imposter syndrome” into our superpower.

Purim HerTorah: Stepping Up When It’s Hard

In the Purim story, Esther doubts she has what it takes to save the Jewish people — until she decides to take action anyway. What can we learn in our own time about stepping up in a time of peril, even when we don’t feel ready or qualified? Join us as Rabbi Katja Vehlow mines the Megillah and commentaries, and Darshanit Dr. Miriam Udel introduces us to irreverent midrashic Yiddish poetry to find the lessons that we need to draw on today… as we encounter a world that needs our voices, ready or not.

There are times when we need others to listen to what we are holding in our hearts. Join us for this space of holding and support.

These weeks have been hard ones. Many of us are struggling through it alone. There is a lot on all of our hearts right now.

Tu B’Shvat Nourishing

The new year of the trees + nourishing the growth to come. Leaning into the wisdom we learn from nature around us. With Naama Sadan, Chef Aliza Grayevsky Somekh, R’ Dalia Davis, R’ Aliza Sperling

Always on our minds, ever in our hearts. Join us Saturday evening for Havdalah Together. Let’s start the week together, for them.