Gatherings
Spring Clean: Moving Through the Omer Together
Join us as we move through the seven weeks of the omer — the time between Passover and Shavuot. In a private WhatsApp group, Naama Sadan will share a theme for each week, including an opportunity for reflection and introspection.
Naama Sadan invites us into the world of Yemima Avital, a revolutionary thinker and teacher, to explore different themes that allow for a “deep clean” and a refresh, weekly themes that contribute to our personal growth.
Spiritual Office Hours: Pesach 2024
There are times when you want someone to quietly listen to what you’re holding in your heart. These wonderful clergy and chaplains are available for 20-minute private conversations to discuss what is sitting with your soul.
Connective Conversations: Coming to the Table Across Difference
This year, preparing to encounter difficult conversations may be a critical and nurturing element of our Pesach preparation. Join us with Dr. Michelle Friedman and Rabbanit Dalia Davis, as we consider what challenging conversations we may encounter and think through how we might best respond. May we find ways to care for ourselves and for others as we take our seats around diverse, complex, and loving Pesach gatherings.
Pesach HerTorah
So much of the Pesach seder and Passover story focuses on the power and impact of speech. We need powerful speech now more than ever – speech that connects, that builds bridges, that heals. Let’s explore the redemptive power of speech together with Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler, Rabbi Maya Zinkow, and Rabbanit Aliza Sperling.
YE’UD: March-April Cohort
Ye’ud is Jewish community structure that springs to life when you need it! We will form a group, gather weekly during the month between Purim and Pesach, and build community. Our work together will be deep and transformative. It will include Torah learning and opportunities for artistic expression. We will work together to consider how we can each create meaning of our current feelings and to do so within the framework of Jewish ritual and expression. *No need for any prior Jewish or arts learning necessary–everyone is welcome!
Purim HerTorah: Strength Through Togetherness
Why is it so important to Esther for all the Jews to gather on her behalf? What can we learn from her about the power of gathering?
Join us on March 20th as we gather together on behalf of our sisters and brothers held captive in Gaza. Together we will learn how Esther saves her people, and show up in solidarity and love for the women, men, and children who are so alone and far away. With Dr. Guila Benchimol, Rabba Anat Sharbat, and Rav Sarah Mulhern.
In partnership with Silverstein Bais Lincoln Park, Maharat, SRE Network, The Covenant Foundation, and The Aviv Foundation.
February HerTorah
Have you started praying since October 7th? Have you stopped praying? Join us as outstanding educators Rabbi Naomi Levy and Rabbi Elianna Yolkut take us on a journey through personal stories and texts that examine prayer and the ways that it can provide strength when we face trauma, anxiety, and fear.
Spiritual Office Hours: February
There are times when you want someone to quietly listen to what you’re holding in your heart. These wonderful clergy and chaplains are available for 20-minute private conversations to discuss what is sitting with your soul.
100 Days: A Vigil for Hostages
One Hundred Days. It feels incomprehensible. 100 days of captivity for hostages ranging in age, gender, religion, and nationality. On Sunday, January 14th, we will come together as a community in prayer for the return of the hostages and to stand in solidarity beside their families living through 100 days of nightmares.
Living Jewishly Inside/Outside
Living Jewishly in the diaspora now may feel different than it did before Oct 7th. Let’s delve into this together, with wisdom, stories, and insights – experts holding us through our collective processing. Come be with us. This is a lot for any of us to navigate alone. It’s better to be together.
Chanukah HerTorah
What can we learn from Torah sources about antisemitism, and how can these sources give us strength? Three outstanding educators will share their experiences dealing with antisemitism in US society and on college campuses, teaching us the Torah that speaks to them at this difficult time. We will light our Chanukah candles together as a community as well.
Lighting Candles Together
No one should light candles alone this year.
Join us for candle lighting each night of Chanukah this year accompanied by wonderful educators who will share a little bit of Chanukah warmth and light.
Spiritual Office Hours: November
There are times when you want someone to quietly listen to what you’re holding in your heart. These wonderful clergy and chaplains are available for 20-minute private conversations to discuss what is sitting with your soul.
When War Hits Too Close To Home: Together as Jewish Women* in a Post-Oct 7th World
Let’s gather as a community of women* coming together in support through a time in history unlike most of us have ever experienced before. So many of us are feeling deep and new emotions these past weeks: grief, anxiety, trauma, anger, betrayal, gaslighting, confusion. Let’s come together and hold each other and these emotions with the help of trauma-informed therapists, pastoral guides, and resiliency experts.
Connection In a Time of Grief
There are no words for these feelings. Join us for a brief opportunity to come together for torah, support and song.
Spiritual Office Hours
There are times when you want someone to quietly listen to what you’re holding in your heart. These wonderful clergy and chaplains are available for 20-minute private conversations to discuss what is sitting with your soul as you walk into Yom Kippur this year.
HerTorah: Taking Back Yom Kippur
This year, HerTorah is focusing on reframing the harshness, shame, guilt, and burden that surrounds common tropes around Yom Kippur. R’ Aliza Sperling says “Yom Kippur is the best day of the year.” Let’s come together to unpack why that sentence feels so confusing – and how we might learn to make it true.
HerTorah: The Elul Journey - Series Session Two
A two-part series with the fantastic Naama Sadan who will share a new perspective on Elul and preparing for Rosh Hashana through the heart-bending wisdom of Yemima Avital. The “Yemima Method” is a unique spiritual approach combining psychology and feminine kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) that continues to influence thousands.
HerTorah: The Elul Journey - Series Session One
A two-part series with the fantastic Naama Sadan who will share a new perspective on Elul and preparing for Rosh Hashana through the heart-bending wisdom of Yemima Avital. The “Yemima Method” is a unique spiritual approach combining psychology and feminine kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) that continues to influence thousands.
HerTorah: A Celebration of New 2023 Torah Leaders!
Join us in celebrating + learning from the newest women* clergy, educators, and cantors from across the Jewish community! Hosted by SVIVAH, The Covenant Foundation, The Aviv Foundation, NCJW, JWA, Elluminate, JWFA, GEIHP, WRJ, JWI, Hadassah Foundation
Standing Up: Real Stories of Upstanding: What It Takes; Why It's Crucial
Featuring Dr. Keren McGinity, Hannah Dreyfus, Dr. Alissa Ackerman. Supported by SRE Network and The Covenant Foundation
Join us as we continue our exploration of "upstanding" -- what it takes, what it does, and why it is an essential piece of creating a world that reflects the values we hold dear.
**Please be aware that this gathering will touch on gender-based violence and sexual abuse. We want to hold our community as best we can, but please do what you need to care for yourself around these topics.**
Shavuot HerTorah: How Are We Listening? Responding To Women*s Voices in the Book of Ruth + Today
Join us in examining the Book of Ruth as a blueprint for the society we want to live in and how this biblical example of society, where marginalized voices are heard, holds up today. Rabbi Sarah Mulhern, Avigayil Halperin, and R’ Aliza Sperling will look to the text of Megillat Ruth for examples of how individuals and society address voices that are not always heard. They will be joined by Dr. Hadar Schwartz, a trauma-informed clinician who will offer her expert framing, relating our learning to our communal experiences today.
**Please be aware that this gathering will touch on gender-based violence and sexual abuse. We want to hold our community as best we can, but please do what you need to care for yourself around these topics.**
Turning Inward: A Path To A Peaceful Heart: Workshop Series
Join Naama Sadan as she guides this workshop series on a journey through the four gates of inner understanding inspired by the teachings of the famous spiritual scholar, Yemima Avital. This series will give simple tools for a deep exploration into our spiritual selves and connections to the divine.
HerTorah: Female Spiritual Leaders of the Holocaust
May Hertorah: Female Spiritual Leaders of the Holocaust
Featuring Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Rebbetzin Tzipora Weinberg, R’ Aliza Sperling
Together we will remember and shine a light on female spiritual leaders whose stories have almost been forgotten. Prior to WW2 these women were Torah leaders, and during the Shoah they displayed extraordinary spiritual heroism and resistance. What can we learn from their stories, and how can we ensure that their heroism is not forgotten?
Pesach HerTorah: Choosing Freedom
Passover Hertorah: Choosing Freedom
Featuring Rabbi Sarah Bassin, Jory Hanselman Mayschak, Rabba Shani Gross
Sometimes we think about freedom as something that happens, or doesn’t happen, to us. But the Exodus story and Seder ritual teach us that freedom involves spiritual work on our end, too, and that we have an important role in achieving, and maintaining, freedom – for ourselves and for others.
Purim HerTorah: Women* + Power
Purim HerTorah: Women* + Power — We’ve have always had to dance our way through the halls of power to make an impact. Join us as we explore the Purim megillah through a lens of “Women* + Power” – how we navigate power, how women*s power is perceived by others, how we perceive women* in power as women ourselves. Rabba Wendy Amsellem will unpack “Esther and the Liability of Women*s Likeability”, Zoe Fertik will explore “speaking truth to power” in the megillah, and Tali Farhadian Weinstein – a former federal and state prosecutor and Iranian refugee – will reflect our learning while sharing her own experiences with power.
HerTorah: Burnout
HerTorah: Burnout: Torah for the Tired — While it is exhilarating to feel “lit up” and inspired, the truth is that many of us find ourselves burnt out and exhausted. What Torah can speak to us during those times when we feel there is just nothing left in the tank? Join us as we explore emotional, psychological, and spiritual exhaustion with Rabbi Shira Stutman, Naama Sadan, and Karen Erlichman, LCSW.
HerTorah: Did You Hear What Happened to Dina? Responses to Abuse in the Torah and Today
The biblical story of the assault of Dina and its violent aftermath is so disturbing that it almost feels like there is a taboo around learning about it or exploring it in depth. We are grateful to our educators, Dr. Guila Benchimol and Rabbi Mira Wasserman, who embrace the opportunity to teach this difficult text and offer us a greater understanding of the survivor experience while exploring with us ways to respond to communal cases of gender-based violence. In partnership with SRE Network.
This will be hard and important learning. We are grateful to be doing it together with you.
**TW: This conversation will reference the victimization of women. Please use your discretion.**
HerTorah: To A Place You Do Not Know
HerTorah: “To A Place You Do Not Know” – Join us for an exploration of Genesis through the lens of some very personal Lech Lecha stories of uprooting and resettling. Featuring Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, Rabbi Katja Vehlow, Maharat Miriam Gonczarska, Rabbi Sarah Bassin, Shoshana Akabas, New Neighbors Partnership, HIAS, and in partnership with JIMENA.
Sukkot HerTorah: Finding Joy!
Join us on Hoshana Rabba and celebrate the joy of Sukkot with Rabba Yaffa Epstein exloring “The Joy of Commitment - What the Sukkah can Teach Us about Finding Happiness in Our Lives"
My Prayer/Tefillati: Finding the Prayers of Our Hearts
Featured Panelists: Dr. Jane Shapiro, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, Fran Loosen, Tova Ricardo
Workshop Facilitators: Rav Amalia Mark (ritual design), Rabbi Sarah Tasman (prayerful art), Kohenet Rachel Kann (prayer writing), Yael Flusberg (Yizkor, remembering loved ones lost)
Come join some of the most creative and beautiful liturgists of today as they share their process of discovering new prayers and new formats for accessing prayerfulness within the rich traditions of prayers that have existed for generations. Then we get to discover our own.