HerTorah: Taking Back Yom Kippur
Less Shame, Guilt, and Burden; More Love, Growth, and Compassion
Featuring Rabbi Abby Sosland, Dr. Guila Benchimol, Naama Sadan, Sarah Osborne, and R’ Aliza Sperling
This year, HerTorah is focusing on reframing the harshness, shame, guilt, and burden that surrounds common tropes around Yom Kippur. We are asking ourselves and our teachers:
Can you repent without shame?
Do we always need to forgive?
Can we imagine accepting ourselves and being accepted with love and compassion?
Does Yom Kippur and “teshuvah” require us to feel burdened or to suffer?
Can we reimagine Yom Kippur from a place of love – from ourselves and the divine?
R’ Aliza Sperling says “Yom Kippur is the best day of the year.”
Let’s come together to discuss why that sentence feels so confusing – and how we might learn to make it true.
We will be joined by three stunning educators who will share their honest reframing of Yom Kippur:
Dr. Guila Benchimol explores the burden of “Yom Kippur is a day of forgiveness” and the complexities of asking people to forgive when they are not ready or when it is not deserved
Rabbi Abby Sosland explores the concept of “atonement” and how “shame” became attached to the concept of teshuva in ways that are harmful and unhelpful
Naama Sadan invites into the world of Yemima Avital, a revolutionary thinker and teacher, addressing Yom Kippur and its centering of connections and relationships – when and how to come close or set boundaries that are best for our growth
Sarah Osborne will share her work at A Mitzvah To Eat, offering support to those unable to fast on Yom Kippur.
This is a sacred time of year. Let’s be together in it.
Come when you can, stay till you can’t. But, come.
Our learning is incomplete without you.
Join us Wednesday 9/20 @ 8:15-9:45pm ET
Please invite someone you think might want to be with us, too.
HerTorah gathers together a diverse community of Jewish women to connect over our shared heritage, explore our collective wisdom, and elevate our communal experience in learning with and from one another.
HerTorah is directed by Rabbanit Aliza Sperling, made possible in part by support of the Aviv Foundation, The Covenant Foundation, SRE Network and inspired by each one of us.
This gathering welcomes women* 12+ and learners of all backgrounds.
SVIVAH is dependent on the generosity of those who choose to invest in a powerful community of women. As always, cost should never be a barrier to anything SVIVAH, but if you can, please help us show respect to our speakers/facilitators for their time and expertise. www.svivah.org/donate
Questions about ZOOM or about this gathering? Email connect@svivah.org
*SVIVAH defines "Jewish woman" as anyone wishing to be included in a circle of Jewish women. If you want to be here, we want you to be here.