HerTorah: Taking Back Yom Kippur

HERTORAH: TAKING BACK YOM KIPPUR
LESS SHAME, GUILT, AND BURDEN; MORE LOVE, GROWTH, AND COMPASSION

Featuring Rabbi Abby Sosland, Dr. Guila Benchimol, Naama Sadan, and R’ Aliza Sperling

Wednesday 9/20 @ 8:15-9:45pm ET on Zoom

RSVP for Zoom Link at www.svivah.org/happenings

This year, SVIVAH 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:

• 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

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.

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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. This gathering welcomes women* 12+ and learners of all backgrounds. No previous Jewish learning experience or familiarity with Hebrew necessary. Questions?  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.