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High Holiday 2024 HerTorah

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B’Kol Libeinu: The Call of Our Hearts

Spiritual Preparation for These High Holidays

Featuring Rabbi Abby Sosland, Rabba Wendy Amsellem, Rabbi Annie Lewis, Maya Bernstein, Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, Dahlia Topolosly PsyD, and R’ Aliza Sperling

One of the joys of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayer service is its familiarity. The words we recite are the same words previous generations used as they prayed for a good year. Some of us have prayed with the same congregation for years, and the melodies used in the synagogue feel like home.

Although the words don’t change every year, we do. We have had experiences over the previous twelve months that may have changed our perspectives. Our needs are different. Our relationships are different. When we encounter the machzor in a new year, it may acquire a new resonance. Maybe certain phrases or prayers speak to us positively and give us meaning that we have never seen before. Maybe parts of the liturgy strike us as harsh or painful in light of experiences we have endured. Maybe the liturgy just doesn’t hit the spot, oblivious to what we need right now.

Join us on September 25th at 8 pm on Zoom in highlighting voices that bridge the gap between the liturgy and our personal experiences. Torah teachers, Rabba Wendy Amsellem, Rabbi Annie Lewis, and Rabbi Abby Sosland, and poets Maya Bernstein and Rabbi Rachel Barenblat will draw connections between their experiences and the words of the machzor.

We hope that this evening of learning and community will help you prepare for the High Holidays, and that you will hear our educators whispering in your ears that we are here with you, that your experiences matter, and that when the prayer doesn’t speak to you it is okay to move off the page and offer your own heartfelt truth.

May we all be inscribed for a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year, may our hostages come home, and may our people and world know no further sorrow.

Join us Wednesday 9/25 @ 8:00-9:30pm ET

Come when you can, stay till you can’t. But, come. Our learning is incomplete without you.

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, and inspired by each one of us.


This gathering is made possible by these generous sponsors:


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.

If you would like to sponsor this gathering in honor or in memory of someone special, email us here.

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.

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September 4

One Step After Another: Moving Through Elul+Tishrei Together

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October 6

May Their Memories Be For A Blessing: Coming Together One Year Later