Student Rabbi Lev DePaolo | Erev Rosh Hashanah 5787 Tonight I want to talk to you about shame. That cheeks burning, pit in your stomach, want to sink into a hole in the ground feeling. It’s a noisy, buzzy, hot, all-consuming emotion. It’s more intense than embarrassment. Shame kicks your shins and whispers taunts into Continue Reading »
Student Rabbi Lev | Ne’ilah 5787 “How do you pray?” someone asked me recently. After I clarified why they were asking, they said, “Well, I know what Hebrew words to say, but I don’t know what I should be feeling when I’m saying them.” I’ve often felt this way too. If I’m distracted, uncomfortable, or Continue Reading »
Yom Kippur 5787 | Eva Epstein Fasting to me was always just something you did to solidify being written into the book of life. It wasn’t something I dwelled on or gave much thought to, it was just something you did. It wasn’t until I had an odd conversation with my freshman year high school Continue Reading »
Yom Kippur 5787 | Brittany Schibuola Standing here today, I keep coming back to one word: belonging. When I think about Hill Havurah, belonging here sometimes feels like a kind of radical acceptance. We are a community of different backgrounds, different families, different relationships with Judaism, different opinions, different ways of praying—and plenty of quirks. Continue Reading »
Kol Nidrei 5787 | Rabbi Hannah Spiro In a midrash, a commentary, on the Yom Kippur parsha, the Zohar imagines that when God was getting ready to create humans, God consulted the Torah. Timelines don’t have to make sense when you’re talking about the Eternal. In the story, God consulted the Torah, and the Torah Continue Reading »
Rosh Hashanah Morning 5787 | Rabbi Hannah Spiro I got an incredible, life-changing opportunity this year. Thanks to you, thanks to my incredible coworkers and lay leadership, thanks to my community, I took a sabbatical. At the age of thirty five, turning thirty six, I had six entire months, a winter into spring into summer, Continue Reading »