Wednesdays - 3 Weeks
8 - 9:30 ET / 5 - 6:30 pm PT

September 3 · 10 · 17

Some say that the Jewish liturgy—the base of our prayer tradition—was composed in prehistoric times by the “Men of the Great Assembly,” and has survived, unchanged, since then. History tells a different story: one of constant evolution, contested meaning, and experimentation, from ancient times to just yesterday.

Join us for a hands-on experience of making and unmaking the text of Jewish prayer: what do we say when we pray, and when we say it, what do we mean? Explore the hidden motivations behind the nusach, or wording, or the prayerbook, and develop a new understanding—informed by a contemporary liberatory political approach—of how to read it, understand it, and live it.

This class will use literary, theological, and philosophical methods to unpack and analyze prayers, then offer a three-step method to deal with them in our own time. Drawing from the antizionist siddur Tatir Tz’rurah, class participants will be empowered to pray on a more personal level, and craft the Jewish prayerbook into the personal guide they need to confront the struggles of the moment.

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This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.