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High Holy Day preparation classes with Rabbi Alex and Rabbi Lily

Upcoming Sessions

1. Tuesday, 9 September, 2025 • 16 Elul 5785

8:10 PM - 9:10 PM

2. Tuesday, 16 September, 2025 • 23 Elul 5785

8:10 PM - 9:10 PM

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Tuesday 9 September at 8.10pm
Tutors: Rabbi Alexandra Wright and Rabbi Lily Solochek
Online

Psalm 27 – ‘From Despair to Hope’

In the first of our preparatory sessions for the High Holy Days, please come and share a discussion about this Psalm which is traditionally recited every day in the month of Ellul up until Rosh Hashanah. The Psalmist, who expresses his longing to ‘behold the beauty of God’, seems surrounded by enemies in troubling times. Does he doubt his faith and therefore his hope in the future? Or does he affirm his faith in a God who will deliver him from those who seek to do him harm?
Tuesday 16 September at 8.10pm
Tutors: Rabbi Alexandra Wright and Rabbi Lily Solochek
Online

Psalm 51 – ‘Indeed I was born with iniquity, with sin my mother conceived me…’

Psalm 51 is confessional, asking God to wipe out our transgressions and wash away our guilt. It is included in our Kol Nidre service as a silent meditation after the Viddui (confession). Several verses are omitted from the version in our Machzor including the perplexing verse that states we are born ‘with iniquity’. The verse seems to contradict Judaism’s belief that we are born with a pure soul – ‘the soul you have given me is pure…’ Is the Psalm stating something else, that we are born with an inclination towards wrongdoing and must spend our lives attempting to overcome our weaknesses and flaws?
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Tue, 26 August 2025 2 Elul 5785