Liturgist-in-Residence: Alden Solovy

February 18, 2022 - April 3, 2022, All Day

We are excited to welcome liturgist Alden Solovy to United Hebrew

United Hebrew is excited to welcome back Alden Solovy for a six-week residency. He will teach classes, lead two Shabbats and work on a commissioned musical piece exclusively for UH with Cantor Ron Eichaker. Alden has been a guest speaker and held shorter residencies at United Hebrew over the past 4 years, both in person and virtually from Israel. This residency is the culmination of this ongoing partnership.

Alden Solovy spreads joy and excitement for prayer. An American Israeli liturgist, poet, lyricist, author, and educator, Alden is the Liturgist-in-Residence for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. His writing was transformed by multiple tragedies, marked in 2009 by the sudden death of his wife from catastrophic brain injury. His teaching spans from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem to synagogues throughout North America, as well as Leo Baeck College in London and Limmud Conferences in the U.S., Canada, and the UK. He’s the author of five books of new liturgy in English, including a trilogy of poetic prayer books from CCAR Press: This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, along with This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. Alden’s work is anthologized in 15 volumes from Jewish, Christian, and Catholic publishers. Alden also writes for Ritualwell, RavBlog and the Times of Israel. He’s a three-time winner of the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism and the founder of ManKind Project Israel. In 2012, Alden made Aliyah to Jerusalem. Find his latest work at ToBendLight.com.

 

Opening Weekend

Friday, February 18
6:30 p.m.  Shabbat Service

Saturday, February 19
9:00 a.m.   Torah Study
12:30 p.m.  What is a Prayer to Us?

What do we mean when we use the word ‘prayer’? Together with our Liturgist in Residence, we’ll explore our own ideas of the essential qualities of prayer, looking into our own hearts, as well as texts. Those texts will span Jewish history from the days of our Biblical ancestors to the early Sages to modern poets and philosophers. We’ll strive for a deeper understanding of prayer and a greater appreciation for its impact and purpose.  This class will be held both in person and on Zoom.
Register here.

Sunday, February 20
9:00 a.m.   Build Your Jewish Toolbox: Israel

 

Class Schedule

Writing Gratitude
Mondays, February 21-March 28               6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Using both Mishkan T’fillah and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day as sources of inspiration, we’ll talk and write about gratitude. Among our explorations: gratitude as a spiritual practice; the impact of prayer on gratitude and the impact of gratitude on prayer; gratitude as a spiritual practice; and ways to use writing to deepen our awareness of how gratitude can impact our attitudes about both the blessings and the challenges of our lives. This class will be held both in person and on Zoom.
Register here

Words of Torah
Wednesdays, February 23-March 30       10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Join our Liturgist in Residence Alden Solovy for a six-week adventure in exploring Torah through deep examination of individual words of Torah drawn from the weekly Torah portion. Building on his work for his forthcoming book from CCAR Press – These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah – we’ll explore how our understanding of one word can impact both the simple meaning of the text, as well as the implications for Midrashic interpretation. This class will be held both in person and on Zoom.
Register here

 

There will be more opportunities to connect with Alden announced soon!

This residency is made possible through funds from the Ruzena and Fred Levy Speaker Fund and the Helen C. Millstone Music Fund

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