The Gamliel Institute is a center for study, training, and advocacy concerning Jewish end-of-life practices. The Institute is a project of Kavod v’Nichum (Honor and Comfort), a North American organization that provides assistance, training, and resources about Jewish death and bereavement practice for Chevrah Kadisha groups and bereavement committees in synagogues and communities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Yom Kippur: Facing Mortality Without Morbidity with Rabbi Richard Hirsh

Two 90-minute Sessions 

August 18, 25, 2021

8:00pm Eastern / 5:00pm Pacific

Course Fee: We are testing a new flexible course fee structure. Please see options at checkout.  

Some of the most essential teachings of Jewish tradition about mortality, death, and memory are enacted in the liturgy and observances of Yom Kippur. Shaping an annual confrontation with that which is limited (life), and an annual conversation about that which is limitless (how we fill the years of life) is at the heart of Yom Kippur. In this learning, we will look at various parts of the Yom Kippur liturgy in which awareness of finitude is matched with teachings about atonement and repentance, as well as questions of eternality. We will look at several key prayers and especially at the Yom Kippur Yizkor service of memory, to gain a deeper sense of where we find the spiritual resources to acknowledge the boundaries of life while sustaining hope and creating commitment.

Rabbi Richard Hirsh

Rabbi Richard Hirsh recently completed five years of service to Philadelphia-area Reform congregations. In his forty-year career he has held a number of organizational, academic, editorial and congregational positions. He continues to serve Congregation Darchei Noam in Toronto for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, where he has been leading services for over twenty years.