Yom Kippur Afternoon Classes

Session One
3:45 – 4:45 pm CT

Don’t Atone for this Next Year: Building a Better Chicago in 5784
Led by Local Action Team | Balcony Lobby
Join Mishkan’s Local Action Team and JCUA to learn how we’re creating a city where everyone has what they need to flourish and how this work is rooted in our Jewish values. Find out how you can get involved in this transformative work to bring us closer to our vision of a better future.

Breath, Movement, and Self-Healing: Letting Your Light Shine Through
Led by AnnMerle Feldman | The Annex (aka The Museum of Awe)
This gentle class is meant as a restorative moment during the journey of the Yom Kippur experience. Laying on your mat or sitting in a chair, you will breathe, move gently, and feel the relief of stress leaving your body. This is a place to rest, restore, and feel your body as a self-healing container. For those who prefer to lay down, please bring a yoga mat and eye pillow or cover. 

Tishrei Rosh Chodesh Circle
Led by Abby Kuchnir | Meet Outside the Main Entrance
This is an interactive Rosh Chodesh Circle for women to learn about the significance of the month of Tishrei on the Hebrew calendar and build community with one another. This is the first circle of 5784, and the group will meet monthly throughout the year in Maggie’s Place to welcome each new month and find connection. Note: this session is for all women – both cisgender and transgender – and folks who identify as femme.

Jonah: Sometimes I Run, Sometimes I Hide
Led by Tim Graves | Rise and Shine Nook
Join our weekly Torah Study Small Group for a reading of the Book of Jonah, followed by a discussion about the times we are faced with what we know we should do but, instead of doing it, we hunker down and hope it will blow over. Come ready to read, learn, laugh, and discuss.

Yom Kippur Minhah
Led by Gideon Horberg | Sanctuary
For those who want to do the whole shebang! Join us for a short, lay-led afternoon service where you’ll have the chance to do the traditional prayers (including another amidah!), hear a few verses of Torah, and read through the book of Jonah (if you’re looking for an in-depth discussion of the text, check out Jonah: Sometimes I Run, Sometimes I Hide.

Session Two
5 – 6 pm CT

What the Israeli Pro-democracy Movement Means to Me
Led by Miriam Kleven | Balcony Lobby
Curious about how you can be part of the solution for a thriving, democratic Israel after hearing R’Lizzi’s Rosh HaShanah sermon? Miriam will talk about why she got involved with the protest movement in Israel, give background on what’s happening right now and what has led to this moment, and ways we, as Americans, can support democracy in Israel.

Portraits in Faith & Sacred Listening
Led by Daniel Epstein | The Annex (aka The Museum of Awe)
Experience this meaningful interfaith multi-media documentary project created by Daniel Epstein. For  20 years, Daniel traveled the world “for business and for faith.”  While traveling globally for work, Daniel took time to interview people about their spiritual journeys – currently 500 people in 27 countries.  It is the world’s most extensive set of testimonies on the subject of faith conducted by one person and includes black and white portraits Daniel made of each person, meant to evoke their true spirit. He will share his approach to dialogue called “Sacred Listening,” the practice of receiving the story of someone you perceive to be ‘the other.’

Rilke’s Onto a Vast Plain
Led by Ari Frede | Meet Outside the Main Entrance
The poem Onto a Vast Plain offers perspective on a deep journey through internal and external obstacles. You’ll explore the poem with each other and compare it with readings from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Stephen Batchelor, and Jewish mythology. You can bring your own purpose in addition to ours: To find meaning in the poem, and to find handrails to guide us during a time of internal searching and striving.

Denying the Self, Renewing the Self: Exploring the Yom Kippur Fast
Led by David Gottlieb | Rise and Shine Nook
Why do we fast on Yom Kippur? Why are there several Jewish fast days? Why suffer voluntarily — or feel left out if we’re unable or unwilling to fast? In this session, we’ll delve into Jewish wisdom on fasting, and we’ll meditate on how the sensations of the fast (or whatever we give up on this day) can lead to a whole new perspective on bringing the embodied self to Jewish practice. This session is for anyone, regardless of how you choose to fast (or not) on Yom Kippur.