Travel in time with Maggidah Cyrise Beatty Schachter to learn how spiritual customs of our ancestral mothers can powerfully enrich our Elul journey. Elul is the month for deep soul reflection; for making t'shuvah, granting forgiveness, and creating a deep intimacy with the Divine. Our tradition asks us to cultivate a greater opening of the heart and to honestly face death and bless new life. In this class, we will explore Jewish women's spiritual practices in Eastern Europe leading up to the 20th century. We'll look at the Elul tradition of visiting cemeteries to pray among the ancestors; measuring graves with string to be used as wick for making Neshome Likht or Soul Candles; and the practices of professional mourners whose cries, songs, and embodiment of grief helped the community reach great depth in their season of S'lichot. Remembering and reviving these practices offers a tikkun to our modern culture much in need of rituals encouraging our expressions of grief and growing our ability to honor life and death.

Cyrise Beatty Schacter:

Maggidah Cyrise Schachter is a passionate educator, teacher, and musician committed to helping others connect in meaningful and authentic ways to Jewish wisdoms. With a lens toward delightful spiritual archaeology, it is her great joy to excavate practices and voices within our long and varied ancestries that have been marginalized, and to illuminate them together in the here and now. Maggidah Cyrise was a  member of Chochmat Ha Lev's musical leadership team for 10 years before moving to Ashland, Oregon where she has served for the last 12 years at Havurah Shir Hadash as Musical Director, Maggidah, and Rabbinic Assistant.  She is a grateful wife to Stefan and mama to Jonah and tender of cats, chickens, and a big garden.

September 8, 7:00-8:15 PM, on Zoom
Free for members; $18 for non-members and guests; donations welcome