What can poetry make possible that ordinary language cannot? In this course, we will explore the poetry of Jewish prayer across the ages, attending to its imagery, rhythms, metaphors and literary forms. We will ask how the words of our liturgy shape our understanding of experiences as varied as despair, hope, longing and transcendence—and what it means to make these words our own, even when they speak from worlds very different from ours.

About the facilitator

Rabbanit Ellyse Borghi

Facilitator

Ellyse spends her days as a children’s lawyer and her evenings learning and teaching Torah. Ellyse serves as a pastoral care guide at Shira, an inclusive Orthodox community. She is a qualified pre-marriage teacher and certified to appear as a lawyer in rabbinic courts. She received smicha (Orthodox rabbinic ordination) from Beit Midrash Har’El in Jerusalem in 2019.