New course with Rabbi Fohrman!

Teshuvah (repentance), is an emotional and deeply personal process. Yet, Judaism has numerous laws for exactly how we’re supposed to repent, including a specific process of confession. How does this make sense? Can there really be a “right” and “wrong” way to repent?

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, and also one of the Days of Awe – but what connects forgiveness and awe? The Torah explains that Yom Kippur is the one day we can directly connect with God. Rabbi Fohrman explores how through this closeness with God, we can find forgiveness and the true purpose of Yom Kippur.

At the center of the High Holidays' prayer service is the passage "Unetaneh Tokef." The powerful and dramatic prayer borrows imagery from the story of Elijah. A closer look at this biblical story sheds light on God's relationship of justice and mercy with His people, and helps us understand this prayer in a deeper way.

We associate Yom Kippur with prayer and sitting in synagogue all day. But back then, it involved goats and lotteries and sacrifices and sprinkling blood and incense and clouds. How do those weird rituals grant forgiveness for our sins? It sounds magical… and irrational. Let's study this to explore the essence of Yom Kippur.

Can we ever do something so bad there’s no coming back from it? In this series, Rabbi Fohrman grapples with the nature of atonement through a close reading of the story of Elisha ben Avuya, the famous apostate “Acher,” and his fiercely loyal student, Rabbi Meir.