Learning with Rachel Korazim
Join us on Saturday, May 11, at 6:00 p.m. for a special learning opportunity with a world-renowned Israeli scholar. Rachel’s thought-provoking talks open a window onto Israeli society, inviting listeners to engage with the country and its history in new ways. Stay afterwards for an Israeli wine tasting, light nosh and schmooze.
Registration closed — walk-ins welcome.
Poems of Our Days
The calamity of October 7th and the war that followed, has left Israel and the Jewish world in shock and despair. The unimaginable became our reality. As more details of the horror unfold, as we are facing the painful daily losses in battle and the plight of the hostages and their families. Not less troubling are the terrible losses and devastation in Gaza. We find ourselves less and less able to talk about it. The expression most commonly used is אין מילים ein milim — No Words! And yet — there are those who struggle and find words to express pain and anger, despair and abandonment.
In our sessions we will read and discuss poetry written in these very days. The poems are often raw and painful, while at the same time full of love and even hope. Some are written in forms of prayers such as a new “Kadish”, many reference biblical motifs such as the Akeida or Joseph. Others address the new “correct” language, since one cannot say any more simple things like “I am Okay”, or the two most horrible words in Hebrew nowadays: הותר לפרסום “released for publication” that precede the names of the fallen soldiers on Israeli media. The poems come from different parts of Israeli society and reflect a large variety of voices. New poems are added weekly.
Dr. Rachel Korazim
Rachel is a Jewish education consultant in curriculum development for Israel and Holocaust education. Rachel opens a window into Israeli society through literature; stories, poems and songs of the best of Israel’s writers, and invites listeners to engage with Israel in an innovative way.
Since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, Rachel created a global community of hundreds of learners who meet to study Israeli poetry regularly online. Rachel teaches at Israel’s well known learning centers such as Pardes and the Shalom Hartman Institutes as well as numerous Jewish communities in the world.
In her free time, Rachel enjoys scuba diving in the cenotes of Playa del Carmen in Mexico and the amazing coral sites of the Red Sea. Rachel is also a very active grandmother of eight grandchildren who all live in Israel.
