On the 18th of Cheshvan (November 18th and 19th on the Gregorian calendar) we will be holding community Torah study in honor of the yahrzeit of the eleven people who were killed in the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting. The 10.27 Healing Partnership is collaborating with Beth Kissileff and Eric Lidji, Director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center, to organize these Torah studies and invite teachers from near and far to our community. We encourage you to join us to gather in remembrance, to be embraced in Jewish tradition, and to perform the mitzvah of study and care that we have gathered to enact for thousands of years. We welcome those of all faiths who wish to remember in this way with us.
For me, studying Torah during the annual yahrzeit is a comfort. As a therapist, I often conceptualize psychology as made up of multiple different identities and intersections; someone may be a woman, Jewish, and a mother, and their experiences are impacted by all these parts of themselves and the ways in which they interact or conflict. During the yahrzeit, Torah study can help us to integrate different aspects of the self, both our identities and our experiences. We can bring our present to our past, bringing healing to our grief. We can also bring what we learned from our past, the kindness and compassion and care, to our present struggles or pain. Torah study places us on a continuum of Jewish tradition, reminding us that we are responsible for our collective future but that we are always held and supported by those who have come before us.
During our Torah study we include many teachings, including Mishnah, which survived only through the diligence and commitment of past generations who taught the next through passing on our oral history for generations before putting in into writing. The Mishnah is traditionally studied during a yahrzeit, and studying these teachings centers us in the context of all those that came before us while simultaneously reminding us that we are responsible for the future. By keeping alive these links to the past, we are creating our link to the future.
When we gather to study we will mourn those who have died while we celebrate the lives they led. We will stand humbled by the expanse of history and in our own mourning. But the beauty of yahrzeit tradition is that it is not only concerned with those who have died, but also those who are still here. Even as we practice the mitzvot of Torah study and saying the kaddish to illuminate the memory of these kedoshim, we ourselves are raised up and brought closer to their legacy.
On the 18th of Cheshvan we honor the yahrzeit of those who have died through two Torah studies, one in-person and one as a global community. We will honor the past and look towards the future, but most of all, we will be present with one another and gather in warm community. These Torah study portions are not designed just for those who study regularly; they are open to all and diverse in topic and presentation. Rabbis, cantors, and Jewish teachers will be facilitating studies on meditation and mindfulness, the weekly parsha, Jewish history, the importance of minyan, music that lifts us up in our darkest moments, and more. We welcome everyone. Bringing a warm presence to one another as we learn together is a mitzvah that will spread ripples of kindness throughout all of our communities and into our futures.
In Solidarity,
Maggie Feinstein Executive Director 10.27 Healing Partnership
