NLI USA Signature Speakers Series:

NLI USA Travels Through History and Throughout the World

The Match of Hannah Senesh and the Candle of Yom Kippur

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik will use Senesh’s poetry to illuminate the candle traditions of Yom Kippur and offer a new understanding of this ancient rite through the prism of Senesh’s writings.

Monday, September 13, 2021

12:30pm-1:30pm EST, 19:30-20:30 Israel time

At the end of Yom Kippur, Jews around the world engage in a ritual unparalleled throughout the year: blessing a flame that has stayed lit for the entire holiday. We will offer a new understanding of this ancient rite utilizing one of the most beloved modern Jewish verses about light and flame: Hannah Senesh’s poem “Blessed is the Match.” This year, as we mark Hannah Senesh’s 100th birthday, the National Library of Israel’s collection of Senesh’s writings will help us find deeper meaning in her life and poetry, as well as a better understanding of what Yom Kippur asks of all of us.

Meir Soloveichik is the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel—the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York, and is the Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Dr. Soloveichik has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel on topics relating to Jewish theology, bioethics, wartime ethics, and Jewish-Christian relations. His writings have been widely published, including in the Wall Street Journal and Commentary.

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NLI USA Signature Speakers Series:

NLI USA Travels Through History and Throughout the World

The Match of Hannah Senesh and the Candle of Yom Kippur

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik will use Senesh’s poetry to illuminate the candle traditions of Yom Kippur and offer a new understanding of this ancient rite through the prism of Senesh’s writings.

Monday, September 13, 2021

12:30pm-1:30pm EST, 19:30-20:30 Israel time

At the end of Yom Kippur, Jews around the world engage in a ritual unparalleled throughout the year: blessing a flame that has stayed lit for the entire holiday. We will offer a new understanding of this ancient rite utilizing one of the most beloved modern Jewish verses about light and flame: Hannah Senesh’s poem “Blessed is the Match.” This year, as we mark Hannah Senesh’s 100th birthday, the National Library of Israel’s collection of Senesh’s writings will help us find deeper meaning in her life and poetry, as well as a better understanding of what Yom Kippur asks of all of us.

Meir Soloveichik is the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel—the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York, and is the Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Dr. Soloveichik has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel on topics relating to Jewish theology, bioethics, wartime ethics, and Jewish-Christian relations. His writings have been widely published, including in the Wall Street Journal and Commentary.

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