HINENI #1: Selichot – The Wake Up Call

Rabbi Mishael Zion and Rabbi Ebn Leader

How can we celebrate the High Holidays in a time of social distancing? What does the coronavirus pandemic teach us about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot?

In “HINENI”, the new podcast of Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem, Rabbi Mishael Zion invites innovative spiritual leaders from across America to discover together how to enter this Jewish New Year. Through story and song, text and discussion, we will seek to build a gate to a sweeter new year.

Rabbi Ebn Leader is a world renowned teacher of prayer. From Jerusalem to Boston, he has founded path breaking communities of prayer, and has been training rabbis in an avant garde but ancient tradition of spiritual leadership.

“A COVID-19 High Holidays means we cannot depend on our Rabbis, cantors and synagogues to lift us up in the same way,” says Ebn Leader. “It’s going to depend on us. It’s going to depend on proper preparation.” Together Mishael and Ebn explore the unique custom of reciting Selichot at 5 in the morning. They discuss the chasm between guilt and longing. The episode ends with a discussion of Leonard Cohen’s song, “If it be Your Will”, a prayer of brokenness fitting for these Coronavirus times.

Rabbi Mishael Zion is director of the Mandel Program for Leadership in Jewish Culture, and co-founder of the Klausner Minyan in Jerusalem. He is the co-author of “A Night to Remember: The Haggadah of Contemporary Voices” and author of “Esther: A New Israeli Commentary”, a project of the AVI CHAI Foundation.

Artistic Director: Amichai Chasson

Producer: Eyal Levit and Shir Sharoni

Research: Avishai Huri

Audio editing: Nir Leist

Sound Design: Mor Sivan