High Holydays Lecture Series: Reflections on Yom Kippur

Forgotten Tears: How to Forgive in an Unforgiving Age – Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum 

Neilah, the final service of Yom Kippur, is the ‘closing’ of gate to God. The Talmud said that the gates of prayer may close but the gate of tears never closes. What is the relationship between our tears and God’s forgiveness, and has this changed considering the vicissitudes of Jewish history?

Jonah: His Pain and His Prayer – Dr Erica Brown 

Jonah's prayer in chapter two is the most esoteric and understudied chapter of Jonah's four chapters yet it represents the turning point in the narrative. A close reading reveals the tensions and yearnings Jonah experienced as he reflected on the state of his life at his closest point to death.