Presented by Rabbi Lauren Tuchman
Explore one of the root causes of sinat chinam: our collective failure to truly honor the sacredness and dignity of every human soul. Drawing from classical and contemporary Jewish texts, we will engage in multi-vocal learning, lifting the wisdom of diverse Torah teachers across time and tradition.
Tisha B’Av is classically understood as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar—a time of profound mourning, reflection, and reckoning. The rabbis teach that the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE was not only a historical tragedy, but a spiritual failure—a direct result of sinat chinam. On Yom Kippur, we beg God to remove this hatred from our hearts. And yet, in our time, sinat chinam continues to poison our communities and relationships. Why does it persist?
Rabbi Lauren Tuchman will share her insighst to deepen our understanding of what it means to be created b’tzelem Elohim—in the Divine Image—and examine how embodying this truth can transform not only our personal lives, but our world. What might become possible if we fully embraced the sacred in ourselves and each other?
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Rabbi Lauren Tuchman is a sought after speaker, spiritual leader and educator. Ordained by The Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, she is, as far as she is aware, the first blind woman in the world to enter the rabbinate.
She provides consulting to individuals and organizations across the Jewish community on a variety of matters pertinent to disability access and inclusion.
Rabbi Tuchman was named as one of the Jewish Week‘s 36 under 36 for her innovative leadership concerning inclusion of Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life. In 2017, she delivered an ELI Talk entitled We All Were At Sinai: The Transformative Power of Inclusive Torah.
The Haberman Institute extends a special thank you to Andrew R. Ammerman for sponsoring our 2025 program lineup. He dedicates the semester’s learning in loving memory of Josephine and H. Max Ammerman and Stephen C. Ammerman.