After working as a Jewish educator, as a journalist, and in women’s health, Rabbi Pamela Wax was ordained in 1994 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She has served as a hospital chaplain, a congregational rabbi, as the national assistant director of adult Jewish education for the Reform movement, and for 19 years as staff rabbi at a social service agency in White Plains, NY, where she ran a Jewish spiritual healing center, offering pastoral counseling and spiritual journeying opportunities. She currently serves as the director of adult Jewish education at Congregation Knesset Israel in Pittsfield, MA.
Rabbi Wax has practiced and taught Mussar for over twenty years. As an author, she has published articles on Jewish spirituality and women’s issues for numerous books and journals. She has also created a teen Mussar curriculum for Chai Mitzvah and co-wrote Pitchei haLevavot, a weekly Torah commentary through a Mussar lens for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.
Rabbi Wax is also an award-winning poet, the author of two books of poetry, Walking the Labyrinth (2022, Main Street Rag Press) and Starter Mothers (2023, Finishing Line Press). She is a popular teacher, offering numerous poetry, Mussar, and other workshops online and around the country. Rabbi Wax is an activist for many social justice issues and is a former global justice fellow for the American Jewish World Service. She lives in the northern Berkshires of Massachusetts.
Friday, September 27: Shabbat Evening Services will begin as usual at 6:30pm, Rabbi Wax will join Rabbi Gordon the Bima and enhanced by contemporary psalms and poetry, and Rabbi Wax will speak on the topic of “The Labyrinths of Our Lives: The Spiritual Practice of Coming Home.”
Saturday, September 28
Special Edition of Taking Hold of Torah at 9:30am: “Torah through a Mussar Lens”
The practice of Mussar helps us cultivate soul-traits (middot) such as generosity, humility, or patience. Rabbi Wax will lead us through the week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim-Va-yelech, with an eye to highlighting the middot that come to the fore. How might we use the Torah portion (whether this week’s or another) to help us cultivate our character?
Selichot Programming
8:00pm: Dessert Reception
8:30pm: “Preparing our Hearts for the Days of Awe: Poetry for the Journey” We will discuss a selection of poems thematically appropriate for the Days of Awe. We will also ask and answer “What makes a poem a poem?” learning some nuts and bolts of poetry along the way. Click here to Register
9:30pm: Selichot Service
Sunday, September 29 at 9:30am “Color Your World Mussar: The Jewish Art and Practice of Self-Improvement” In this overview of the role of Mussar in Jewish history, literature, and practice, we will also come to understand why Mussar was considered downright counter-cultural at its inception, and discuss whether it still is. Click here to Register
