From Punishment to Compassion

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Walks ups will be accepted.

The time leading up to Tisha B’av and its aftermath, leading ultimately to Rosh HaShana, demands an almost instantaneous move from extreme sadness, grief and anger to joy and happiness to be with God. How does our tradition help us move from one radical state to the other with purpose and meaning? How does this process enhance our relationship with God?

Marianne Novak will be beginning her fourth year as a student at Yeshivat Maharat this fall. Marianne has a B.A. cum laude in Political Science from Barnard College, Columbia University and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. She has served in many leadership and Jewish educational positions including Endowment Direction for the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, Tanakh teacher at Rochelle Zell Chicagoland Jewish High School and for the last 20 years, an instructor for the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning in the Chicago area. She helped start the Women’s Tefillah Group in St. Louis and is currently a gabbait for the Skokie Women’s Tefillah Group. She teaches girls and boys for Bat and Bar Mitzvah and gives various Torah based lectures in her community, most recently at Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue and writes a blog for the Times of Israel. Marianne has recently completed a year-long Rabbinic internship at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. She lives in Skokie, Illinois with her husband and family.

LM