Practicing Spiritual Resilience with Educator and Writer Hila Ratzabi

Mondays in February, 7-8 pm

In a time of uncertainty and anxiety, we need practices that connect us to our inner strength and source of hope. The writings of Etty Hillesum are a treasure trove of the human spirit; she wrote her diaries and letters from 1941 to 1943, before her life was tragically cut short in Auschwitz. Her writings reveal an astonishing spiritual resilience and a deep and universal love for humanity and for God, even during the darkest times. In her diaries, Hillesum explored her own psychological development, and in the process she crafted a unique spiritual vision and approach to prayer and meditation that can inspire us today.

In this series, we will read and discuss Hillesum’s writings as a springboard for creating our own spiritual practices. Together we’ll explore major themes in her work: creativity, prayer, meditation, love, suffering, acceptance, death and freedom. We’ll engage in practices such as writing exercises and meditations inspired by her work. With the intention of connecting to our inner voices and crafting our own paths to resilience, we’ll support each other in imagining and creating a better world.

Hila Ratzabi is the Director of Virtual Content & Programs of ritualwell.org, an online treasure trove of innovative Jewish rituals and prayers. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, The Apparatus of Visible Things (2009), and her essays have appeared in the Ten Percent Happier blog, the Wisdom Daily, the Jewish Daily Forward, Kveller, Alma, MUTHA Magazine, and others. She is also the former editor-in-chief and poetry editor of the literary journal Storyscape (2011–2017) and the founder of the Red Sofa Salon & Poetry Workshop. She lives in Oak Park with her husband and two children.