Call for Proposal: Liturgist-In-Residence 2021

NHC Summer Institute 2021 Liturgist-in-Residence Call for Proposals
*DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 15th!*

The National Havurah Committee  invites applications for the position of Liturgist-in-Residence at the 2021 NHC Summer Institute. The event is scheduled to be held online between Sunday July 25, 2021 and Sunday August 8, 2021.  

The NHC is a network of diverse individuals and communities dedicated to Jewish living and learning, community building, and tikkun olam (repairing the world). For almost 40 years, the NHC has helped Jews across North America envision a joyful grassroots Judaism and has provided the tools to help  create empowered Jewish lives and communities. The NHC is nondenominational, multigenerational, egalitarian, and volunteer-run. Our Summer Institute is a unique opportunity for serious study, uplifting prayer, spirited conversation, and more, in the company of over 300 people of all ages from across North America and Israel. We gathered online in 2020 and will do so again in 2021, and we welcome programming that responds to the needs of this time. Click here to learn more about the NHC and our community.

The role of the Liturgist-in-Residence is to catalyze, create, and share contemporary prayer experiences and/or rituals through both teaching and practice. 

Past Liturgists-in-Residence programs have included:

  • studying forms of prayer, which resulted in writing original prayers shared in a community-wide “prayer slam”, 
  • learning how musical settings affect community prayer,  which resulted in creating a new melody for L’cha Dodi introduced at the Institute  Kabbalat Shabbat service;
  • studying elements of Jewish rituals, which resulted in designing new rituals for contemporary life cycle events
  • examining the structure of psalms, which resulted in writing and sharing original psalms and poetry

The Liturgist-in-Residence will offer approximately eight hours of online programming throughout the two weeks of the Institute. These may take the form of at least three independent workshops related to creating liturgy, liturgical poetry, or new rituals, children or teen program, or participating in community-wide services or programs.  The Liturgist-in-Residence also may lead or participate in innovative prayer experiences, an evening or Shabbat program, an activity specifically for kids or teens, or community programs. These programs will be open to the entire community..

We especially welcome applications that share your process of creating new prayers, reinterpreting prayers, or designing new rituals through example.  Please offer at least one session on “how you do what you do” so that others may learn from you. We are not looking for programs that teach traditional liturgical skills, nusach or service-leading techniques. While teaching, learning, singing, or matching original, or alternative melodies for prayers is appropriate, that should not be the primary focus of the Liturgist-in-Residence workshops and activities. 

We encourage Jews of Color and Jews from other marginalized identities and/or communities to apply. It is our desire that the NHC’s leadership and teachers increasingly reflect the racial, social, and religious diversity of the Jewish community. 

The Liturgist-in-Residence receives one complimentary registration to attend the NHC Summer Institute. If multiple individuals are on the same application and are chosen, they will share the registration credit. There is no stipend with this position You may apply separately for a teaching role at the Institute and tailor your application appropriately.  Please email courses@havurah.org with any questions about this.

The Liturgist-in-Residence position is sponsored by a donation from the editors of  Siddur Chaveirim Kol Yisraeil (the purple siddur used on Friday nights at the NHC and in many communities, recently updated)  and  L’chu N’ran’nah (“Let Us Sing”, an egalitarian traditional bencher with an alternative edge, now celebrating 12 years since its original publication), with gratitude to the NHC Community for supporting our work. 

Past NHC Liturgists-in-Residence include:

  • 2020 – Rachel Barenblat
  • 2019 — Ellen Dreskin
  • 2018 – Linda Hirschhorn
  • 2017 – Mitch Chefitz
  • 2016 – Malkah Binah Klein and Aliza Arzt
  • 2015 – Alden Solovy
  • 2014 – Trisha Arlin
  • 2013 – Adam Lavitt and Adina Allen
  • 2011 – Miriam Margles

 

Important Dates& Details

  • Please contact liturgist@havurah.org if you have questions or ideas to discuss for your proposal before submitting.  
  • Please use this form, or, if your word processing program does not let you edit it easily, you may create a document of your own that contains this information.  
  • You may submit at most 2 different proposals. Please complete a separate copy of this form for each Liturgist-in-Residence application you are submitting, and email completed forms to liturgist@havurah.org.
  • Applications are due by Monday, February 15, 2021 at 11:59 pm EST.
  • We will notify you regarding the status of your application by Monday, March 1, 2021.

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