Jewish tradition offers us many names for the Divine and meditations on Who and What God is. Many of them are traditionally gendered male. How do you like to talk about, and to, God? How do you like to identify yourself in conversation with the Divine? In this two-part course, join Cantor Vera Broekhuysen of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury for an exploration of what resonates with you, and how modern liturgists are building on our rich Jewish history to expand our possibilities for God-language and language for people who pray. We’ll start by looking at the diverse language for God that our traditional texts and liturgy offer us. Then we’ll turn to modern work that offers expansive gender diversity in feminine and nonbinary language for the Holy One of Blessing and for each one of us.

Cantor Vera Broekhuysen joined Congregation Beth El of the Sudbury River Valley's clergy team in July 2023, after seven years at Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill. She holds a Masters’ degree in Jewish Education from Hebrew College, where she was ordained in 2016. She serves on the steering committee for the Greater Boston T’ruah cluster. A Cambridge native, Cantor Vera spent all her free time in high school singing world folk music on tour with Village Harmony before heading off to the University of Toronto to study ethnomusicology. Cantor Vera enjoys knitting, baking, etymology, hiking, contrapuntal harmony, contrafacts, and the company of her husband and kids.