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Alden Solovy

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May 17, 2018, 9:34 PM

Lamentation from Both Sides of the Fence

On a bus-stop bench in my Jerusalem neighborhood this morning, a couple in Muslim garb spoke softly to each other. On the same bench, an ultra-Orthodox man sat studying Talmud. Signs of hope for peace, for coexistence, are abundant...

Sep 29, 2017, 7:05 AM

The evening service's confessional reminds me that I am a perpetual work in progress

Apr 29, 2017, 7:41 PM

Remember My Heart

This new meditation for Yom HaZikaron, imagines a prayer that might be said by the soldiers and terror victims who've lost their lives for the State of Israel. It's meant to honor that raw spot of grief exists in...

Feb 19, 2017, 5:04 PM

He holds his irritation with the loud Muslim early adhan at bay by casting it as ingenious protest or his own spiritual alarm clock

Jan 23, 2017, 4:21 PM

For Torah and Kotel…

We "marched" in Jerusalem today, just as women – and men – marched all over the world on Saturday in the name of justice. No, we weren’t one hundred, one thousand or one-hundred thousand. It was 40 women, a...

Sep 9, 2016, 3:21 PM

A Liturgy for 9-11

It's been 15 years. This is a 9-11 liturgy composed for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, including newer prayers written to deepen the liturgy. Here's a link to a video of "For 9-11 Survivors." For 9-11 Survivors G-d of the...

Aug 9, 2016, 4:13 PM

Love, Hate and the Tisha b’Av Fast

Everyone, it seems, has a basis for hatred. Just listen to the loathing for other Jews, or observe the violence, disrespect, legal maneuvering and self-righteous judgments surrounding prayer rights at the Kotel. Skip the articles: read the comments. In them...

Jul 24, 2016, 10:07 AM

The Kotel weeps: A prayer for 17 Tammuz

Jews mourn the loss of the Temple, but it is the absence of righteous conduct among the people that is most painful

Jun 13, 2016, 3:33 PM

‘Blood Everywhere’

Grief, like blood, appears to be everywhere. “There was blood, blood everywhere,” said one man who escaped the Pulse Club massacre in Orlando early Sunday morning. “It was chaos.” Grief, horror and shock. And blame, like blood, is also seeping from this...

May 15, 2016, 5:50 AM

WOW Lost Its Way

Last week, Rosh Chodesh Iyyar came and went, the beginning of the new Jewish month. A year has now passed since Charlie Kalech and I were brutalized for helping to provide a Sefer Torah for women’s prayer at the...

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About Me

Alden Solovy is a liturgist, poet, and teacher. His teaching spans from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem to Limmud UK and synagogues throughout North America. He's the author of “This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day” and has written nearly 700 pieces of new liturgy. He made aliyah in 2012. Read his work at www.ToBendLight.com.