About Us

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Shira Chadasha @ Penn is a part of the greater Penn Hillel community, and strives to provide Penn’s Jewish student body with spirited and inclusive prayer opportunities. We offer a traditional service that promotes the maximum participation of females and males within a halakhik framework. Meeting throughout the semester, Shira Chadasha hosts lively Friday Night and Shabbat day services attended by a diverse group of students from throughout the Penn Hillel community.

Dates for Spring 2012:

We will be meeting this semester on the following Friday nights:
  • January 13th
  • January 27th
  • February 10th
  • February 24th
  • March 16th (Joint Service with Sephardi Yiddin Quakers)
  • March 30th
  • April 20th
  • April 27th

Additionally,  we will be holding several Shira Chadasha Minchah services on Shabbat afternoon, followed by Hillel's Seudat Shlishit. Our first Minchah will take place on January 28th!


See our Google Calendar to see who's leading or sign up to participate!

What is Shira Chadasha?

Shira Chadasha, Hebrew for "A New Song," was the name adopted by a Jerusalem minyan in 2002, aiming to build a prayer community committed to Halakha (Jewish Law) as well as Feminism. With the support and guidance of leading rabbinic figures, Shira Chadasha offered unprecedented opportunities for women to lead parts of a traditional, Halakhik service, while fostering a moving and song-filled prayer experience.

In recent years, other minyanim modeled after Shira Chadasha have emerged in communities across the globe and on several campuses throughout the U.S.

Since its inception several years ago, Penn's Shira Chadasha minyan has attracted students from throughout Penn's Jewish community. Our lively, Carlebach-style Friday Night services have become a staple of the Penn Shabbat experience. In our minyan, women are encouraged to lead Kabbalat Shabbat, read from the Torah, and receive aliyot. But most of all, we aim to provide an inclusive and warm prayer community here at Penn, bringing together students from all walks of Jewish life in an attempt to cultivate meaningful prayer and Jewish experiences.


We meet at the Penn Hillel Building, in the Berkowitz Room on the 1st Floor. We are a warm and welcoming community and encourage all interested in experiencing our services to attend!