Ellyn Hutt: A spiritual journey

the morning of the Fast of Esther. Ellyn Hutt, immaculately attired, quickly apologizes for not offering her guest coffee or even a glass of water. Those are the rules — and the reason her face glows. Hutt and her husband Steve, who’s out of town, have lived in this tranquil, thoughtful, book-tiered home off Monaco for 35, maybe 36 years. “I can tell you about ideas,” the esteemed Jewish educator prefaces, “but I’m not good with dates. “I do know we’ve stayed put in our house longer than I’ve been in one place religiously.” Her parents, the late Sharlene Ancell Kark and the late Prof. Howard Ancell, raised her in a committed Conservative household in Littleton. Her path toward Orthodoxy “was the slowest process ever,” […]