Wednesdays, November 20, 27 and December 4, 11, 18, 2024,
12-2 p.m. EST
$250
Among the 613 mitzvot (commandments) derived from the Hebrew Bible and observed through centuries of study and practice, three specific mitzvot have traditionally been assigned to women: lighting Shabbat candles, baking challah, and observing mikveh for family purity laws. These commandments prompt many questions regarding their relevance for us today, including:
- What do these mitzvot symbolize?
- Were they truly intended to be exclusively for women?
- How can we interpret them in terms of contemporary gender fluidity and feminist perspectives?
- In what ways can we align these commandments with present-day spirituality and humanist values?
- How can we integrate these practices into modern life? Why might we choose not to?
Join Rachel Neve-Midbar to delve into these inquiries during a thought-provoking Ritualwell Immersion. Discover your connection to these powerful mitzvot through the exploration of ancient and modern poetry. Create your own poems inspired by our reading, discussions and personal reflection.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Poet, essayist, translator and Fulbright Scholar, Rachel Neve-Midbar’s collection S
alaam of Birds was chosen by Dorothy Barresi for the Patricia Bibby First Book Prize and was published by Tebot Bach in January 2020. She is also the author of the chapbook,
What the Light Reveals (Tebot Bach, 2014, winner of The Clockwork Prize). Rachel’s work has appeared widely in various publications and anthologies. Her awards include the Crab Orchard Review Richard Peterson Prize, The Passager Prize, and nominations for The Pushcart Prize. Rachel is a newly-minted PhD from The University of Southern California, where her research concerned menstruation in contemporary poetry. She is currently a Fulbright Post Doc in Israel translating the poems of Holocaust poet Abba Kovner. Rachel is also the co-editor of
Stained: an anthology of creative writing about menstruation (Querencia Press, July 2023) and her scholarly work
Thought and New Language in the Menstrual Poem is due out from Palgrave MacMillan in 2026.