Holding Each Other
2024-01-11 12:00 - 2024-03-28 12:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Two is better than one…for should they fall one can lift the other.
–Ecclesiastes 9-10
We are here. We’re in this challenging time together.
Ritualwell invites you for a weekly meeting time where we will lift each other up with prayer, song and creative prompts. Join us every Thursday from 12-12:30pm EST
Bring pen and paper– each week a different poet/liturgist will lead us in an expressive prompt. Pour out your feelings in words, images, doodles or whatever works best for you. We look forward to seeing you. Invite a friend or loved one who might appreciate this comforting space.
Upcoming Date: March 28th
Guest speaker: Tiferet Welch

Tiferet Welch is a poet whose work is inspired by kabbalah. She writes: “My poetry is, I hope, steeped in modern Jewish mysticism and draws on the arc of Torah and deeply felt personal experience to create a sensuous and sensual swirl of living in and through the four worlds, especially in the time of the pandemic, the death of my mother, and sadly, post October 7th. Exploring the parshiot by way of the sages, drawing out the kaballistic essence, mining the subterranean allusions of the Hebrew letters and binding them all within the personal, the poems form a chronicle of this liminal time.”

Jewish Coming-of-Age Stories: Writing the Younger You
2024-02-08 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, February 8, 15, 22, 29, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180 for four sessions
All of us have our coming-of-age stories: events we experienced as children, teens, and young adults. Your experiences may be humorous and pleasantly nostalgic. They may be profound or disturbing. This four-session immersion will give you a chance to tell the stories of the younger you in poetry and micro memoir.

We will begin each session by reading and discussing some representative poems and micro memoir pieces of one or several paragraphs, written by various writers, both Jewish and not. Then, using prompts and thematic suggestions, you will be invited to write the stories of the younger you–perhaps about school days, starter jobs, life-cycle events, family times and holidays, foods, spiritual awakenings, relationships, and anything else. Some of your writing might center on being Jewish, but that is not required. We will have time during each session to share and appreciate each other’s work. Writers of any level of experience are welcome.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Lynn Levin is a poet and writer. She is the author of nine books, most recently, her debut collection of short stories House Parties (2023). Widely published as a poet, Levin’s five poetry collections include The Minor Virtues (2020); Miss Plastique (2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Fair Creatures of an Hour (2009), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Imaginarium (2005), a finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award; and A Few Questions about Paradise (2000). She is co-author, with Valerie Fox, of Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (2019, 2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in writing/publishing. She is the translator, from the Spanish, of Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2014), poems by the Peruvian Andean poet Odi Gonzales. Levin is also the producer/director of the 2017 video documentary Life on the Napo River: A Glimpse of the Ecuadoran Amazon, Its People, and Their Traditions.
She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and teaches English and creative writing at Drexel University, where she received the Adjunct Award for Teaching Excellence. For many years, she taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Choosing Joy: The Teachings of Rebbe Nachman
2024-02-08 13:00 - 14:30
Thursdays, January 25 and February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$250 for six sessions

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772 – 1810) founded a specific stream of Chasidism that was once tiny, and has somehow become an influential force throughout the Jewish world. The psychological insight, poetic beauty and spiritual power of his teachings have touched many seekers. Together, we will explore who he was, how his ideas spread, and some of his key themes, in theory and practice. These include: the transformative power of music and song; our power and responsibility to shape ourselves and our world; how our thoughts affect our reality; the struggle to be joyful; the practice of praying in our own words (Hitbodedut); and maintaining resilience and equanimity throughout the challenges of life.

All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Daniel Raphael Silverstein is a rabbi, educator, meditation teacher and MC/poet. He lives in Israel with his family, where he directs Applied Jewish Spirituality, an online portal which makes the transformative spiritual wisdom of our tradition accessible to all who seek it. Daniel is an accredited teacher of Jewish Mindfulness Meditation and regularly teaches classes and retreats. He was born and raised in London and received a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MA from Warwick University. After receiving semikha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, he served as Director of Jewish Life and Learning for Hillel of Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. Daniel has performed and facilitated all over the world as a spoken word artist, MC, and creative educator, and the Jewish Week selected him as one of their “36 Under 36” young innovators reshaping the Jewish community. Daniel is a cofounder of Lines of Faith, a Muslim-Jewish hip hop and poetry collective that uses performances and workshops to challenge prejudice and build meaningful bonds between communities.
