Ritualwell

ADVOT@Ritualwell Open House
2024-08-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Monday, August 12, 2024
12-1 p.m. EDT

Now more than ever, Jewish writers and other creatives need a nurturing home to encourage each other and uplift each other’s creative work.

Join us for an open house to learn about ADVOT@Ritualwell, a creative home for poets, liturgists, ritual creators, songwriters, and other Jewish artists. Meet fellow writers, learn more about ADVOT & engage in a creative writing prompt! learn more about ADVOT here.

Reading and Writing the Mourner's Kaddish
2024-09-09 12:00 - 13:30
Monday, September 9, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT

It has been noted that the Mourner’s Kaddish is not explicitly about death or loss; rather, on the surface, it appears to be a prayer of praise and exaltation. But what is the relationship between grief and praise? Who is the Mourner’s Kaddish for? What have been our own experiences of this prayer? Join us for a special Elul program where we get inside the structure of one of Judaism’s most powerful and enigmatic prayers, examining some of the context and history of this liturgy and then mapping and writing our own versions.

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

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger is Jewish Chaplain and Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is the current Rosh Yeshiva for the Center for Contemporary Mussar and for the last decade, directed the Mussar program at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon. Joshua also teaches Jewish Meditation and co-leads silent retreats. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Pacific University and his poetry has appeared in the Missouri Review, the Southern Review, B O D Y, and elsewhere.

Resilience Boost: Spiritual Accelerant for the Election Season
2024-09-11 12:00 - 13:00
Wednesday, September 11, 2024

12–1:00 p.m. EDT
$18

Come together with the Ritualwell community on September 11 for a special hour dedicated to the Jewish values connected to pursuing justice.

We will begin with an opportunity to recognize and mourn those whose lives were lost on September 11, 2001. Then we will learn with Rabbi Mike Pollack, the Executive Director of March On Harrisburg, an organization dedicated to fighting for democracy. Rabbi Pollack will share Jewish texts that reinforce our commitment to pursuing justice and guide us in discussion and reflection.

We’ll close with a creative prompt to inspire you to craft an original poem or prayer reflecting on your intentions for the upcoming election season.

Registration for this event includes a special Resilience Boost package of curated resources of poetry and prayers to help keep your energy going strong through election season and (optional) weekly meditations for hope and equanimity arriving to you by text or email each Tuesday through the election. The printable PDF of resources will be sent to you electronically on 9/10.

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

Rabbi Michael Pollack grew up in Rockville, Maryland. During his last year of rabbinical school at RRC, he co-founded March On Harrisburg, a group dedicated to making corruption illegal and taking our democracy where it’s never been before by passing anti-corruption, pro-democracy bills in Pennsylvania. Michael is also a statewide tri-chair of the PA Poor People’s Campaign. He lives in Cheltenham, and his hobbies include convincing politicians to not be corrupt, long marches through the Pennsylvania countryside, and sitting down in inconvenient places in the State Capitol.

Reading and Writing Mi Shebeirach Le'Holim, the Jewish Prayer for Healing
2024-09-16 12:00 - 13:30
Monday, September 16, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT

In another special Elul event, we will study the origins of Judaism’s central healing prayer; reading between the lines in an effort to discover its theological underpinnings, and how/when/why it has been utilized historically. What does the Mi Shebeirach teach us about how Judaism understands healing? Are there risks in saying it or not saying it? We will also and craft and share our own original versions of this healing prayer.

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

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger is Jewish Chaplain and Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is the current Rosh Yeshiva for the Center for Contemporary Mussar and for the last decade, directed the Mussar program at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon. Joshua also teaches Jewish Meditation and co-leads silent retreats. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Pacific University and his poetry has appeared in the Missouri Review, the Southern Review, B O D Y, and elsewhere.

Writing Letters: Dispatches to the Divine
2024-09-18 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$36

Throughout history, letters in the form of prayers have been a longstanding tradition: the act of direct prayer to God traces back to Abraham, who pleaded for the righteous in Sodom. Join memoirist Ellen Blum Barish, just weeks before Rosh Hashanah, to discover how letter writing can enhance your spiritual life and strengthen your bond with the Divine. This practice is a timely opportunity to prepare for a meaningful transition into the High Holy Days.

As the Days of Awe draw near, we are all reflecting on the past year – grateful for what we have and hopeful for what we aim to mend. Composing a letter, whether to yourself, a loved one, or to the Divine, is a way to articulate your thoughts. Similar to prayers, letters can express gratitude, admiration, and devotion, as well as make requests, seek guidance, confess, and find comfort, forgiveness, or divine support.

Now it your time to write the letter that’s in your heart.

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

Ellen Blum Barish is the author of the spiritual memoir Seven Springs (Shanti Arts, 2021), the essay collection Views from the Home Office Window (Adams Street Publishing, 2007), and a contributor to Chicago Storytellers From Stage to Page (Chicago Story Press, 2020). You can find her personal essays in Tablet, Lilith, Brevity’s Blog, Full Grown People, Literary Mama, and The Chicago Tribune and hear them on Chicago Public Radio. She founded the literary publication Thread, which earned four notables in Best American Essays. Ellen has taught writing at Northwestern University, Chicago-area synagogues, and writer’s studios, including Story Studio Chicago and Lighthouse Lit Fest. She works privately with writers on essay collections and memoir.

The Poetry of Your Ancestors
2024-09-25 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
12- 1:30 p.m. EDT

Join us as we investigate, conjure, and generate new poetry from our ancestral wisdom, and delve into our prophetic ancestors in our Jewish sacred texts. Led by Anna Goodman Herrick, author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken Whole , this Rituawell Event aligns with the month of Elul, a time of introspection and reflection in the Jewish calendar. At this moment in Jewish time, we re-examine our spiritual goals in order to get ourselves ready for the Days of Awe. Learn innovative and nourishing approaches to engaging with sacred texts and connect with your own sacred wisdom, transforming it into poetry. For new and seasoned writers alike. No prior writing experience necessary.

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

Anna Goodman Herrick is the author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken Whole (Monkfish, 2024). She works at the intersection of spirituality, sacred words, and human rights, towards collective liberation. Anna has performed her poetry at the Emily Dickinson Museum and One Billion Rising’s Artist Uprising at the El Paso Border, and shared her work at the Library of Congress, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Bloomsday on Broadway. She has recent and upcoming poetry in Spirituality + Health Magazine, Rattle, and the Los Angeles Press. Anna has created work for television and branded content for platforms like Teen Vogue, Sony, ABC Family, Oprah Winfrey Network, MTV, and the Sundance Channel, and created installations based on her poetry for museums and galleries worldwide.

A Day of Memory: Holding Each Other on October 7th, 2024
2024-10-07 12:00 - 13:00
Monday, October 7th
12-1:00 p.m. EDT

Now more than ever, we need each other. Our community meets every Monday for “Holding Each Other,” a 15-minute online minyan, but on October 7th, we’ll gather for an hour of grieving, praying and sharing.

Our guest facilitators are two beloved Ritualwell facilitators who live in Israel: Rabbi Haviva Ner-David and Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein. They will each share about their experiences and perspectives from the last year and lead us in opportunities for creative expression.

Holding Each Other
2024-10-21 12:00 - 12:15
Every Monday, 12-12:15 p.m. EDT

Now more than ever, we need each other.

Every Monday, join “Holding Each Other,” a 15-minute online minyan, facilitated by a leading Ritualwell contributor. Together, we’ll recite Mourners’ Kaddish and Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing. To foster our spiritual resilience, we’ll engage with a brief creative meditation.

On October 21st, a few days before the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, our special guest leader will be Rabbi Deborah Waxman. Rabbi Waxman will lead us in grieving, praying and sharing as we mark the anniversary of the Hebrew date of the tragic Hamas attacks.

Gather your strength and provide support to others.

The Jewish Spirit of Hope
2024-10-23 12:00 - 13:30
October 23, 2024,
12-1:30 p.m.
$18

Rabbi Schneur Zalman wrote “A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness.” Join the Ritualwell community to read and discuss examples of hope expressed in writing through song, story, humor and metaphor that will stir you to think about where hope lives within you. Memoirist Ellen Blum Barish will lead us in writing prompts designed to help you conjure these concepts of hope, as they relate to yourself, your loved ones, your community, the environment or world at large. Begin this new year by discovering and sharing your individual spirits of hope in community.

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

Ellen Blum Barish is the author of the spiritual memoir Seven Springs (Shanti Arts, 2021), the essay collection Views from the Home Office Window (Adams Street Publishing, 2007), and a contributor to Chicago Storytellers From Stage to Page (Chicago Story Press, 2020). You can find her personal essays in Tablet, Lilith, Brevity’s Blog, Full Grown People, Literary Mama, and The Chicago Tribune and hear them on Chicago Public Radio. She founded the literary publication Thread, which earned four notables in Best American Essays. Ellen has taught writing at Northwestern University, Chicago-area synagogues, and writer’s studios, including Story Studio Chicago and Lighthouse Lit Fest. She works privately with writers on essay collections and memoir.

Spiritual Preparation for Election Day
2024-10-29 12:00 - 13:30
October 29, 2024
12-1:30 p.m.
$18

With a week until Election Day in the US, it’s natural to feel anxiety and uncertainty.
Join Rabbi Malkah Binah Klein and the Ritualwell community for a special event to draw on spiritual and embodied practices for cultivating courage, resilience, and compassion to help find equanimity for the week ahead. Craft a personal ritual or prayer, drawing from the deep well of Jewish and world wisdom traditions, to carry you through the week ahead. Gather strength through creative expression–and the power of being with others.

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

Rabbi Malkah Binah Klein is a ritual artist, community leader, and teacher of Torah and embodied spiritual practice based in Philadelphia. She is the founder of Merkava, a new organization that supports spiritual transformation and healing through creative ritual. Among her creative endeavors are composing Hebrew chants, nature photography, and channeling the voice of Queen Esther. Malkah Binah is devoted to weaving relationships of nurture, resilience, and authenticity.

Compassionate Ink: Promoting Caregivers' Well-being through Writing
2024-11-07 12:00 - 13:30
Thursday, November 7, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST

Ritualwell is proud to partner again with Sharsheret during Caregivers’ Awareness Month for poetry, prose, and writing surrounding the caregiving experience. Focused on healing and support from the stress of this difficult role, we will find refuge in expressing our emotions through writing. During our time together there will be an opportunity for everyone to begin writing something personally meaningful and healing through our writing prompts. This session will focus on writing and ritual as a means of healing, which has been studied as an effective way to heal from both physical and emotional trauma. There will be time for sharing your own new writing from the session, something that you have already written before, or come to listen to others.

No previous writing experience necessary–our focus is on the power of expressing personal stories. This session is open to all, no matter who you are supporting, or why they may need support. Please feel free to invite friends, loved ones, and anyone you think will need this kind of support.

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

Melissa K. Rosen, two-time cancer survivor, current caregiver, and a member of the ADVOT writing community. She is the Director of Training and Education at Sharsheret: The Jewish Breast and Ovarian Cancer Community.

Braided Together: 'Take Challah' Ritual in Community
2024-11-14 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-12-12 14:00 - 15:00
Wednesdays, November 14 and December 12, 2024
2:00-3:00 p.m. EST

When was the last time you came together with friends or family to prepare a meal? Perhaps to bake bread? Picture everyone gathered around a table, crafting beautifully braided dough with delightful aromas, sharing stories filled with laughter and even a few tears. The warmth of connection and belonging, not just from the oven, has been lacking in our lives as we’ve drifted away from our Jewish communities and intimate family circles due to various life circumstances. However, it doesn’t have to remain this way, especially with technology supporting us.

Join Adva Chattler for a monthly gathering to explore the ritual of “Taking Challah”: the tradition of blessing the dough of our challah before baking it. Aside from the ritual, we will learn a new braiding and decorating technique each month. Our time together will be sprinkled with song, chant, storytelling and more, as we braid our challahs together. Recipe, step-by-step guide and more resources will be shared in advance.

Adva Chattler is an Israeli-Mizrahi Jew, born and raised in Be’er-Sheva, Israel. She loves to create meaningful experiences through her cooking and baking that prompt sharing stories, teachings and rituals about Judaism, Israel and Mizrahi Jewish cultures and heritage. Her rituals, prayers and poems were published on Ritualwell. Adva is passionate about bringing people together in ways that spark relationship building and connecting to others on a deeper level, both in the challenging and ever-changing world of online gatherings, and in person. She holds a MA in conflict Resolution and Management from Ben Gurion University of the Negev and BA in Public Administration and Management from Sapir College in Sderot, Israel, and a Makhloket Matters Fellow for Jewish Professionals by the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. With her experience in teaching and curriculum building, she support facilitators and presenters for Ritualwell and Reconstructing Judaism and encourage them to bring not only their best self, but best practices and tools for successful teaching online. Adva is also a mother and a foodie who lives in Del Rio, Tx., with her husband, three daughters and two dogs.

Bring the Jewish Practice of Gratitude to Your Thanksgiving
2024-11-25 13:00 - 14:30
Monday, November 25, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$18

Gratitude is an integral aspect of Jewish tradition. From starting the day with the Modah Ani prayer to offering prayers throughout the day that express appreciation for both the natural and human worlds, Jewish practices provide us with valuable frameworks to foster awareness and joy through gratitude.

With Thanksgiving approaching, this is the perfect opportunity to delve into gratitude as expressed in Jewish tradition and to create our own forms of thanks through poetry, prayer, or ritual. Join Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs, for a special pre-Thanksgiving event designed to inspire you before the holiday, inviting you to explore your personal feelings of gratitude. Uncover rituals that will bring a sense of sacred awareness to your Thanksgiving table and into your everyday life!

Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer is Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs. She is a spiritual director, author and educator whose work focuses on spirituality, creativity and disability. Her personal essays have been featured in Tablet, Shondaland, NBCThink, Wisdom Daily, WHYY and many other publications and she has published several nonfiction books as well as plays for children. Gabrielle is currently working on a memoir about the power of intuition and ongoing conversations with her ancestors. She writes a Substack newsletter called “Journey With The Seasons,” a weekly practice of meditative reading with creative self-expression prompts.
Gabrielle holds a BFA in theater and creative writing from Emerson College and an MA in Jewish Studies from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Capturing Your (Grand)Child's Stories
2024-12-04 13:00 - 14:00
December 4, 2024
1:00-2:00 p.m. EST

So often, we experience meaningful moments with our children or grandchildren that we’d like to capture–or have special stories from our own childhood that we hope to share with the next generation. Dr. Barry Mann has crafted a delightful children’s book, Miri and her Drum Set, inspired by a real-life adventure with his young grandchild. Miri and her Drum Set explores both the miracle of Hanukkah and also ways to unite people across religions and cultures.

Join us for an engaging conversation about Dr. Mann’s journey of transforming a personal story into a published book. Whether your goal is to publish or simply to create a family keepsake story, discover an effective process to outline and breathe life into your narratives. This event is perfectly timed for those looking to create and share a story that could make a memorable Hanukkah gift for the family.

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

Barry Mann is a retired surgeon and currently System Medical Director for Health Equity in the Main Line Health System of suburban Philadelphia where he served as Chief Academic Officer and director of the surgical residency training program. Dr. Mann has received numerous prestigious awards for his work in medical education including the Distinguished Teacher of Medicine Award from the American Association for Medical Colleges and the Distinguished Educator Award from the Association for Surgical Education. While professor of surgery at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, he co-authored five medical textbooks including SURGERY—A Competency Based Companion. His interest in Hebrew and Arabic led him to write Dreams of Peace, A Dual Language Primer for Learning Hebrew and Arabic in 2015. Miri and her Drum Set is his first children’s book and is based on a true story of kindness he experienced with his grandson Ezra at the Lime Ridge Mall in Ontario, Canada.

A Secret Chord: Exploring Leonard Cohen’s Sacred/Secular Songs
2024-12-10 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-12-17 12:00 - 13:30
December 10 and 17, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$54

The iconic songs of Leonard Cohen have influenced the cultural landscape, from films to well-known cover renditions to contemporary liturgy. Throughout his life, Cohen wrestled with Jewish tradition and many of his lyrics and poems are woven with references to the Bible, psalms, Lurianic kabbalah, and traditional Jewish prayers.

Join writer Amy Gottlieb for an interactive discussion to unpack several songs, examining how Cohen engages with Jewish texts and theology. Our discussion will conclude with a generative writing workshop using prompts from poems and song lyrics.

Both sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Amy Gottlieb’s debut novel, The Beautiful Possible, was a finalist for the Ribalow Prize, Wallant Award, and National Jewish Book Award. Her fiction and poetry have been published in On Being, Lilith, Ilanot Review, Paper Brigade, and Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, among others. She has taught at the San Miguel Writers Conference, Canberra Writers Festival, Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, AWP, New York Public Library, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City, where she teaches fiction workshops and works with individual writers on book projects.

Nia into the NEW Year
2025-01-02 13:00 - 14:00
January 2, 2025
1:00-2:00 p.m. EST

Start 2025 in active movement and flow of you body and creativity through the practice of Nia!

Join the Ritualwell community and Nia instructor Janice Steinberg (who is also one of our Advot members) to engage your body, spirit and creativity through Nia movement followed by prompts for reflection and writing. No experience needed.

Nia is based on the philosophy that everyone can enhance their potential for a healthy, meaningful life by engaging their senses and listening compassionately to their bodies. While it is adaptable to individual needs and abilities, its core principle is finding your body’s joy of movement, whether that’s swaying gently in a chair or dancing. Nia is low-impact and designed to be done barefoot. But it’s fine to wear tennis or jazz-dance shoes if that’s best for you. What you’ll need is a clear space so you have room to move, or, if you choose to stay seated that will work, too.

Have writing materials at hand. You may want art materials, as well.

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

Janice Steinberg (she/her) holds a Black Belt in the Nia dance-fitness practice and has been teaching for 15 years, including events for Ritualwell. She is the author of the novel The Tin Horse (Random House) and a five-book mystery series published by Berkley.

Creating Your Own Meaningful Tu B’Shvat Rituals
2025-02-12 12:00 - 13:30
February 12, 2025,
12-1:30 p.m. EST

Rituals serve not only as a source of comfort but also as a means to honor our history and cultivate our own legacies. Inspired by the birth of her son on the birthday of the trees, Wendy A. Horwitz, author of Milkweed and Honey Cake: A Memoir in Ritual Moments, was inspired to imagine Tu B’shvat as a time to deepen her personal ties to the earth, trees, and Jewish wisdom through creative rituals. In this Ritualwell event, Wendy will guide us in exploring narratives and engaging in discussion aimed at helping us revitalize our personal Tu B’Shvat rituals. Reflect on your connections to this Jewish celebration of nature and discover new ideas to create your own meaningful Tu B’Shvat rituals.

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

Wendy A. Horwitz is the author of Milkweed and Honey Cake: A Memoir in Ritual Moments. Her essays have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Afterimage, Neurology (Humanities Section), Jewish Literary Journal, Intrepid Times, and McClatchy-Tribune News Service, among others. Originally trained as a pediatric psychologist, she lives in Philadelphia, where she teaches writing and health humanities.

Voices of Disability
2025-02-28
Voices of Disability is a special new collection of curated poetry, prayers and teachings about disability from Ritualwell contributors. This printable PDF will be sent to you electronically and can be accessed online.

When you purchase this new collection, you will also receive a recording of our ‘Writing Disability Torah’ event.

In the event, we explore the wisdom found in Disability Torah and how we can connect our personal experiences to these texts. In the recording, you’ll be guided in a text study followed by a creative writing exercise to help you begin crafting your own piece of Disability Torah.

This conversation was led by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer from Ritualwell and Rabbi Ash Sofman from Thriving Communities at Reconstructing Judaism with RRC rabbinical students Mat Wilson and Rakhel Silverman-Gitin. Mat and Rakhel have both received Auerbach Ignition grants to support their initiatives in this area.

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs. She writes frequently about disability, spirituality and creativity and edits the Jewish Disability Inclusion News. Previously she directed Whole Community Inclusion, working to make the Philadelphia Jewish community more accessible. Her book The Little Gate-Crasher was selected as a Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month book selection.

Rakhel Silverman-Gitin is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College whose Auerbach Ignition grantt aims to educate and engage the community of Or Haneshamah, Ottawa’s Reconstructionist Congregation, on disability justice, and place it in conversation with the tradition of Shabbat. Instead of being focused on how to address the “issue” of disability within Judaism (i.e. what Jewish text thinks of disability), this project is focused on what Jews can learn from the wisdom of the disability community regarding rest and joy, and how to apply these teachings to deepen personal and communal Shabbat practices.

Rabbi Asher Sofman is Reconstructing Judaism’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Program Coordinator who has curated Disability and Accessibility resources for the movement. Ash studied creative writing and world literature at Brown University, earning a B.A. with honors in Literary Arts and is a 2023 graduate of RRC. He has served as an associate chaplain at continuing-care retirement communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Mat Wilson (they/them) enjoys board and video games, road trips big and small, and any opportunity to be in the water. They discovered a love for Torah study through the art of source sheet creation and are currently expanding their written reflections through the Disability Torah Project. Outside of their free time, Mat is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is pursuing a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

To Laugh: Using Humor to Survive Jewish History
2025-03-25 12:00 - 13:00
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT

Join Emmy-winning TV comedy writer and bestselling author (Marvel’s Look Out for the Little Guy) Rob Kutner as he shares his new book, The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting —a comedic survey of all of Jewish history, plus jokes! Kutner will read from his book and then lead participants in writing exercises designed to harness humor to disarm a menacing world.

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

Rob Kutner has won 5 Emmys, a Peabody, a TCA, and a Grammy writing for such shows as TBS’ “CONAN” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and co-created the fact-based comedy TV show “Gander.” Rob’s other TV writing includes “Teen Titans Go!” “Ben10” “Angry Birds: Summer Madness” and HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live.” He has also written material for the Oscars, Emmys, Writers’ Guild Awards, MTV Movie Awards, Guys’ Choice Awards, and two White House Correspondents’ Dinners. He has developed kids’ and adult animated series for Warner Brothers and SyFy.

Rob is the author of the satirical end-of-times bestseller Apocalypse How: Turn the End Times into the Best of Times! and the Amazon Kindle e-bestseller/Audible audiobook The Future According to Me. He is also the creator of the graphic novel “Shrinkage” for Farrago Comics. He has published humor and feature pieces for the New Yorker, New York Times, Esquire, Huffington Post, McSweeney’s, and the Weekly Forward. Learn more about Rob here.

Why is This Year's Seder Different?
2025-04-11
Ritualwell has created a new collection of curated Passover resources: Why is this Seder Different? Questions, Readings & Conversation Starters for a Challenging Year. This printable PDF will be delivered electronically and is accessible online.

When you purchase the supplement, you will also have access to our event recording:

Engage with Rabbi Mira Wasserman in a conversation with Ritualwell’s Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, focusing on text study, an interactive discussion, and reflective writing about how the Passover seder can offer a sense of order amidst chaos.

Rabbi Mira Beth Wasserman, Ph.D. is RRC’s interim vice president for academic affairs.work as a rabbi and scholar bridges Talmud study, community building and the pursuit of social justice. In the classroom, she explores the history and cultures of diverse ancient Jewish communities while fusing immersion in classical text with new critical methods and theory. Wasserman’s background in the congregational rabbinate helps her bring a practical orientation to her teaching and scholarship. She is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth Shalom in Bloomington, Ind., where she served for over a decade.

Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer is Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs. She is an author, educator and spiritual director whose work focuses on spirituality, creativity and disability. Gabrielle is currently working on a memoir about the power of intuition and ongoing conversations with her ancestors. She writes a Substack newsletter called “Journey With The Seasons,” a weekly practice of meditative reading with creative self-expression prompts.
Gabrielle holds a BFA in theater and creative writing from Emerson College and an MA in Jewish Studies from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Counting the Omer: A Neshamah Recharge
2025-04-16 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-05-15 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-06-04 12:00 - 13:30
The Counting of the Omer is a time for spiritual introspection and growth. During a time when many of us are feeling deflated and anxious about the state of the world, this ritual can help us to recharge our Neshamah, our soul.
Ritualwell is here for you! Through the 7-week period of the Omer, we’ll provide you with support, accountability, community and creative inspiration to do this spiritual work.

Every week, we will send you an Omer guide for the upcoming week, aligned with that week’s spiritual theme. This guide will include Jewish wisdom texts, readings, sensory explorations, and creativity prompts for the week. The printable PDF will be sent electronically and can be accessed online. When you sign up for Counting the Omer: A Neshamah Recharge, you are also invited to join us for three special community events throughout the Omer period:

April 16, 2025, 12 -1:00 p.m. EDT (Recording access now available): Ignite Your Omer Counting with a gathering led by Kohenet Sarah Chandler. Whether you’re new to counting or have participated in this ritual for many years, Sarah will provide us with a fresh perspective on the sefirah of hesed. How do you embody deeds of lovingkindness, g’milut hasadim? We will explore ancient and modern sources for love in action, through the sefirah of hesed. Whether you are looking to call upon divine love, to nourish self love or discover strategies for caring for others (without burnout), this workshop is for anyone who is ready to tap into the flow of hesed in the first week of the omer.
May 15, 2025, 12 -1:00 p.m. EDT: Nurture Your Omer Counting midway through the Omer with artist and Kohenet Bekah Starr. We’ll begin with a creativity warm-up exercise, followed by an exploration of a Lag B’Omer artwork by a Jewish artist, uncovering new insights and art techniques. Explore how art can be studied and interpreted like Torah, revealing layers of meaning and inspiration. Then, create your own artistic response—whether through visual art, poetry, prayer, or short story—fostering creativity, artistic growth, and a deeper connection to Jewish artistic expression.Bekah will lead us in a generative workshop exploring what we’ve discovered through the Omer so far.

‘Counting the Omer: A Neshama Recharge’ is part of Ritualwell’s annual campaign to sustain our work. Ritualwell’s mission to create a welcoming space for individuals from diverse backgrounds who wish to embrace Jewish practice has become more vital than ever.
We know that you appreciate us being here for you. And we need you. Ritualwell’s free offerings are made possible by gifts from people like you.
Register now and support our mission as we support you through the Omer–and beyond.

MALACHIM, Renewed: A Community Art Project
2025-04-28 13:00 - 14:15
Create art. Create ritual. Create community.
Submit your visual art. Be part of the creation of the new MALACHIM (Jewish Angel Cards) Set, MALACHIM Messages of Blessing Cards: Ritualwell Community Edition.
The tradition of MALACHIM (literally: messages or angels) began in a circle of friends in Jerusalem in 1989. They sang the beloved song Shalom Aleichem to honor the beginning of Shabbat, noting that the words of the song welcome the “messengers/angels of peace,” which are said to frequent the homes of those who bring in Shabbat (Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, 119a). Deborah Eisenbach-Budner created a set of MALACHIM to accompany the singing. These cards came to be known as Jewish Angel Cards; her hand-made sets found homes throughout the world. Several thousand printed sets, now called MALACHIM Messages of Blessing, have made their way into personal and communal rituals as well as Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh, and holiday tables as this folk tradition grows.
Now, MALACHIM will evolve again as a collective process, including you!
We are creating a MALACHIM set that incorporates original art made by Ritualwell community members. Each of the MALACHIM will be made from a original photo/work of art. On the margins of the art will be a word in Hebrew, transliteration, and English.
Our timeline:

On Monday April 28 at 1pm EST, Ritualwell will host a virtual launch event to invite artists to learn more about this community art project and its logistics. There will be a word bank provided; artists will be invited to submit up to 5 pieces for consideration by June 4.
On Monday June 30 at 5pm EST, Ritualwell will host a virtual unveiling gallery event for the artists and community members to share the artwork selected for the card deck. Artists will have a chance to share about their reflections from the process of art making for this project.
The cards will become available for sale August 1, in time for Elul and the Jewish New Year.

Registrants commit to:
Join the April 28th virtual event and submit 3-5 pieces of artwork. 36 or 54 pieces will be chosen, depending on submissions. Registrants will receive a free set of the new MALACHIM and will be credited on the physical insert and online description.
We are lucky to have such a creative and inspiring network of artists at Ritualwell, and we hope you will join us at the April 28 launch event and submit your art for consideration!

Writing Postcards From the Heart
2025-06-17 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT

Write your own postcards to a loved one, to your younger self, to an artist you love, or to even to G-d in this interactive writing workshop with Poet and Professor Lisa Grunberger. Jewish thought has much to teach us about anger and compassion. For example, Rebbe Nachman taught that the best antidote for one’s anger is a compassionate heart. In Hebrew, the word for “compassion” (rachamim), shares the same root as the words for “womb” (rechem) and for “tomorrow” (machar).

Writing is cathartic, a ritual that helps us process complex emotions like grief and anger. You are encouraged to bring photos of people, alive or not, you might want to write postcards to so their energy is close. We will have time to share our spontaneous postcard writing with each other; you will be surprised at the creative writing that emerges with these short postcard-writing exercises. A postcard can spark the first lines of a novel, a song, or even heal a relationship. Discover how writing from the emotional “place” of pain, love, curiosity, anger, or grief can create a bridge to heal.

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

Pushcart nominee and Temple University English Professor Lisa Grunberger is a first-generation American writer. Her award-winning poetry book, I am dirty (Moonstone Press), and Born Knowing (Finishing Line Press), are lyrical reflections on life as a woman, a mother, and a daughter of Holocaust survivors. Her book, Yiddish Yoga: Ruthie’s Adventures in Love, Loss and the Lotus Position (Harper Collins), about a widowed grandmother who does yoga to help her grieve, is currently being adapted as a musical. Almost Pregnant, her play about infertility and assisted reproductive technologies, is published by Next Stage Press.
Her poetry book, Mercy Wombs, was the finalist in Settlement House American Poetry Prize for first-generation poets. She is a widely published poet whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Paterson Literary Review, Mudfish, The Drunken Boat, Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal, Philadelphia Poets, Paroles des Jour, Dialogi, Crab Orchard Review, Mom Egg Review, The Baffler, and Fine Linen Press. Her poems have been translated into Hebrew, Slovenian, Russian, Spanish and Yiddish.

The Creative Fire of Folklore
2025-06-24 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT

In this generative poetry event, we’ll chart ways to use your family or community’s sayings in poems that explore how the past informs the present. Come prepared to have fun, while trying your hand at techniques for folding both folklore and imagery into poetry that’s at once individual and universal. Together, we’ll play with writing exercises and discuss published work. By the end of class, you’ll have a draft that you can shape for further development.

No previous poetry experience is required–this event is inclusive of everyone’s background and lived experiences.

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

Susan Comninos is a widely published writer and author of a recent book of poems, “Out of Nowhere” (Stephen F. Austin Univ. Press/Texas A&M, 2022). Her individual poems, often on Jewish themes, have appeared in the Harvard Review Online, Rattle, The Common, Prairie Schooner and North American Review, among others. She’s taught writing to undergraduates at Siena College, The College of St. Rose and SUNY Albany, as well as to adults in the community. She is currently at work on a second collection of poems, called “Wild Joy of Receiving.” She lives in upstate New York.

Advot End-of-Year Celebration and Poetry Reading
2025-06-26 19:00 - 20:30
Thursday, June 26, 2025
7-8:30 p.m. EDT

Join us to celebrate the contributions of our Advot@Ritualwell members and the unveiling of our fourth anthology showcasing their creations. Advot@Ritualwell serves as an online community for Jewish writers to learn, connect, and collaborate, providing a platform for mutual support in what can often be a solitary journey. Members bring their diverse backgrounds and expertise to share, co-create, and inspire one another. This event is their opportunity to showcase their work to you. Show your support by attending! Registrants will receive a 15% discount on their purchase of the anthology.

The members of our ADVOT community include: Elliott batTzedek, Elizabeth Caplun, Rabbi Nachshon Carmi, Alex Carter, Cathleen Cohen, Muriel Dance, Batya Diamond, Elisa Friedlander, Rabbi Dayle Friedman, Ona Gritz, Ziva Harmatz, Marc Jacobs, Ann Kanter, Judith Kerman, Chelsea Levinson, Rabbi Janet Madden, Beverly Pincus, SJ Schlossman, Gail Simmons, Janice Steinberg, Julie Stone, Cantor Keren Webber, Tiferet Welch and McKenzie Wren.

Holding Each Other
2025-09-08 12:00 - 12:15
Every Monday, 12-12:15 p.m. EDT

Now more than ever, we need each other.

Every Monday, join “Holding Each Other,” a 15-minute online minyan, facilitated by a leading Ritualwell contributor. Together, we’ll recite Mourners’ Kaddish and Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing. To foster our spiritual resilience, we’ll engage with a brief creative meditation.

Weekly, gather your strength and provide support to others.
