Ritualwell

Exploring Disability Torah: Text, Reflection, and Creative Voice
2026-02-23 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Monday, February 23, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST

Join Ritualwell and the Disability Torah Project for a powerful, inclusive gathering exploring disability, Jewish text, and creative expression. We’ll hear from Mat Wilson, Founder and Director of the Disability Torah Project, and a dynamic panel of writers including Dr. Amanda Mbuvi and rabbinical students Raphael Morris and Nora Chernov, working at the crossroads of disability and Torah wisdom, then move into a guided text-study session designed to invite your own reflection and writing.

Through a short writing prompt, you’ll have the chance to respond to what you’ve read and experienced, exploring how disability Torah can deepen our communal conversations, spiritual imagination, and sense of connection.

This event welcomes everyone—whether you identify as disabled or nondisabled, whether you’re a seasoned text-studier or new to it. Come ready to listen, reflect, and write in a space of curiosity, care, and shared meaning-making.

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

Mat Wilson (he/him) 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.

Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, Ph.D., is a scholar and teacher with expertise in Tanakh, ethics, and multifaith studies, and a special interest in the way stories shape communal identity. In addition to serving as the director of the Center for Jewish Ethics, she also helps students with disabilities get the accommodations they need to participate in the RRC learning community. Mbuvi is passionate about dynamic, inclusive Jewish communities that cultivate what she likes to call “blessed interdependence.” In addition to numerous scholarly articles, she is author of the 2016 book, Belonging in Genesis: Biblical Israel and the Politics of Identity Formation, published by Baylor University Press.

Nora Chernov (she/her) is a student at the Reconstructist Rabbinical College where she serves as the Advanced Intern for Community Life and assists in the RRC Beit Midrash. Nora is a passionate student and teacher of text, especially all things Talmud. When not at RRC she can be found going on long drives listening to podcasts and playing all manner of board games.

Raphael Morris (he/they) is an AuDHD rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He feels privileged to be part of an intellectual tradition where his preferred modes of cognition, learning, and communication are not just tolerated but actively valued. In his spare time, he enjoys wiki walking, TTRPGs, Talmud, long rambling conversations and anything else tangential.

Uncovering Feminine Strength and Wisdom
2026-02-24 14:00 - 15:00
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
2-3:00 p.m.
We invite you to join us and sample our upcoming Immersion, Sarah and Hagar: Uncovering Feminine Strength and Wisdom in community. Join poet Tzivia and Ritualwell’s Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer for an interactive conversation on Sarah, Hagar, and feminine wisdom, followed by a creative writing prompt and time for sharing what we uncover. Consider it an opening doorway—if you’re drawn in, the full series awaits.
To join us, register here.

Tzivia Gover is the author of ‘Dreaming on the Page: Tap into Your Midnight Mind to Supercharge Your Writing‘, and other books about dreams, writing, and everyday joy. She is the creator of ‘The Life of H: Sarah, Reimagined’ an online poetry project. The founder of 350 Dreamers, an online international community dreaming for global healing in this time of climate crisis, Tzivia is a board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and a past Director at the Institute for Dream Studies. Tzivia is a Certified Dreamwork Professional and a Certified Proprioceptive Writing Instructor. She has her MFA in writing from Columbia University, and has taught in college and community settings domestically and abroad. Learn more at www.thirdhousemoon.com and https://tziviagover.substack.com.
Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer is Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs. She is an 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.

Purim & the Poetry of Resistance
2026-02-26 20:00 - 21:30
Thursday, February 26, 2026
8-9:30 p.m. EST
$18

Whether Purim is your favorite, somewhat problematic holiday or the source of some of your least favorite rabbinic takes, this generative poetry workshop invites you to unpack, reclaim, and rewrite the sacred words we need now.

Led by poet Anna Goodman Herrick, author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken Whole , this Ritualwell gathering turns to the Book of Esther as a text of hiddenness, inversion, and holy disruption. Purim asks us to question power, unmask false authority, and listen for voices that have been pushed to the margins—including our own.

Through playful, mystical writing prompts and shared reflection, you’ll craft poems, blessings, and sacred language rooted in resistance, courage, and joy. Open to both new and seasoned writers; no prior writing experience is necessary. Come ready to play with language, embrace the chaos, and enter Purim as a time of celebration, courage, and creative rebellion.

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). They work at the intersection of spirituality, sacred words, and human rights, towards collective liberation. Anna has performed their poetry at the Emily Dickinson Museum, Patagonia’s Earth Day, and One Billion Rising’s Artist Uprising at the El Paso Border, and shared their work at the Library of Congress, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Bloomsday on Broadway. They have poetry in Spirituality + Health Magazine, Rattle, and The Los Angeles Press. Anna has created work for television and branded content for Teen Vogue, Sony, ABC Family, Oprah Winfrey Network, MTV, and the Sundance Channel, and created installations based on their poetry for museums and galleries worldwide.

Holding Each Other
2026-03-02 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-03-09 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-03-16 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-03-23 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.

Poems of Freedom: A Reading & Writing Experience
2026-03-17 20:00 - 21:30
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
8-9:30 p.m. EST

Prepare for Passover—the festival of liberation—through poetry, reflection, and creative expression. Join Ritualwell and the Philly Yetzirah Regional Chapter for a special reading, sharing poems inspired by themes of freedom, liberation, and the Passover story.

After the reading, you’ll be invited into a generative writing experience with a guided prompt designed to help you begin crafting your own poems of freedom. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or simply curious, you’ll have space to write, reflect, and explore what liberation means in your own life and in our collective moment. Featured poets are Cathleen Cohen, Henry Israeli, Lynn Levin and Maya Pindyck.

This event is a beautiful way to enter the Passover mindset—through listening, creativity, and shared inspiration. All are welcome; no prior writing experience is necessary.

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

Cathleen Cohen was the 2019 Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, PA. She created the We the Poets program for children from diverse cultural and faith communities (www.theartwell.org). Currently she teaches poetry and painting through local venues, including Ritualwell, Or Zarua, Cerulean Arts Gallery and Kol Tzedek. Her poems appear in literary journals and four collections: Camera Obscura (2017, Moonstone Press), Etching the Ghost (2021, Atmosphere Press) and Sparks and Disperses (2021, Cornerstone Press) and Murmurations (2024, Moonstone Press). Three of her poems were nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Her artwork is available through Cerulean Arts Gallery (https://ceruleanarts.com/pages/cathleen-cohen).

Henry Israeli is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Our Age of Anxiety (White Pine Poetry Prize: 2019), and god’s breath hovering across the waters, (Four Way Books: 2016), and as editor, Lords of Misrule: 20 Years of Saturnalia Books (Saturnalia: 2022). His next collection, Between the Trees (or the Lonely Nowhere) will be published by Four Way Books in 2028. He is also the translator of three critically acclaimed books by Albanian poet Luljeta Lleshanaku. His poetry has appeared in numerous journals including American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Plume, and The Harvard Review, as well as several anthologies including Best American Poetry 2025. He is Director of Jewish Studies, Drexel University; Director of Drexel Writing Festival; and Teaching Professor, Drexel University.

Lynn Levin is a poet and writer. She is the author of nine books, most recently the short story collection House Parties (2023) and the poetry collection The Minor Virtues (2020). Her work has appeared in Boulevard, Plume, Smartish Pace, Southwest Review, Kerem, Shofar, Nashim, Jewish Fiction Journal, and several anthologies including The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, and Keystone Poetry: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. She teaches at Drexel University and for many years taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania. Her website is lynnlevinpoet.com.

Maya Pindyck’s third book of poems, Impossible Belonging (2023), won the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Plume, GRANTA (Hebrew edition), Beloit Poetry Journal, and Seneca Review. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, Maya is an associate professor and director of Writing at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, and co-author of the educational textbook A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers (2022). She grew up in Boston and Tel Aviv. Her website is mayapindyck.com.

Holding The Sweet and The Bitter: Four New Questions for Passover 2026
2026-03-25 12:00 - 13:00
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
12:00 p.m-1:00 p.m.
$18

How do I hold a sprig of parsley — fresh as the first days of spring — and dip it into salt water, the taste of tears? How do I sing familiar songs with joy while also carrying fear, grief, or anger about the world around me? And how do I leave the Passover seder not only remembering liberation, but claiming joy and resilience for the days ahead?

As we prepare for Passover 2026, join us for a meaningful exploration of how to balance joy and challenge at your seder table with Rabbi Isabel de Koninck. Together, we’ll reflect on beloved Passover traditions, deepen familiar rituals, and begin to name the questions you yourself are bringing to the holiday.

To spark thoughtful and heartfelt conversation, the Ritualwell team has created a new collection of curated Passover resources, including four new questions to complement the traditional Four Questions. This printable PDF will be delivered electronically and accessible online, ready to bring to your table when you register.

Come prepare your table — and your heart — for a Passover that holds it all.

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

Rabbi Isabel de Koninck serves as the Executive Director and Campus Rabbi for Hillel at Drexel University. Rabbi de Koninck began her career with Hillel as the Advisor to Jewish students at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges in 2008. Prior to beginning her work with college students, Rabbi de Koninck served as the editor of Ritualwell.org and as rabbinic intern at Temple Shir Hadash of Westford, Massachusetts. A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Rabbi Isabel de Koninck is a 2004 graduate of Brandeis University, and received her rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2010 where she additionally completed a graduate certificate in Jewish Gender and Women’s Studies. Rabbi de Koninck is also a proud alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and currently serves on the board of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

The Art of the Unexpected: A House Parties Reading
2026-04-27 13:00 - 14:00
April 27, 2026
1-2:00 p.m.

Join us for an intimate book talk and reading with Lynn Levin, acclaimed poet, writer, and author of the celebrated short story collection House Parties. In this special Ritualwell gathering, Lynn will read from her vividly imagined, witty, and deeply humane stories that traverse everyday moments, unexpected predicaments, and unforgettable characters.

With her poet’s eye and storyteller’s heart, she invites us into narratives that are both surprising and resonant, ranging from the comic and absurd to the quietly profound. Whether you write, read, or simply love great storytelling, come be inspired by Lynn’s craft, engage with her work, and explore what makes these stories linger in the mind long after the last page.

This session 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 the short story collection House Parties (2023) and the poetry collection The Minor Virtues (2020). Her work has appeared in Boulevard, Plume, Smartish Pace, Southwest Review, Kerem, Shofar, Nashim, Jewish Fiction Journal, and several anthologies including The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, and Keystone Poetry: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. She teaches at Drexel University and for many years taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania. Her website is lynnlevinpoet.com.

Tree of Life: A Mind‑Body‑Spirit Practice
2026-06-02 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$18

As we move through the luminous days following Shavuot and step toward the fullness of summer, join us for a unique exploration of ritual, awareness, movement, and light.
Rabbi Tsurah August, a teacher rooted in somatic practice, mindfulness, and Jewish mystical tradition, invites us into Embodying the Light — a session to awaken our bodies, our hearts, and our spiritual vision.
In this gathering we will:

Set a mindful tone for the season, grounding our awareness and centering in presence.
Use gentle movement, breath, and guided reflection to awaken our capacity to sense light within and around us.
Explore how revelation continues in the body — how we receive, carry, and radiate the light of insight, wisdom, and connection.
Offer prompts and moments for creative embodiment — through movement, drawing, journaling, or simply listening and witnessing.

Shavuot invites us into revelation; summer invites us into expansion. Together, we’ll explore what it means to embody what we’ve received — to let wisdom take root in muscle and breath, and to carry it forward into our lives.
Whether you’re familiar with mindfulness or new to embodied ritual, this practice is open and inclusive. Come as you are — with openness, curiosity, and your own unique presence. Bring a journal or sketch pad if you wish, wear comfortable clothing, and prepare to move, breathe, reflect, and kindle the light that is already within you.
We look forward to gathering with you — to awaken together, and to carry that light into our lives, our relationships, and our world.

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

Before becoming a rabbi and chaplain, Tsurah was a professional dancer, choreographer and movement educator for people with a broad range of movement and cognitive abilities. Dance is still her beloved form of prayer.
