More than Wishing: Creating a Happy New Year
2025-09-30 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT
$18

Traditionally, we wish one another a “Happy New Year.” It is a warm and important custom to continue. And this year, in a changing world that can feel overwhelming, we can add another layer: the reminder that we are also invited to create a new year. Judaism offers us a framework for making this possible–through teshuvah (renewal of spirit and return to the holiest part of ourselves), tefillah (prayer and avodah, the work of the heart and doing the right thing), and tzedakah (acts of justice and generosity). These timeless practices remind us that while we cannot fix everything, we can take meaningful steps to make the world better—within us and around us. In nurturing ourselves and acting with intention, we become co-creators of a more whole and hopeful world.

This new booklet from Ritualwell is a companion for the sacred journey between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It offers poems, prayers, and prompts to help you co-create a year of meaning and hope.

Whether used for personal introspection or shared in community, these offerings will guide you in crafting a year that is not only happy, but deeply meaningful.

With your purchase of the booklet, you are warmly invited to join us for a special event on September 30 with mindfulness teacher Rabbi Jacob Staub: Meditation & Reflection for the Days of Awe.

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

Rabbi Jacob Staub is the director of Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. He is Professor Emeritus of Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he continues to direct the Program in Jewish Spiritual Direction. He served as editor of The Reconstructionist 1983-89. He co-authored with Rebecca Alpert, Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach.

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.

A Day of Memory: A Holding Each Other Memorial for October 7
2025-10-06 12:00 - 13:00
Monday, October 6, 2025
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 6, we’ll gather for a special hour of grieving, praying and sharing.

Our guest facilitator will be Rabbi Yehudit Werchow, who will guide us through poetry, prayers and prompts for creative expression, reflection and sharing.

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

Rabbi Yehudit Werchow was born in Argentina and raised in Israel. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an M.A. in Religious Education from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York, where she was later ordained at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem.
Yehudit has held senior leadership roles across global Jewish organizations. She served as Director of Israel Engagement for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) in North America, as the Jewish Agency’s Senior Shlicha to the Reform Movement in both North America and the UK, and as Director of Education for MASA. Throughout her career, she has championed innovative approaches to Israel education, strengthening connections across communities and generations.

Holding Each Other
2025-10-13 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-10-20 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-10-27 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-11-03 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-11-10 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-11-17 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-11-24 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-12-01 12:00 - 12:15 and 3 more dates
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.

The Torah in the Tarot
2025-10-21 12:30 - 13:30
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$18

Step into a world where ancient Jewish wisdom hides in plain sight—painted into the mysterious images of Renaissance-era Tarot cards.

Author Stav Appel invites you on a fascinating journey into his startling discovery: that the original Tarot de Marseille may have served as a covert tool for Jewish education during centuries when the Roman Catholic Church sought to erase Judaism from public life.

Through a Judaic lens, even the 1650 Jean Noblet Tarot—one of the oldest surviving decks—reveals Hebrew letters, Torah stories, ritual objects, and Jewish holy days woven into its imagery. These hidden connections challenge everything scholars and enthusiasts think they know about the history of Tarot. Join us as Stav shares insights from his forthcoming Ayin Press deck and booklet, The Torah in the Tarot, and decide for yourself: can the rituals and lore of Judaism truly be found within the cards?

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

Stav Appel is a data scientist and a lifelong student of Torah. Earlier in his career he was the director of the Israeli-Palestinian coexistence organization Nitzanei Shalom, and the director of International Service Programs for American Jewish World Service. He holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and has studied Biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University and Yale Divinity School.
After a chance encounter with an old deck of Tarot cards, Stav began to explore the origins and meaning of the biblical references he recognized in its images. He is now a frequent speaker and popular writer on the Torah in the Tarot, the lost and forgotten Judaic origins of the mysterious Tarot de Marseille. He currently resides in New Salem, NY. Find Stav on Instagram @torah.tarot.

Discovering Jewish Joy: A Ritualwell Community Gathering
2025-10-29 20:00 - 21:30
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
8-9:30 p.m. EDT

Join the Ritualwell community for a special event celebrating Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture & Heritage, a new anthology filled with 32 moving essays that lift up the theme of Jewish joy.

This gathering is an invitation to connect—to Jewish culture, to your own wellsprings of joy, and to a supportive creative community. You’ll hear powerful excerpts from selected contributors connected to the Ritualwell community including Diane Gottlieb, Tzivia Gover, Lisa Grunberger, Talya Jankovits and Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, followed by a meaningful conversation about how joy can be a spiritual and cultural practice—especially in challenging times.

Then, you’ll be guided through a generative writing prompt designed to help you reflect on your personal experiences of joy, and how they relate to your Jewish identity and story.

Come to be inspired. Come to write. Come to feel joy.

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

Diane Gottlieb is the editor of the anthologies Awakenings: Stories of Body and Consciousness and the upcoming Manna Songs. Her work appears in notable publications, and she has received various awards, including Tiferet Journal’s nonfiction contest.

Tzivia Gover, author of Dreaming on the Page, is a dreamwork professional and founder of 350 Dreamers, focusing on global healing.

Lisa Grunberger, a Pushcart nominee and Temple University professor, has published award-winning poetry reflecting on her experiences as a daughter of Holocaust survivors and is adapting her book Yiddish Yoga into a musical.

Talya Jankovits, an award-winning writer, released the poetry collection girl woman wife mother, recognized in the 2024 Bookfest Awards.

Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer, Ritualwell’s Director, focuses on spirituality and disability in her writing and is working on a memoir about intuition and ancestral conversations.

Before All the World: A Creative Conversation with Moriel Rothman-Zecher
2025-11-11 20:00
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
8:00-9:00 p.m. EST

In recognition of Jewish Book Month, join us for an intimate, interactive online gathering with award-winning author Moriel Rothman-Zecher to explore his bold, genre-bending novel Before All the World. Together, we’ll dive into the book’s inventive use of language, its weaving of Jewish memory, resilience, and love, and the ways stories can hold both the ache of history and the possibility of transformation. This is more than a reading—it’s a conversation about writing, identity, and the sacred work of storytelling. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and your writer’s heart.

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

Moriel Rothman-Zecher is the author of the novels Before All the World, which was named an NPR Best Book, and Sadness Is a White Bird, for which he received the National Book Foundation’s ‘5 Under 35’ Honor, and which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the winner of the Ohio Book Award, a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award, and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. His work has been published in The American Poetry Review, Barrelhouse, Colorado Review, The Common, Jewish Currents, Lit Hub, Nashville Review, The New York Times, Poetry Daily, The Paris Review’s Daily, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere. Moriel is the recipient of two MacDowell Fellowships, and teaches creative writing at Swarthmore College, where he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing, and is also a member of the faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars’ MFA Program.

Before I Go: Writing the Ethical Will
2025-11-13 13:00 - 14:30
Thursday, November 13, 2025
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$18

Living wills address the physical body. Financial wills protect property. But an ethical will is a gift of the heart and spirit—a way to pass along the stories, values, and wisdom that have shaped your life.
In this workshop with memoirist Ellen Blum Barish, you’ll be invited to slow down, reflect, and give voice to the memories and teachings that matter most to you. Together, we’ll explore how writing can help you express what sustains your hope, the values that guide you, and the ways you’ve experienced the presence of God or the sacred. Through thoughtful prompts, journaling time, and opportunities for gentle sharing, you’ll begin shaping words that carry your love, faith, and spirit forward.
You’ll leave not only with the beginnings of an ethical will, but also with a renewed sense of connection to your own life story—and with tools to continue this meaningful work at home. This is not about being a “writer,” but about finding your voice and discovering how your words can become a legacy for the people you love and for generations yet to come. No prior writing experience is needed—just your willingness to show up with an open heart.
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.

Balancing Gratitude and Grief: A Pre-Thanksgiving Writing Ritual
2025-11-25 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EST

As Thanksgiving approaches, many of us hold both gratitude and grief—love for what we have and longing for what’s been lost. In this special session, we’ll explore how Jewish tradition honors both emotions and how we can give voice to them through poetry, prayer, and ritual.

Join Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs, for a reflective and creative gathering that invites you to bring your full heart to the holiday. You’ll be guided to create your own words and rituals that bring sacred awareness to your Thanksgiving table—and to everyday moments of gratitude and remembrance.

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

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.

Tree of Life: A Hanukkah Mind‑Body‑Spirit Practice
2025-12-10 20:00 - 21:00
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
8:00-9:00 p.m. EST
$18

This Hanukkah, 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 the Tree of Life — a session to awaken our bodies, our hearts and our spiritual vision. In this gathering we will:

Set a mindful tone for Hanukkah, grounding our awareness, centering in presence.
Use gentle movement, breath and guided reflection to awaken our capacity to sense light within and around us.
Explore the theme of “light in darkness” and the ways our bodies carry, reflect and share that light.
Offer prompts and moments for creative embodiment—through movement, drawing, journaling or simply listening and witnessing.

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 your inner light.

We look forward to gathering with you, to kindle together—and to carry that light into our lives, our relationships, 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.

Magnify the Light: Hanukkah 5786/2025
2025-12-17 13:00 - 14:00
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
1-2 p.m. EST
$18

Hanukkah calls us to notice the light — even when the world feels dim.
This year, Ritualwell invites you to Magnify the Light, a special Hanukkah event and eight-night practice of reflection, creativity, and renewal.
In a time of worldwide darkness — both literal and metaphorical — we gather to recognize, amplify, and tend to the many lights that still shine. History teaches that the way forward in dark times is to follow the lights of hope, connection, compassion, and justice, even when it feels difficult. A single spark can grow into a flame, and a flame into a fire. But first, we begin with a spark.
Guided by mindfulness teacher Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein, we’ll gather on December 17 to meditate, reflect, and learn together, opening space to nurture awareness and deepen our presence through the light of Hanukkah.
This experience comes with a new creative booklet for Hanukkah. For eight nights, as you kindle your hanukkiah and set aside a pause in your day, we invite you to open the booklet — a collection of readings from Ritualwell writers, prompts, and creative invitations designed to awaken your awareness of light in its many forms.
Each night, you can:

Pause in ritual to light the candles and name a light of justice in our world.

Reflect on a short reading that invites us to see the lights among us.

Engage with a creative prompt that invites your expression.

Renew your personal spirit and our shared communal vision.

Bring your candles, your curiosity, your voice, and your yearning. Let’s kindle together — and let the light we do see grow warm and wide. Your printable Magnify the Light PDF booklet will be sent to you electronically before Hanukkah begins.
This session 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.

The 10 Rules of Writing With Etgar Keret
2026-01-11 13:00 - 14:30
Sunday, January 11, 2026
1:00 -2:30 p.m. EST
$54

Join us for an exclusive gathering with acclaimed Israeli writer Etgar Keret, beloved for his wildly imaginative short stories, wit, and deep humanity. In this special session for the Ritualwell community, Keret will share his “10 Rules for Writers”—hard-earned wisdom that’s as funny and surprising as his fiction.

Drawing on decades of literary success, Keret will explore how to nurture creativity, embrace imperfection, and find your truest voice on the page. Whether you’re an experienced author, a devoted reader, or just beginning to write, this event will spark new ways of thinking about storytelling and the art of connection through words.

Come ready to be inspired, laugh, and see writing—and the Jewish literary imagination—in a whole new light.

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

Jewish Writers’ Circles Members: Please enter your membership code on the second page.

Etgar Keret is a celebrated Israeli writer known for his inventive short stories, graphic novels, and screenwriting for film and television. His work—marked by its surreal humor and emotional depth—has captivated global audiences and been translated into dozens of languages. Keret is the author of acclaimed collections including Missing Kissinger, Suddenly a Knock on the Door, and Fly Already, which won the prestigious Sapir Prize. His storytelling has also found new life on screen: Jellyfish, which he co-directed with his wife Shira Geffen, earned the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2007. Additionally, Keret is a recipient of France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Charles Bronfman Prize, recognizing his humanitarian vision and international cultural impact. He currently serves as the MFA Director for JTS’s new MFA in creative writing.
