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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 2025-09-15 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-09-22 12:00 - 12:15, 2025-09-29 12:00 - 12:15, 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 and 2 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.

Expanding the Field: A DIY Rosh Hashanah Journey
2025-09-08 13:00 - 14:00
September 8, 2025
1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT

Join Rabbi Aya Baron and Sarah Chandler (Kohenet Shamirah Bechirah) for a creative journey into Expanding the Field: A DIY Rosh Hashanah Companion, Ayin Press’s zine-style guide to the New Year. Together, we’ll explore interactive journaling, earth-based ritual, poetic reflection, and imaginative prompts inspired by the mystical Four Worlds. From hitbodedut (personal prayer) to tashlich, simanim, and shofar practice, Aya and Sarah invite you to co-create Rosh Hashanah rituals that feel both rooted and personal.
This session will share sample activities and open conversation about Aya and Sarah’s creative process. Whether you’re seeking spiritual nourishment, fresh ritual, or new ways into the season, you’ll find a welcoming space to reflect, reimagine, and connect with the Days of Awe.

Note: This program includes sample exercises from the new zine; to purchase a printed copy or download, visit Ayin’s website.

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

Rabbi Aya Baron (she/her) creates and offers earth-based Jewish programs, educational consultation, and life cycle ritual support. Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she also holds a B.A. in Contemplative Education from Brown University, an M.A. in Jewish studies focusing on feminist and folkloric interpretations of rabbinic literature from the Graduate Theological Union and a certifcate from the California School of Herbal Studies. Aya lives on Lenni-Lenape land in Philadelphia and collaborates with Shamir Collective to create earth based Jewish practice guides.

Sarah Chandler (she/her) aka Kohenet Shamirah is a Brooklyn-based Jewish educator, artist, activist, healer, and poet. She teaches, writes and consults on issues related to Judaism, earth-based spiritual practice, respectful workplaces, mindfulness, and farming. An ordained Kohenet with the Hebrew Priestess Institute and a trainer for “Taamod: Stand Up!”, she is also is an advanced student of Kabbalistic dream work at The School of Images. Previously, Sarah served as the Director of Romemu Yeshiva, Chief Compassion Officer of Jewish Initiative for Animals, and Director of Earth Based Spiritual Practices at Hazon’s Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. Currently, she is the CEO of Shamir Collective, as a coach and consultant to high profile artists and authors to launch new music and books, as well as lead trainer for Soft as a Rock: Public Speaking for Sensitive Souls.

On Being Jewish Now: A Reading & Writing Experience
2025-09-17 12:00 - 13:00
September 17, 2025
12-1 p.m. ET

Since October 7, our world has shifted in ways that touch every part of our lives. Many of us are asking: How do we navigate—and even flourish—in this moment? Where can we turn for wisdom, connection, and hope?

In her new anthology, On Being Jewish Now, writer, podcaster, and publisher Zibby Owens brings together leading Jewish voices in a heartfelt, humorous, and deeply moving collection of essays.

Join Zibby in conversation with Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer of Ritualwell as they explore what it means to be Jewish right now—how our questions, traditions, worries, and hopes shape our lives and connect us to one another. You’ll be invited into a guided generative writing session to reflect on your own relationship to Jewishness in this moment.

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

Zibby Owens is the founder of Zibby Media which includes the award-winning daily podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, Zibby Publishing in New York, and Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica CA. She is the author of six books including the USA Today bestsellers Blank: A Novel and On Being Jewish Now: Reflections from Authors and Advocates. Follow her on Substack and Instagram @zibbyowens where she tells it like it is.

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.
