Ritualwell

Lifting the Threads: Writing Past and Present
2026-02-17 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-24 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-03 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Tuesday, Feb 17 & 24 and March 3, 2026
12-1:30 p.m.
$154

As storytellers, how do we balance our present lived experience with the past that shapes it? In Jewish tradition, memory and narrative carry profound weight—from the retelling of ancestral journeys in the Torah to the intimate stories passed through our families. In this 3-week workshop, we’ll explore strategies for seamlessly integrating backstory, experimenting with time shifts to deepen meaning rather than interrupt narrative flow. Through readings, discussion, and writing prompts, we will move fluidly between temporal layers—the “forward momentum” of the lived story and the “backwards glance” demanded by memory.

By the end of the workshop, you will produce a short memoir piece that demonstrates fluid interplay between present and past—using backstory as a source of resonance, not digression, and honoring the threads of memory that connect us to our histories and communities.

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

Megan Vered writes about family, friendship, and the dazzle of daily life. Megan lives in Marin County, where she facilitates local, international, and Jewish-themed writing groups. Her essays and interviews have appeared in HuffPost, Kveller, The Jewish Writing Project, High Country News, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Writer’s Chronicle, among others. Megan holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and chairs the board of Heyday Books. Learn more about her work at www.meganvered.com

Soulwork: Exploring Our Depths
2026-02-18 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-25 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, February 4, 11, 18 & 25, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

“From the depths I call to you!” – Psalm 130

When was the last time you truly checked in with yourself? In the midst of life’s busyness, it’s easy to forget our own inner world. In this four-week journey, you’ll explore four soulwork practices rooted in a Gestalt approach: dreamwork, inner child work, nature soulwork, and Soul Collage©.

Each week, you’ll dive into one modality, uncovering insights about yourself and sharing them in soulwork hevruta dyads and group conversation. We’ll begin each session with a short Jewish-spiritual text to frame our inquiry and set the tone for reflection. Step into this time for yourself—listen, explore, and respond to the call of your own depths.

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

Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David is the rabbinic founder of Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body, and Soul, the only mikveh in Israel open to all to immerse as they choose. Ordained as both a rabbi and an interfaith minister, certified as a spiritual companion (with a specialty in dream work), and with a doctorate on mikveh from Bar Ilan University, she offers mikveh guidance and spiritual companioning for individuals and couples, as well as mikveh workshops and classes for groups. Rabbi Haviva is the author of three spiritual journey memoirs and a novel. Her most recent memoir, Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi’s Soul Journey, is about her journey into interspirituality and dreamwork. Her two previous spiritual journey memoirs are titled: Chanah’s Voice: A Rabbi Wrestles with Gender, Commandment, and the Women’s Rituals of Baking, Bathing, and Brightening, and Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination, a runner up for the National Jewish Book Council Awards. Hope Valley, her debut novel, is about the friendship between a Palestinian and a Jewish woman in Galilee, where Haviva lives. She is also the mother of seven and lives with FSHD, a form of muscular dystrophy, which has been one of her greatest teachers.

Tools for Creating our Own Jewish Meditations
2026-02-19 13:00 - 14:30, 2026-02-26 13:00 - 14:30
February 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2026
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$180

What is Jewish Meditation—and how can you bring it into your daily life in a way that feels authentic and nourishing?

In this four-part course, you’ll be invited to slow down, listen inward, and explore the wisdom of Jewish meditative tradition. Together we’ll study foundational texts, stories, and teachings from our ancestors and spiritual teachers who have turned to stillness, breath, and awareness as pathways to connection with the Divine.

Each session will include guided meditation and gentle experiential practices. You’ll have the opportunity to reflect, write, and share as you begin to create your own personal intentions or meditations—ones that meet you where you are and speak to your unique spiritual needs.

We’ll explore a range of Jewish meditative approaches that can help transform ordinary moments into sacred ones. Through mindful eating, breathing, visualization, and prayer, you’ll develop tools to infuse everyday life with deeper presence, gratitude, and meaning.

By the end of the course, you’ll leave with both inspiration from Jewish sources and practical, personal meditative practices to carry forward in your own way.

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

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