Mussar As a Generative Practice for Art and Poetry
2024-02-28 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-06 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Wednesday, February 14, 21, 28 and March 6, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180 for four sessions
Mussar is a spiritual practice based on centuries-old teachings and texts which we still find valuable today. Its wholehearted approach to leading an ethical life is inspiring and creative. As a Mussar learner, Cathleen Cohen uses poetry and visual art to deepen an understanding of Torah, mitzvot and spirituality through encounters with others. In this 4-week Immersion, you are invited to use writing and visual artmaking to touch on Mussar themes like middot (character traits) and heshbon ha’nefesh, (“accounting of the soul”), and open a conversation between yourselves and the characteristics you aspire to master. No prior experience writing poetry, creating visual art or studying Mussar is needed!
All sessions 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. A painter and teacher, she founded the We the Poets program at ArtWell, an arts education non-profit in Philadelphia. Her poems appear in journals such as Apiary, Baltimore Review, Cagibi, East Coast Ink, 6ix, North of Oxford, One Art, Passager, Philadelphia Stories, Rockvale Review and Rogue Agent. Camera Obscura (chapbook, Moonstone Press), appeared in 2017 and Etching the Ghost (Atmosphere Press) in 2021. She received the Interfaith Relations Award from the Montgomery County PA Human Rights Commission and the Public Service Award from National Association of Poetry Therapy. Her paintings are on view at Cerulean Arts Gallery (ceruleanarts.com).

Jewish Coming-of-Age Stories: Writing the Younger You
2024-02-29 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, February 8, 15, 22, 29, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180 for four sessions
All of us have our coming-of-age stories: events we experienced as children, teens, and young adults. Your experiences may be humorous and pleasantly nostalgic. They may be profound or disturbing. This four-session immersion will give you a chance to tell the stories of the younger you in poetry and micro memoir.

We will begin each session by reading and discussing some representative poems and micro memoir pieces of one or several paragraphs, written by various writers, both Jewish and not. Then, using prompts and thematic suggestions, you will be invited to write the stories of the younger you–perhaps about school days, starter jobs, life-cycle events, family times and holidays, foods, spiritual awakenings, relationships, and anything else. Some of your writing might center on being Jewish, but that is not required. We will have time during each session to share and appreciate each other’s work. Writers of any level of experience are welcome.

All sessions 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, her debut collection of short stories House Parties (2023). Widely published as a poet, Levin’s five poetry collections include The Minor Virtues (2020); Miss Plastique (2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Fair Creatures of an Hour (2009), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Imaginarium (2005), a finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award; and A Few Questions about Paradise (2000). She is co-author, with Valerie Fox, of Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (2019, 2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in writing/publishing. She is the translator, from the Spanish, of Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2014), poems by the Peruvian Andean poet Odi Gonzales. Levin is also the producer/director of the 2017 video documentary Life on the Napo River: A Glimpse of the Ecuadoran Amazon, Its People, and Their Traditions.
She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and teaches English and creative writing at Drexel University, where she received the Adjunct Award for Teaching Excellence. For many years, she taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Finding Our Place in the Stories of the Hebrew Matriarch: Sarah
2024-02-29 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-07 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-14 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-03-21 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, February 29 and March 7, 14, 21, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

“The Kabbalah teaches that all the characters of the Torah are within ourselves.”
—Miki Raver, ‘Listen to Her Voice: Women of the Hebrew Bible’

It might seem that to gain the full stories of the matriarchs of the Hebrew Bible we need to read between the lines. But there is much to discover and explore within the texts themselves where hints and information are hiding in plain sight. In this 4-week workshop author, poet, and Certified Dreamwork Professional Tzivia Gover will share what she learned about Sarah when she used poetry and imagination to move beyond seeing her merely as an adjunct to Abraham and Isaac, and instead as a powerful woman, prophet, and priestess in her own right. In this Immersion we will learn how reclaiming the stories of Sarah and the Hebrew matriarchs through poetic writing can empower us to know ourselves more fully—and access the gifts of wisdom, healing, and joy that are our universal birthright.

Tzivia will invite participants to reconsider key passages from Genesis, beginning with the first Hebrew matriarch, using interpretive tools including:

PaRDeS, the Kabbalistic method of interpretation that explores what is said explicitly, as well as hints, questions, and secret meanings;
Dreamwork methods for unlocking the information transmitted through archetypes, symbolism and story; and
Literary analysis.

We’ll also use guided visualization, writing prompts, and exercises based on those techniques, and participants will be invited to write poems and stories of their own. This workshop is appropriate for everyone, whether you consider yourself a writer or not, and no matter what your level of Jewish education or experience.

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

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.

Choosing Joy: The Teachings of Rebbe Nachman
2024-02-29 13:00 - 14:30
Thursdays, January 25 and February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$250 for six sessions

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772 – 1810) founded a specific stream of Chasidism that was once tiny, and has somehow become an influential force throughout the Jewish world. The psychological insight, poetic beauty and spiritual power of his teachings have touched many seekers. Together, we will explore who he was, how his ideas spread, and some of his key themes, in theory and practice. These include: the transformative power of music and song; our power and responsibility to shape ourselves and our world; how our thoughts affect our reality; the struggle to be joyful; the practice of praying in our own words (Hitbodedut); and maintaining resilience and equanimity throughout the challenges of life.

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.

The Jewish Approach to Conflict Transformation
2024-04-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-04-11 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-04-18 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-02 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-09 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-16 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, April 4, 11, 18 and May 2, 9, 16, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$250 for six sessions
The lengths to which some of us will go to avoid conflict are extreme, but what if we flipped the script on conflict? What if we understood conflict as an invitation to embrace difficult aspects of ourselves and others in order to grow? Conflict transformation theory says that conflict is actually not the problem, rather it is how we respond to conflict that creates the most difficulty. The good news is that we always have a choice in how we respond.
Even better news is that Jewish tradition is a storehouse of wisdom and practical application on how to navigate the world of conflict and how we respond to it, from sources in the Torah and from how our rabbinic sages model of conflict transformation. In this Ritualwell Immersion, we will explore what conflict transformation might look like for the Jewish community in our times. Using parts of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Center for Conflict Resolution “Constructive Conflict” curriculum, we will navigate both ancient and modern approaches to conflict and rebuild our own conflict toolboxes applicable in contexts from the interpersonal, intercommunal, to the international realms. Together, we will imagine a Jewish community that knows how to show up in disagreement, even when it gets hard.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Rabbi Ezra Weinberg is a shaliach tzibur, officiant and Jewish educator dedicated to creating connection and community. He is a native Philadelphian and holds an MA in Conflict Transformation. Reb Ezra officiates weddings and Bnai Mitzvot and teaches a University course called, “One G-d, Three Paths” alongside a priest and imam. He currently works with individuals and families within the Jewish community and founded ReVoice, a network of resources for Jewish going through divorce. He shares: “The work that I do is inspired by my own divorce as well as my experience as a child of high conflict divorce. A big part of my mission is to offer support in Jewish contexts when divorce radically changes a family’s path. However, I also want to change the conversation around divorce within the Jewish community today so that it is no longer taboo to get divorced or talk about divorce.”

This Immersion is happening in partnership with the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.

Judaism Through The Kaleidoscope: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
2024-05-01 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-08 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-15 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-22 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-29 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-06-05 13:00 - 14:30
Wednesdays, May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and June 5, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EDT
$250
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865 – 1935) was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, a profound poet, and a giant of both mysticism and Jewish law. He was a radical thinker, writer and activist who provoked much opposition during his lifetime from conservative leaders of Ultra-Orthodox communities.
Rabbi Kook saw the Divine spark in everything and viewed all events as part of an evolutionary process towards a redeemed and unified world. His writings contain beautiful and insightful gems on subjects such as: freedom as the key foundation of Judaism; our relationship with our bodies; pluralism, tolerance and polarization; the many layers of our multiple identities; particularism and universalism; the narratives of our own lives and of all of human history. Together, we will explore his rich, beautiful writings and use them as opportunities for spiritual practice, including creative writing and guided embodied exercises.

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 (https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/), 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.

Presence and Absence: Images of the Divine in Kabbalah
2024-05-07 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-14 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-21 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-28 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-06-04 12:00 - 14:00
Tuesdays, May 7, 14, 21, 28 and June 4, 2024
12-2:00 p.m. EDT
$250

We live in a time of deep division and loneliness. The Zohar, the 13th- century Kabbalistic work, offers rich and beautiful images to speak to this separation, and equally powerful ways to imagine divine presence, healing, and connection. In this series we will delve into the multifaceted, dynamic Divine through the radical imagination of the Zohar. We’ll bring what we discover into our own creativity through the Jewish Studio Process, a facilitated, intuitive use of art materials and reflective writing. We’ll pay particular attention to the experience of the Shekhinah, the feminine, immanent, indwelling Sacred Presence.

This practice is appropriate for absolute beginners and experienced artists who would like to explore this imagery. The focus isn’t on creating a polished piece of artwork, but rather on deepening your own intuition, insight and voice.

During this series, we will harvest the insights and images that have come onto the page in word and color to write new midrash and liturgy.

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

Margie Jacobs is a Reconstructionist rabbi who has served as a congregational rabbi, regional director of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Hillel director, and teacher of mindfulness meditation. In 2020, She completed the first 2-year Jewish Studio Process facilitator training. She has brought JSP to synagogues, Hillels, retreats, conferences, special events, and groups of clergy across the country. Margie works with individuals as a Spiritual Coach and designs websites for clergy and Jewish organizations.

This Immersion is happening in partnership with the Jewish Studio Project.

Jewish Spiritual Autobiography
2024-05-16 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-23 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-30 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-06-06 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, May 16, 23, 30 and June 6, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180 for four sessions

When we write out our spiritual paths, it clarifies how ordinary moments of life can be holy moments. Writing a spiritual autobiography helps you to discover how teachers, touchstones, symbols and stories have led you to make meaning and understand the sacred in your personal story. In this immersion, join Ritualwell’s Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, a writer and spiritual director, to map out and narrate your most meaningful life experiences. We’ll read excerpts of powerful spiritual autobiographies to inspire us and expand our understanding of the formats that this kind of writing can take. There is also ample room to write about spiritual experiences that may be outside of a Jewish framework. This immersion is for everyone—whether you identify as a religious or spiritual person or are seeking a spiritual path. No prior creative writing experience needed.

Topics we will explore include:

Understanding your name/birth story
Exploring family lineage/Ancestral resilience, trauma/connections
Mapping your spiritual journey/the sacred moments in your life
And more…

Participants will have the opportunity to share feedback with the facilitator and present to the group through the immersion.

All sessions 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 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.

Threading Stones: An Elul Tradition
2024-07-02 14:00 - 15:30
Tuesdays, July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and August 6, 2024
2-3:30 p.m. EDT
$250

Prepare yourself for Elul and the High Holy Days by learning an ancient tradition, rarely taught by those who have practice in this tradition.

For generations, Jewish women in Eastern Europe utilized threads to measure cemeteries and graves. These threads were used to create special soul candles known as neshome likht, or sometimes as protective bands worn on wrists, ankles, or necks. Typically overseen by skilled women called feldmesterins, activities such as feldmestn (cemetery measuring) and kneytlekh leygn (laying wicks) were most prevalent during Elul to prepare soul candles for Yom Kippur.

In this Ritualwell Immersion program, you will be guided on how to carry out these rituals based on translated Yiddish ethnographic studies and memoirs. The session will include teaching Yiddish songs, reciting tkhines (Yiddish prayers), and reading poems, some of which are focused on this ritual. Delving into the history of this tradition will shed light on how cemeteries were perceived in shtetl society, serving as a means to communicate with the deceased and seek their assistance. At the end of this Immersion, you will be able to host a cemetery measuring event in Elul or any other time of the year.

This Immersion is open for all! If you are intrigued by Yiddish, Jewish, or local history; eager to explore overlooked folklore and protective practices; or seeking new avenues to connect with your ancestors; if you are a Jewish educator, spiritual leader, or community members interested in leading this program during the month of Elul at their local cemeteries: You are welcome to join us!
Want to learn more? Watch this short video!

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

Annabel Cohen is a PhD Student in Modern Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, focusing on the interwar Jewish anti-fascist left. She has a Masters with distinction in History from the University of London. Alongside her PhD research, Annabel researches and translates materials relating to Jewish women’s religiosity in Eastern Europe, publishing her work on the blog www.pullingatthreads.com. Her essay on feldmesterins – cemetery measuring women – was published in the recent anthology Strange Fire: Jewish Voices from the Pandemic, published by Ben Yehuda Press in 2021. She is one of the Yiddish Book Center’s 2023-24 Translation Fellows, for which she is translating the memoirs of Communist journalist, Gina Medem. Annie teaches Yiddish with the Workers’ Circle and YIVO, and this coming academic year will be teaching Yiddish language, history and culture at the Sorbonne university, Paris. Since 2018, Annie has been studying feminine and earth-based Jewish practice with the Kohenet Hebrew institute. She will be ordained as a Kohenet on August 18.

Sarah Chandler 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.

Éléonore Weill is a French-American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Éléonore Weill creates and performs soulful interpretations of Klezmer, Yiddish, French, Occitane music as well as original compositions, poems and improvisations. In addition to her social justice Yiddish music ensemble Tsibele, she performs and records internationally in a variety of ensembles with Frank London, Michael Winograd, Walter Thompson, Joey Weisenberg and the Hadar Ensemble, Kenny Wallesen, FADA, the Baroque Music Center of Versailles (C.M.B.V.), Orchestre National de Toulouse, Midwood, Les Saqueboutiers, Miqueu Montanaro, and many others. She also composed and played for Theater companies such as Doppelskope, Great Small Works and Bread and Puppets and performs at leading international festivals including Yiddish New York, the Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto), Kleztival (São Paulo), and KlezKanada (Quebec), Fun Dor Tsu Dor (Chateau Ligoure, France) on wooden flutes, piano, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, and as a lead singer.
