BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Ritualwell - ECPv6.15.19//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ritualwell.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Ritualwell
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260826T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260826T133000
DTSTAMP:20260806T182934
CREATED:20260610T173740Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260610T174030Z
UID:35121-1787745600-1787751000@ritualwell.org
SUMMARY:The Nearness of Shekhinah: Writing Through Elul
DESCRIPTION:Wednesdays\, August 5\, 12\, 19 and 26\, 2026\n12-1:30pm ET\n$180\n \n\nThe traditional Elul and High Holiday liturgy and ritual is brimming with images of God intended to inspire us to imagine God as close enough to hear and know and judge and forgive us. But evocative as these ancient images are\, they can also make God seem distant\, judgmental rather than compassionate\, and inspire shame\, guilt\, and fear rather than teshuvah\, the process of turning back to and experiencing divinity as the source and sustainer of our lives.\n \nBut Judaism also offers a radically different approach to divinity\, the Shekhinah tradition\, which encourages us to imagine divinity not as looking down on us from above but as with us\, in us\, all around us\, present in human space\, time\, and lives.\n \nThe Shekhinah tradition is not only an ancient treasury of images that emphasize the nearness of divinity. The tradition empowers us to creatively adapt and develop the images we need to find\, recognize\, and respond to divine presence in ways that speak to our own joys\, doubts\, needs\, vulnerabilities\, angers\, experiences\, and lives.\n \nThis series is designed to help us participate in the Shekhinah tradition and make it our own by discussing examples that highlight different ways to think and write about divine nearness. We will explore these texts from a creative writing perspective\, treating them as models\, inspirations\, provocations\, and foundations for our own ways of writing about\, imagining\, or otherwise relating to divinity. Each class will include voluntary writing assignments based on the texts we discussed\, and include time for at least a little sharing of our writing.\n \nThe class is open to all who are interested\, regardless of your beliefs or prior experience with Judaism\, text study\, creative writing\, or theology. It’s designed to complement and build on earlier Shekinah classes offered by Dr. Joy Ladin\, emphasizing class discussion and creativity over theory\, theology\, and history\, and offering a different focus\, examples\, and writing prompts. Elul is the ideal time to immerse in the Shekhinah tradition.\n\n \n\nAll sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.\n \nDr. Joy Ladin has published ten books of poetry\, including her new collection\, Shekhinah Speaks (Selva Oscura Press); The Book of Anna\, winner of the National Jewish Book Award; and Transmigration\, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. She is also the author of a memoir of gender transition\, Through the Door of Life\, which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award\, and The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective\, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards and the Triangle Award. Ladin has received fellowships and scholarships from the National Endowment for the Arts\, the Fulbright Foundation\, and the American Council of Learned Societies Research\, among other honors. A nationally recognized speaker on transgender issues\, she convenes an online conversation series\, “Containing Multitudes\,” which is available at JewishLive.org/multitudes. Her writing is available at joyladin.wordpress.com.\n 
URL:https://ritualwell.org/event/the-nearness-of-shekhinah-writing-through-elul/2026-08-26/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Immersions
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ritualwell.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Shekhinah-A-Creative-Tradition-4.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T133000
DTSTAMP:20260806T182934
CREATED:20260803T165754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T165754Z
UID:35441-1791979200-1791984600@ritualwell.org
SUMMARY:Grounded Poetry: Sensitivity to Setting
DESCRIPTION:Whether it’s the Western Wall in Jerusalem\, a neglected backyard garden\, or the landscape of memory itself\, every place holds a story. In poetry\, setting is never just a backdrop—it can reveal longing\, loss\, joy\, identity\, and what matters most. Sometimes\, paying close attention to a place can also help us notice what is sacred within it—and within ourselves. \nTogether\, we’ll explore how Jewish poets including Grace Paley\, Louise Glück\, and Gerald Stern use vivid details of time and place to create unforgettable poems. We’ll see how setting can deepen emotion\, illuminate character\, and invite us into a richer relationship with the world around us. \nThrough close reading\, discussion\, and a guided writing exercise inspired by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s “Abandoned Farmhouse\,” you’ll discover how paying close attention to place can unlock surprising insights about your poem’s speaker—and yourself. Whether you’re writing about a sacred landscape\, a childhood home\, or an ordinary corner of your everyday life\, you’ll leave with new tools for creating poems that are rich\, grounded\, and alive—and perhaps with a renewed sense of the holiness that can be found in the places we inhabit. \nAll sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience. \nSusan Comninos is the author of a recent book of poems\, “Out of Nowhere” (SFA Press/Texas A&M\, 2022). Her individual poems 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 adults in the community. At present\, she serves as poetry editor of Judith magazine and is at work on a second collection of poems\, “Wild Joy of Receiving.” The title poem\, published by The Baltimore Review\, is forthcoming this spring in the anthology “The Color Wheel” (Terrapin Books\, 2026). \n 
URL:https://ritualwell.org/event/grounded-poetry-sensitivity-to-setting/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Immersions
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR