Ritualwell

Bring the Jewish Practice of Gratitude to Your Thanksgiving
2024-11-25 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Monday, November 25, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$18

Gratitude is an integral aspect of Jewish tradition. From starting the day with the Modah Ani prayer to offering prayers throughout the day that express appreciation for both the natural and human worlds, Jewish practices provide us with valuable frameworks to foster awareness and joy through gratitude.

With Thanksgiving approaching, this is the perfect opportunity to delve into gratitude as expressed in Jewish tradition and to create our own forms of thanks through poetry, prayer, or ritual. Join Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs, for a special pre-Thanksgiving event designed to inspire you before the holiday, inviting you to explore your personal feelings of gratitude. Uncover rituals that will bring a sense of sacred awareness to your Thanksgiving table and into your everyday life!

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.

Capturing Your (Grand)Child's Stories
2024-12-04 13:00 - 14:00 | Zoom
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.

A Secret Chord: Exploring Leonard Cohen’s Sacred/Secular Songs
2024-12-10 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-12-17 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
December 10 and 17, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$54

The iconic songs of Leonard Cohen have influenced the cultural landscape, from films to well-known cover renditions to contemporary liturgy. Throughout his life, Cohen wrestled with Jewish tradition and many of his lyrics and poems are woven with references to the Bible, psalms, Lurianic kabbalah, and traditional Jewish prayers.

Join writer Amy Gottlieb for an interactive discussion to unpack several songs, examining how Cohen engages with Jewish texts and theology. Our discussion will conclude with a generative writing workshop using prompts from poems and song lyrics.

Both sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Amy Gottlieb’s debut novel, The Beautiful Possible, was a finalist for the Ribalow Prize, Wallant Award, and National Jewish Book Award. Her fiction and poetry have been published in On Being, Lilith, Ilanot Review, Paper Brigade, and Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, among others. She has taught at the San Miguel Writers Conference, Canberra Writers Festival, Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, AWP, New York Public Library, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City, where she teaches fiction workshops and works with individual writers on book projects.

Braided Together: 'Take Challah' Ritual in Community
2024-12-12 14:00 - 15:00 | Zoom
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.

Write Your Light Hanukkah Journal
2024-12-18 - 2025-01-02
Write Your Light is a unique new Hanukkah journal that features readings from Ritualwell writers, designed to serve as kavannot (intentions) for each day of your Hanukkah festivities. Each reading is accompanied by a creative writing prompt, allowing you to express the light of your creativity throughout the holiday. This printable PDF will be sent to you electronically.

When you purchase the journal, you will also receive a recording of a special Hanukkah event featuring Jewish mindfulness teacher, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein. Delve into how our ancient sages and mystics have understood Hanukkah as a time to enhance our ability to perceive the Or Haganuz, or Hidden Light. This light, believed to have been present at the creation of the Universe, symbolizes the unity of all existence. It represents hope, connection, and redemption, making Hanukkah a perfect time to practice recognizing and appreciating this light, which, though concealed, is present in everything surrounding us.

Nia into the NEW Year
2025-01-02 13:00 - 14:00 | Zoom
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.

Facing Our Death to Live More Fully: A Jewish Approach
2025-01-07 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Tuesday January 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

Death is the one commonality that every human being shares, yet too often, we hesitate to explore our emotions and energy related to our mortality and what it means to have finite time on earth. In this immersion, Rabbi Haviva Ner-David will provide resources and space to explore your feelings, concerns, and hopes about death and what does or doesn’t happen after. There is no set agenda: this experience offers you a path to living a fuller, more conscious life by getting more comfortable in exploring death through learning, discussion, creative writing and guided visualization.

This series 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.

A Dream of Many Colors: Blending Ancient Wisdom with Modern Writing Practices
2025-01-09 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-01-16 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-01-23 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-01-30 13:00 - 14:30 | Zoom
Thursdays, January 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2025
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$180 for four sessions

Rabbi Hisda famously declared that a dream that’s not interpreted is like an unopened letter from God, and Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote that “There are truths which one can see only when it’s dark.” Join writer and dream worker Tzivia Gover for this unique dream-writing Immersion using guided meditations, writing prompts, and dream incubation to tap into the midnight mind. Uncover writing techniques that unveil unexpected wisdom, significance, and fresh outlooks.

The sessions will include information and inspiration about Jewish approaches to dreams and writing, as well as time to write and share with one another. This workshop is open to everyone, whether you remember your dreams or not, and whether you are a casual writer or a published author (and everyone in between).

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.

Exploring the Truth of This Moment
2025-02-06 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-02-13 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Thursdays February 6 & 13, 2025
12:00-1:30pm EST
$54

During times of global uncertainty and change, we can turn to Jewish texts to help us move through our fear and isolation towards deeper, sustaining truths. The challenges of our time may feel uniquely modern, but throughout history many of our ancestors have grappled with similar spiritual issues: How do I act from a place of hope? How do I envision beyond loss? How do I have faith in the world around me?

Join Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, a climate change chaplain and innovative spiritual leader, to delve into the questions that are keeping you up at night. Rabbi Nitkin-Kaner will guide us in using Talmudic and aggadic midrash in translation and creative practices to help us find courage, resilience and a sense of ease in a changing world.

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

Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner is a meditation teacher, climate change chaplain, and educator who leads with warmth, curiosity, gentle humor, and compassion. Over the past 15 years, she has worked in prisons, hospitals, and congregations to steady folks through hard times.
Exploring Apocalypse is an extension of her rabbinic and pastoral care work (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, 2016), and is shaped by additional professional trainings in Climate Psychology (California Institute of Integral Studies, 2022), Clinical Pastoral Education (East Jefferson General Hospital, 2017 and Bellevue Hospital, 2013), and certified yoga and meditation teacher training (Yoga Sanctuary Academy, 2011), as well as graduate work in intergenerational trauma narratives (University of Toronto, 2008).

Creating Your Own Meaningful Tu B’Shvat Rituals
2025-02-12 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
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.

Writing with Rebbe Nachman: Creating our own Spiritual Stories
2025-02-17 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-02-24 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-03-03 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-03-10 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-03-17 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-03-24 13:00 - 14:30 | Zoom
Mondays, February 17, 24 & March 3, 10, 17 and 24, 2025
1:00-2:30 p.m. EST
$250

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772 – 1810) is an enigmatic figure whose life and teaching still exert enormous influence across the Jewish world. The stories of Rebbe Nachman draw upon deep, archetypal themes in our consciousness. These stories often read like fantastical children’s tales, or Kafka-esque puzzles, posing us questions intended to provoke awakening. They are based upon Rebbe Nachman’s profound grasp of Torah and Kabbalah, and have also been read in the light of broader creative and intellectual movements such as Romanticism and Existentialism. Rebbe Nachman himself said that the stories were his deepest, most powerful teachings.

Join Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein to learn about and discuss some of Rebbe Nachman’s key stories, discovering the meaning that they hold for us today. Then, building on this inspiration, we will take time to create our own stories, or at least begin them. There will also be time for optional sharing and feedback, so we can benefit from one another’s wisdom and perspective on what we have created.

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.

Voices of Disability
2025-02-28 | Zoom
Voices of Disability is a special new collection of curated poetry, prayers and teachings about disability from Ritualwell contributors. This printable PDF will be sent to you electronically and can be accessed online.

When you purchase this new collection, you will also receive a recording of our ‘Writing Disability Torah’ event.

In the event, we explore the wisdom found in Disability Torah and how we can connect our personal experiences to these texts. In the recording, you’ll be guided in a text study followed by a creative writing exercise to help you begin crafting your own piece of Disability Torah.

This conversation was led by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer from Ritualwell and Rabbi Ash Sofman from Thriving Communities at Reconstructing Judaism with RRC rabbinical students Mat Wilson and Rakhel Silverman-Gitin. Mat and Rakhel have both received Auerbach Ignition grants to support their initiatives in this area.

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs. She writes frequently about disability, spirituality and creativity and edits the Jewish Disability Inclusion News. Previously she directed Whole Community Inclusion, working to make the Philadelphia Jewish community more accessible. Her book The Little Gate-Crasher was selected as a Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month book selection.

Rakhel Silverman-Gitin is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College whose Auerbach Ignition grantt aims to educate and engage the community of Or Haneshamah, Ottawa’s Reconstructionist Congregation, on disability justice, and place it in conversation with the tradition of Shabbat. Instead of being focused on how to address the “issue” of disability within Judaism (i.e. what Jewish text thinks of disability), this project is focused on what Jews can learn from the wisdom of the disability community regarding rest and joy, and how to apply these teachings to deepen personal and communal Shabbat practices.

Rabbi Asher Sofman is Reconstructing Judaism’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Program Coordinator who has curated Disability and Accessibility resources for the movement. Ash studied creative writing and world literature at Brown University, earning a B.A. with honors in Literary Arts and is a 2023 graduate of RRC. He has served as an associate chaplain at continuing-care retirement communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Mat Wilson (they/them) enjoys board and video games, road trips big and small, and any opportunity to be in the water. They discovered a love for Torah study through the art of source sheet creation and are currently expanding their written reflections through the Disability Torah Project. Outside of their free time, Mat is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is pursuing a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

Honoring Loved Ones in Writing & Art
2025-03-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-03-11 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-03-18 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Tuesdays, March 4, 11, 18 & 25, 2025
12:00-1:30 p.m.
$180

Now more than ever, we need the guidance of our ancestors, and creative expression provides a wonderful path for connection.

In Jewish tradition, there are many ways to honor both the living and those who have departed. Delve into, celebrate, and awaken the spirits of the teachers, mentors, friends, and loved ones who have impacted your life through the written and visual arts.

Join poet and painter Cathleen Cohen along with Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer from Ritualwell, an essayist and memoirist for a series of creative exercises and prompts designed to help you express your love and gratitude for those who have profoundly shaped your journey and to summon their wisdom into your own life.

Whether you are new to creative expression or a seasoned writer or artist, this workshop offers an opportunity to discover fresh creative techniques and pathways to enhance the strongest bonds in your life.

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).

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.

Humanizing Mitzvot Through Poetry
2025-03-06 12:00 - 14:00, 2025-03-13 12:00 - 14:00, 2025-03-20 12:00 - 14:00 | Zoom
Thursdays March 6, 13, 20 & 27, 12-1:30 PM ET
12-2 p.m. EST
$180

Join poet Rachel Neve-Midbar to explore three mitzvot–candlelighting, challah and mikveh–through the poetry of the body and everyday life.
In this this generative poetry workshop, we’ll deepen our understanding and emotional connections to traditional forms, freshened through a contemporary lens. We will address questions surrounding these mitzvot (traditionally considered “women’s” mitzvot), such as: Were they genuinely meant to be exclusive to women? How can we interpret them in the context of contemporary gender fluidity and feminist viewpoints?
Discover poetry to expand your understanding of these mitzvot and and craft your own poems inspired by newfound insights and interpretations of these rituals. All are welcome, no previous experience with these mitzvot or poetry writing 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.

Poet, essayist, translator and Fulbright Scholar, Rachel Neve-Midbar’s collection Salaam of Birds was chosen by Dorothy Barresi for the Patricia Bibby First Book Prize and was published by Tebot Bach in January 2020. She is also the author of the chapbook, What the Light Reveals (Tebot Bach, 2014, winner of The Clockwork Prize). Rachel’s work has appeared widely in various publications and anthologies. Her awards include the Crab Orchard Review Richard Peterson Prize, The Passager Prize, and nominations for The Pushcart Prize. Rachel is a newly-minted PhD from The University of Southern California, where her research concerned menstruation in contemporary poetry. She is currently a Fulbright Post Doc in Israel translating the poems of Holocaust poet Abba Kovner. Rachel is also the co-editor of Stained: an anthology of creative writing about menstruation (Querencia Press, July 2023) and her scholarly work Thought and New Language in the Menstrual Poem is due out from Palgrave MacMillan in 2026.

Bringing Your Purim Story To Life
2025-03-12 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$18

Purim is a tale of resilience, standing up and speaking out. Now more than ever, we need YOUR story!

Join Cantor and performing artist Karen Webber for a creative journey drawing inspiration from fairy tales, folk tales and the Purim story to craft your own narrative about finding courage, speaking your truth and fighting for justice. Whether you share your story for the holiday or another occasion, Purim is the perfect opportunity to embrace your role as a storyteller.

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

Karen Webber is a performance, teaching and liturgical artist who crafts music/theatre pieces for use in Zoom rooms, senior centers and on the bimah. Ordained as a cantor by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1990. Karen has served congregations large and small in all four corners of the U.S. and Canada. The Maryland State Arts Council awarded her a Creativity grant based on an original short film in 2022, and a Master/Apprentice grant in Yiddish folksong in 2023. In 2024, Karen was invited by the Maryland State Arts Council to join the Folk Arts panel to award grants, to be a regional judge for ‘Poetry Out Loud’ Her poems appear online and in print at Ritualwell, Poetica, Unlikely Places, Abandon Journal and The Torrid Literature Journal. Her Havdalah ritual was published in Lilith Magazine (2009) poems in Am Yisrael Chai (2023) and essays in Prophetic Voices: a Haftarah commentary published by CCAR Press (2023)

To Laugh: Using Humor to Survive Jewish History
2025-03-25 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
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.
