Counting the Omer: A Neshamah Recharge
2025-06-04 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
The Counting of the Omer is a time for spiritual introspection and growth. During a time when many of us are feeling deflated and anxious about the state of the world, this ritual can help us to recharge our Neshamah, our soul.
Ritualwell is here for you! Through the 7-week period of the Omer, we’ll provide you with support, accountability, community and creative inspiration to do this spiritual work.

Every week, we will send you an Omer guide for the upcoming week, aligned with that week’s spiritual theme. This guide will include Jewish wisdom texts, readings, sensory explorations, and creativity prompts for the week. The printable PDF will be sent electronically and can be accessed online. When you sign up for Counting the Omer: A Neshamah Recharge, you are also invited to join us for three special community events throughout the Omer period:

April 16, 2025, 12 -1:00 p.m. EDT (Recording access now available): Ignite Your Omer Counting with a gathering led by Kohenet Sarah Chandler. Whether you’re new to counting or have participated in this ritual for many years, Sarah will provide us with a fresh perspective on the sefirah of hesed. How do you embody deeds of lovingkindness, g’milut hasadim? We will explore ancient and modern sources for love in action, through the sefirah of hesed. Whether you are looking to call upon divine love, to nourish self love or discover strategies for caring for others (without burnout), this workshop is for anyone who is ready to tap into the flow of hesed in the first week of the omer.
May 15, 2025, 12 -1:00 p.m. EDT: Nurture Your Omer Counting midway through the Omer with artist and Kohenet Bekah Starr. We’ll begin with a creativity warm-up exercise, followed by an exploration of a Lag B’Omer artwork by a Jewish artist, uncovering new insights and art techniques. Explore how art can be studied and interpreted like Torah, revealing layers of meaning and inspiration. Then, create your own artistic response—whether through visual art, poetry, prayer, or short story—fostering creativity, artistic growth, and a deeper connection to Jewish artistic expression.Bekah will lead us in a generative workshop exploring what we’ve discovered through the Omer so far.

‘Counting the Omer: A Neshama Recharge’ is part of Ritualwell’s annual campaign to sustain our work. Ritualwell’s mission to create a welcoming space for individuals from diverse backgrounds who wish to embrace Jewish practice has become more vital than ever.
We know that you appreciate us being here for you. And we need you. Ritualwell’s free offerings are made possible by gifts from people like you.
Register now and support our mission as we support you through the Omer–and beyond.

Being with Grief: Jewish Wisdom for Supporting Mourners
2025-06-05 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-06-12 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, May 29 and June 5 & 12, 2025
12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT
$154

This intimate learning journey draws on Jewish wisdom and contemporary insights to explore how we can better support those experiencing the loss of loved ones. We’ll examine how grief tests the limits of language, explore models for understanding loss, and study Jewish practices that create meaningful containers for grief. Discover pathways to deeper connection—whether supporting mourners, processing personal losses, or seeking wisdom for life’s challenging transitions through text study, reflection, and experiential exercises.

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

Chloe Zelkha is the incoming rabbi at Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA. Drawn to grief work after the sudden loss of her father in 2017, Chloe trained as a chaplain in a residency at UCSF Mission Bay Hospital, offering spiritual care to patients and their families. Supported by a fellowship with Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, Chloe has run annual residential grief retreats for young people who have lost parents, siblings, partners, and dear friends for many years. She was the co-founder of the Covid Grief Network (now part of Reimagine), a mutual aid network that offered free support to those grieving family to COVID-19. Chloe is also the author of Being with Grief, a creative workbook for loss, and maintains a private practice for those facing terminal illness as a death doula. She holds a B.A. in Religion from Carleton College and an M.A. in Education from Harvard University, and completes her rabbinic studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College as a Wexner Graduate Fellow this May.

Mussar for This Moment
2025-06-10 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesdays, May 13, 20, 27 and June 10, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180

The first two questions the Torah asks are, “Where are you?” and a few chapters later, “Where is your brother?” As if one can’t answer the first question without also answering the second question; as if they are in fact the same question. Mussar is the tradition within Judaism that asks, how did these two questions become separated?

In periods of uncertainty, Mussar can be a practice that helps us see more clearly and not merge with our sense of despair. Join Rabbi Joshua Boettiger for a four session immersion where we will explore this ancient lineage tradition – studying middot (precepts) and practices from the Mussar masters. In each session, we will also read and compose poetry related to Mussar themes – poetry of proximity, relationality, perplexity, responsibility. No previous experience of Mussar or poetry is required–this immersion is inclusive of everyone’s background and lived experiences.

All sessions 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.

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.

Writing Jewish, Writing Funny
2025-07-08 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-15 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-22 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-29 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesdays, July 8, 15, 22 & 29, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180

Join us for an engaging adventure with Emmy-winning TV writer and LMU film school professor Rob Kutner as we delve into how Jews have utilized humor to navigate their challenging history. Together, we will explore various “tricks of the trade” to spread joy to ourselves and others during these tough times.
Kutner will share examples of how humor has played a crucial role in overcoming adversity throughout history, showcasing how these techniques can be applied to contemporary challenges.
Over the course of four sessions, participants will have the opportunity to:

Pitch their creative ideas
Engage in comedic writing exercises
Receive constructive feedback from both the instructor and fellow participants
Participate in guided revision sessions

No prior writing or comedy experience is necessary; this enjoyable and interactive experience is crafted for everyone!
All sessions 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 HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live.” He has published humor pieces for the New York Times, Esquire, Huffington Post, McSweeney’s, and the Weekly Forward. He is also the author of the sci-fi humor books Apocalypse How: Turn the End Times into the Best of Times! , The Future According to Me, the kids’ graphic novel Snot Goblins & Other Tasteless Tales, and the new comedic Jewish history book, The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting.

Finding Shekhinah
2025-07-09 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-16 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-23 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-30 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesdays, July 9, 16, 23 & 30, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180

What and where is the Shekhinah, the divine presence, how can we find Her in our world and our lives, hear Her voice, feel Her within and around us?

Each of our four meetings will explore these questions by considering one of the Shekhinah’s many incarnations in Jewish tradition through text study, discussion, and creative exercises (sharing will be optional) intended to help us examine our ideas about and experiences of divinity, and imaginatively trying out different relations to divine presence.

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

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.com.

Deep Body Poetry
2025-07-10 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-17 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-24 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-07-31 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, July 10, 17, 24 & 31, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180

If the body was given ultimate agency what would it say? What stories would it tell?

Poetry universalizes the human experience, the experience of having a body—a body that holds our psychic experience even more deeply and better than our minds do. Mining the poetry of the body happens through the bravery of those who have written these poems. Deep body poetry is the poetry of the disabled body, the queer & trans body and the menstruating body. It’s the poetry where no metaphor, simile or nuance stands between the reader and the subject; where the body is open and ready to speak. Join us as we read the lyric emotional truths of other poets, allowing our minds and hearts to awaken to begin to ask our body to reveal its secrets, and from there to generate creative expression,

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

Rachel Neve-Midbar is a poet and essayist. Her first full-length poetry 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 2014 chapbook, What the Light Reveals. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies. A current Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California, Rachel is also editor of Stained: An Anthology of Writing about Menstruation for the AuntFlo2020 Project. More at rachelnevemidbar.com.

Elul Journey Towards Yizkor
2025-08-13 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-08-20 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-08-27 12:00 - 13:30, 2025-09-03 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesdays, August 13, 20 & 27 and September 3, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180

As we welcome the month of Elul, our thoughts naturally shift towards spiritual introspection. This year, many of us carry not only our personal grief but also the collective sorrows of the world.

Elul offers us the opportunity to explore the traditions surrounding the Mourner’s Kaddish and the Yizkor service. Join liturgist Trisha Arlin to a meaningful journey that includes conversation, meditation, and creative writing. Together, we will delve into various aspects of the Kaddish, connecting it to your personal grief journey and the wider state of the world. For those attending the Yizkor service, this session will enhance your experience and participation.

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

Trisha Arlin is a liturgist, writer, performer, and student of prayer in Brooklyn, NY. She has served as a liturgist, scholar, and artist-in-residence and taught for venues including the National Havurah Committee’s Summer Institute, Ritualwell, Haggadot.com, and for synagogues around the country. She is a builder of Bayit’s Liturgical Arts project. Trisha received a BA in Theater from Antioch College in 1975 and an MFA in Film (Screenwriting) in 1997 from Columbia University. In 2009/2010, Trisha was an Arts Fellow at the Drisha Institute. In 2011, she graduated from the sixth cohort of the Davennen Leadership Training Institute (DLTI). Trisha’s liturgy has been used in services, for ritual occasions, and at venues of many denominations nationwide. She is the author of Place Yourself: Words of Poetry and Intention (a collection of liturgy and kavannot). Her work has appeared in a variety of journals, siddurim, and collections of liturgy and can be found online at TrishaArlin.com.

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.

Women of the Bible: A Retelling
2025-09-10 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$18

Step into the stories of the women of the Bible — not as distant figures, but as bold, complex individuals whose voices still echo in our lives today. Together, we’ll engage Biblical text, midrash, poetry, and art through a feminist, justice-centered lens that reclaims and reimagines these women’s lives.

This is more than a study — it’s an invitation. As we explore how our biblical ancestors navigated power, identity, and faith, you’ll be invited to respond with your own voice. Through guided writing or art-making, you’ll create work that brings new life to their stories — and your own. As we stand at the threshold of a new year, this gathering offers a powerful opportunity for these ancient stories to awaken your own story— and set intention for what’s to come.

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

McKenzie (Ma’ayan Yehudit) Wren is a ritualist who supports connection and growth through Earth-based, embodied practices uplifting the Divine Feminine. Whether facilitating art experiences, ritual or ceremony, workshops or classes, McKenzie creates a space where each person is seen, heard and valued and has an authentic meaningful experience.

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.

More than Wishing: Creating a Happy New Year
2025-09-30 12:00 - 13:00
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT
$18

Traditionally, we wish one another a “Happy New Year.” It is a warm and important custom to continue. And this year, in a changing world that can feel overwhelming, we can add another layer: the reminder that we are also invited to create a new year. Judaism offers us a framework for making this possible–through teshuvah (renewal of spirit and return to the holiest part of ourselves), tefillah (prayer and avodah, the work of the heart and doing the right thing), and tzedakah (acts of justice and generosity). These timeless practices remind us that while we cannot fix everything, we can take meaningful steps to make the world better—within us and around us. In nurturing ourselves and acting with intention, we become co-creators of a more whole and hopeful world.

This new booklet from Ritualwell is a companion for the sacred journey between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It offers poems, prayers, and prompts to help you co-create a year of meaning and hope.

Whether used for personal introspection or shared in community, these offerings will guide you in crafting a year that is not only happy, but deeply meaningful.

With your purchase of the booklet, you are warmly invited to join us for a special event on September 30 with mindfulness teacher Rabbi Jacob Staub: Meditation & Reflection for the Days of Awe.

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

Rabbi Jacob Staub is the director of Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. He is Professor Emeritus of Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he continues to direct the Program in Jewish Spiritual Direction. He served as editor of The Reconstructionist 1983-89. He co-authored with Rebecca Alpert, Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach.

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.

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.

The Torah in the Tarot
2025-10-21 12:30 - 13:30
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$18

Step into a world where ancient Jewish wisdom hides in plain sight—painted into the mysterious images of Renaissance-era Tarot cards.

Author Stav Appel invites you on a fascinating journey into his startling discovery: that the original Tarot de Marseille may have served as a covert tool for Jewish education during centuries when the Roman Catholic Church sought to erase Judaism from public life.

Through a Judaic lens, even the 1650 Jean Noblet Tarot—one of the oldest surviving decks—reveals Hebrew letters, Torah stories, ritual objects, and Jewish holy days woven into its imagery. These hidden connections challenge everything scholars and enthusiasts think they know about the history of Tarot. Join us as Stav shares insights from his forthcoming Ayin Press deck and booklet, The Torah in the Tarot, and decide for yourself: can the rituals and lore of Judaism truly be found within the cards?

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

Stav Appel is a data scientist and a lifelong student of Torah. Earlier in his career he was the director of the Israeli-Palestinian coexistence organization Nitzanei Shalom, and the director of International Service Programs for American Jewish World Service. He holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and has studied Biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University and Yale Divinity School.
After a chance encounter with an old deck of Tarot cards, Stav began to explore the origins and meaning of the biblical references he recognized in its images. He is now a frequent speaker and popular writer on the Torah in the Tarot, the lost and forgotten Judaic origins of the mysterious Tarot de Marseille. He currently resides in New Salem, NY. Find Stav on Instagram @torah.tarot.

Everyday Rituals: Jewish Life as the Framework for Playwriting
2025-10-29 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesdays, Oct 29, 2025 and November 5, 12 & 19, 2025
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

What moments from the rituals of your life could inspire a new play? What makes a play a Jewish play and how can we weave Jewish ritual and values into what’s on the page? Where to start? How to go deeper?

By taking inspiration from both religious rituals and the commonalities of life Jewish families hold dear, award-winning playwright Jennifer Maisel will guide you through writing exercises that will uncover new facets to your characters and more complex elements of your story. You can be starting from scratch or working on an already existing piece. But come ready to stretch your imagination, explore your spirit, and discover how ritual can transform your writing. Show up with pen, paper, and the willingness to be inspired.

This Immersion is a special partnership with the Jewish Plays Project.

All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Jennifer Maisel is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose work has been produced off-Broadway, nationally and internationally. Her plays include EIGHT NIGHTS, OUT OF ORBIT, MATCH. PROVENANCE, THERE OR HERE, YELLOWWALLPAPER 2.0 2020 and @thespeedofJake and have been workshopped and honored by the Sundance Theatre Lab, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Kennedy Center, the Ovation Awards, the Woodward/Newman Award, the Asolo Theatre and the PEN West Literary Awards. She also writes for film and television; the screenplay adaptation of her THE LAST SEDER is in pre-production with Rosalind Productions. PROVENANCE was the winner of the 2025 Jewish Plays Project contest.
