Ritualwell

Prescription to Feel: A Guided Conversation on Love, Loss, and the Power of Community to Sustain Us
2024-08-01 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Thursday, August 1, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$36

Ritual can help us to navigate life’s most challenging circumstances. In her new book, Fifty-Seven Fridays author Myra Sack illustrates how embracing rituals can help us find beauty and fulfillment while simultaneously experiencing grief. She writes poignantly about the extraordinary love and extraordinary grief that she experienced during her daughter Havi’s diagnosis with Tay-Sachs disease, through Havi’s death, and during the first year after she died.

Join Myra and the Ritualwell community for a conversation about both her personal journey of grief, and to learn about the many rituals that her family has developed to keep their daughter’s essence alive. Myra will share her orientation toward grief, her exploration of bereavement-science and spirituality, and devotion to grief literacy. She will invite us to consider this possibility: that each of us can find a different way to be in grief with ourselves and each other.

During this event you will have an opportunity to engage in a writing prompt to reimagine grief so that it makes room for life.

You can learn more about Myra’s story here.

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

An all-american, scholar athlete who turned her love for sport into a platform for social change, Myra Sack has led sports-based youth development non-profits for over a decade. A writer, coach, and activist, she is the mother of two daughters and one son and lives in Boston, MA with her family. Her oldest daughter, Havi, passed away on January 20, 2021 of Tay-Sachs disease.

Spiritual Resilience in a Time of War: Inspired by Etty Hillesum
2024-07-31 12:00 - 13:15, 2024-07-24 12:00 - 13:15, 2024-07-17 12:00 - 13:15, 2024-07-10 12:00 - 13:15
Wednesdays, July 10, 17, 24, 31 and August 7, 2024
12- 1:15 p.m. EDT
$225

In a time of conflict and war, we need practices that connect us to our humanity, allowing us to tap into our inner strength and source of hope and peace. The writings of Etty Hillesum are a treasure trove of the human spirit; she wrote her diaries and letters from 1941 to 1943, before her life was tragically cut short in Auschwitz. Her writings reveal an astonishing spiritual resilience and a universal love for humanity and for God, even during the darkest times. While living through the dire historical circumstances encroaching on European Jewry, she developed a deep and unflinching faith in humanity that carried her through the most difficult of times.

In this series of online gatherings, we will read and discuss Hillesum’s writings as a springboard for creating our own spiritual and writing practices. We’ll explore major themes in her work: creativity, prayer, meditation, love, suffering, acceptance, death, and freedom. We’ll engage in journaling, meditation, and prayer practices inspired by her work. With the intention of connecting to our inner voices and crafting our own paths to resilience, we’ll support each other in imagining and creating a better world.

This course is open to people of all backgrounds.

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

Photo by Paul Goyette
Hila Ratzabi is the author of the award-winning poetry collection There Are Still Woods (June Road Press, 2022). Her poetry has been published widely in literary journals and in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. Her articles have appeared in publications including The Wisdom Daily, MyJewishLearning.com, the Jewish Daily Forward, Kveller, Alma, and Zeek. From 2015–2023, she ran Ritualwell.org, publishing innovative Jewish rituals, poetry, and liturgy and curating online learning experiences. She is currently director of communications at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois, and lives in Oak Park outside Chicago.

Threading Stones: An Elul Tradition
2024-07-30 14:00 - 15:30, 2024-07-23 14:00 - 15:30, 2024-07-16 14:00 - 15:30, 2024-07-09 14:00 - 15:30, 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.

Can We Talk? Navigating Challenging Conversations
2024-07-25 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-07-18 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-07-11 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, July 11, 18, and 25, 2024
12–1:30 p.m. EDT
$118

We reside in a rapidly evolving social landscape, where our previously held beliefs may have shifted or become more pronounced. Regardless of our stances on various topics, we often encounter conflicts with those around us. Is it possible to have productive discussions about our differences? If so, how can we go about it effectively?

This mini-Immersion series invites you to delve into mastering the skill of navigating challenging conversations constructively. Explore identifying your triggers, enhancing your understanding of differing perspectives, and honing your listening skills. Based on the Jewish concepts of making debate possible and fruitful, taught by Adva Chattler (MA, Conflict Resolution and Management) of Ritualwell and a Makhloket Matters fellow, you will be able to look at moments of conflict and decide upon your approach to it – not just respond at a heat of the moment. At the end of this Immersion, you will be able to leave with practical tools to face difficult conversation, wherever they meet you.

Special guest speakers: Rosalie Gerut (MA) and Martina Emme (PhD), co-writers of the book “Journeys of Transformation: Confronting the Legacies of Conflict, War and Genocide” describing their journey as descendants of Holocaust survivors and Nazi supporters who participating in dialogue groups that encouraged healing and growth on both sides.

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

Adva Chattler (she/her) is an Israeli-Mizrahi Jew, born and raised in Be’er-Sheva, Israel. 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. She is a Makhloket Matters fellow for Jewish professionals from the Pardes Institute and believes that even though we can’t avoid conflicts, we can take the steps to avoid conflict escalation through education and practice. With her experience in teaching and curriculum building, she support facilitators and presenters for Ritualwell and Reconstructing Judaism and encourages them to bring not only their best self, but best practices and tools for successful teaching online. Adva lives in Del Rio, Tx., with her husband, daughters and their dogs.

Advot End-of-Year Celebration and Poetry Reading
2024-06-27 19:00 - 20:30
Thursday, June 27, 2024
7-8:30 p.m. EDT

Join us for an evening dedicated to celebrating the contributions of our Advot@Ritualwell members and the unveiling of our third 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, Alex Carter, Cathleen Cohen, Audrey Cohn-Ganz, Muriel Dance, Batya Diamond, Tzivia Gover, Joanne Greene, Judith Kerman, Rabbi Janet Madden, Mandie McGlynn, Yael Navid, Rabbi Taylor Poslosky, Melissa Rosen, Anne Schulman, Janice Steinberg, Cantor Karen Webber and McKenzie Wren,

Climate Emotions and the Wisdom Our Bodies Carry
2024-06-25 19:00 - 20:30
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
7-8:30 p.m. EDT
Our emotional reactions to the climate crisis are highly individual, and shaped by our personalities, resources, circles of care, the news and media we absorb—and by inherited ways of thinking about the future. In this trauma-informed workshop, led by climate change chaplain Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, we will cast a gentle light on our climate emotions, and deepen our awareness of how they show up in our hearts and bodies. Learn how our reactions to climate change may be shaped by our ancestors’ experiences, and how we can expand our capacity for ease, connection, and action in this moment.
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).

Jewish Spiritual Autobiography
2024-06-06 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-30 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-23 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-16 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.

Judaism Through The Kaleidoscope: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
2024-06-05 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-29 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-22 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-15 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-08 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
2024-06-04 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-28 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-21 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-14 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.

The Jewish Approach to Conflict Transformation
2024-05-16 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-09 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.
