Ritualwell

Rekindling Light and Joy Through Writing & Art
2025-12-18 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Thursdays, December 4, 11 & 18, 2025
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$154

Remember: Joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest. It is vital. – Reb Nachman of Breslov

In times of personal and collective darkness, how do you stay inspired and revive your creative spirit?

You don’t have to do it alone.
In this workshop, poet and painter Cathleen Cohen and essayist and memoirist Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer will guide you through Jewish texts, poetry, and creative exercises. Together, you’ll explore ways to rediscover joy and rekindle your creative passion in honor of Hanukkah, so that you can step into Hanukkah and the winter season with a renewed sense of inner light.
Whether you’re just beginning your creative journey or you’ve been writing or making art for years, this workshop invites you to discover fresh techniques and pathways that will deepen your connections and nurture joy as a spiritual practice.

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.

Holding Each Other
2025-12-22 12:00 - 12:15
Every Monday, 12-12:15 p.m. EDT

Now more than ever, we need each other.

Every Monday, join “Holding Each Other,” a 15-minute online minyan, facilitated by a leading Ritualwell contributor. Together, we’ll recite Mourners’ Kaddish and Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing. To foster our spiritual resilience, we’ll engage with a brief creative meditation.

Weekly, gather your strength and provide support to others.

Nia into the New Year
2026-01-05 13:00 - 14:30
Monday, January 5, 2026
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$18

Start 2026 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 online session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

A lifelong search for embodied spirituality led Janice Steinberg to the rich body-mind-spirit practice of Nia. She holds a Black Belt in Nia and has been teaching for 17 years. Her spring retreat in Italy, “Dance into Ancient Wisdom,” combines movement and the Kabbalah Tree of Life. She is also an author. Her novel The Tin Horse was published by Random House, and she has a five-book mystery series published by Berkley.

The 10 Rules of Writing With Etgar Keret
2026-01-11 13:00 - 14:30
Sunday, January 11, 2026
1:00 -2:30 p.m. EST
$54

Join us for an exclusive gathering with acclaimed Israeli writer Etgar Keret, beloved for his wildly imaginative short stories, wit, and deep humanity. In this special session for the Ritualwell community, Keret will share his “10 Rules for Writers”—hard-earned wisdom that’s as funny and surprising as his fiction.

Drawing on decades of literary success, Keret will explore how to nurture creativity, embrace imperfection, and find your truest voice on the page. Whether you’re an experienced author, a devoted reader, or just beginning to write, this event will spark new ways of thinking about storytelling and the art of connection through words.

Come ready to be inspired, laugh, and see writing—and the Jewish literary imagination—in a whole new light.

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

Jewish Writers’ Circles Members: Please enter your promo code on the second page. Click the “Next” button, then enter it as a promo code, not a membership code.

Etgar Keret is a celebrated Israeli writer known for his inventive short stories, graphic novels, and screenwriting for film and television. His work—marked by its surreal humor and emotional depth—has captivated global audiences and been translated into dozens of languages. Keret is the author of acclaimed collections including Missing Kissinger, Suddenly a Knock on the Door, and Fly Already, which won the prestigious Sapir Prize. His storytelling has also found new life on screen: Jellyfish, which he co-directed with his wife Shira Geffen, earned the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2007. Additionally, Keret is a recipient of France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Charles Bronfman Prize, recognizing his humanitarian vision and international cultural impact. He currently serves as the MFA Director for JTS’s new MFA in creative writing.

Torah Metaphors: Connecting Between Biblical Figures and Our Lives
2026-01-22 12:00 - 13:30
Thursday, January 22, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$18
Do you ever find yourself identifying more with Jonathan’s quiet sacrifice than David’s victory? Do you wonder whether Leah could truly comfort Dinah, or how you feel about Sarah’s choices? Torah characters carry deep emotional stories—and you may find pieces of yourself reflected in them.
In this introductory session, you’ll explore your own reactions to select women and men of the Torah. We’ll ask: Where do their stories meet yours? How do their struggles echo the ones you face today?
Using Torah texts as creative sparks, you’ll be invited to write directly to a biblical character—responding to their dilemmas, imagining conversations, and drawing meaningful analogies to your own life. What would you say to Esau about forgiveness?
How might it feel to step into Jochebed’s courage as she places baby Moses into the reeds?
The Torah is timeless, and its dramas often mirror the challenges we navigate right now. Come join a warm, lively exploration of these powerful metaphors—and discover how they can deepen and enliven your writing.
This session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Jacqueline Jules is an award-winning author, poet, teacher, and librarian. Her poetry books include Manna in the Morning (Kelsay Books, 2021), Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press, and Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember (Bushel & Peck, 2023). Her individual poems have appeared in over 100 journals. Her books for young readers include Sydney Taylor Honor Award winners: Sarah Laughs, Benjamin and the Silver Goblet, and Drop by Drop: A Story of Rabbi Akiva. Her picture book, Moses and the Runaway Lamb, was a Junior Library Guild selection. She has taught writing classes through the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland and presented workshops at numerous conferences. She is also a student of Mussar and a book club leader. You can visit her website at www.jacquelinejules.com and read her poetry online at her blog.

Beyond the Eulogy
2026-01-27 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
12-1:30 p.m.
$18

For capturing the ones we’ve loved and lost so that they can be known to others, we have eulogies and obituaries. But how do we honor the quieter, deeper truth—the mark that a loved one has left within us?
In this gathering with memoirist Ellen Blum Barish, you are invited to gently explore the unique imprint someone dear has made on your life. Together, we’ll open space for memory, feeling, and reflection—considering not just who they were, but how they continue to shape who you are becoming.
What does that inner legacy look like? What does it feel like in your body, your language, your creative spirit?
Through shared readings from memoir and personal essays, warm conversation, and guided prompts, you’ll begin crafting a piece of writing that honors this personal inheritance. You’ll leave with the beginnings of a meaningful story—one that brings your loved one forward in a way only you can.

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

Ellen Blum Barish is the author of the spiritual memoir Seven Springs (Shanti Arts, 2021), the essay collection Views from the Home Office Window (Adams Street Publishing, 2007), and a contributor to Chicago Storytellers From Stage to Page (Chicago Story Press, 2020). You can find her personal essays in Tablet, Lilith, Brevity’s Blog, Full Grown People, Literary Mama, and The Chicago Tribune and hear them on Chicago Public Radio. She founded the literary publication Thread, which earned four notables in Best American Essays. Ellen has taught writing at Northwestern University, Chicago-area synagogues, and writer’s studios, including Story Studio Chicago and Lighthouse Lit Fest. She works privately with writers on essay collections and memoir.

Oneg Shabbat: A New Table Companion
2026-02-02 12:00 - 13:00
Monday, February 2, 2026
12-1:00 p.m. EST

You are invited into a rich, behind-the-scenes exploration of Oneg Shabbat: A Sabbath Evening Table Companion, the new publication edited by Rabbis Sandy Sasso and Jeffrey Schein and published by The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood.
In this event, Sandy and Jeff will open the creative curtain and share the inspirations, questions, and intentions that shaped this beautiful volume. You’ll discover the many ways the Companion can enrich your own Shabbat practice—whether used personally, with family and friends, or as a resource for community gatherings.
You’ll also hear directly from several contributors—an artist, a poet, and a musician—who will speak about the creative sparks behind their work and how Shabbat shaped their offerings. Together, we’ll explore the new digital resource and the pathways it opens for meaningful, accessible celebration.
This session is designed for anyone who creates, curates, or simply loves contemporary Jewish liturgy—all who turn to Ritualwell for inspiration and connection. You’ll leave with fresh ideas, creative insight, and new ways to bring Shabbat joyfully to your table and community.
Rabbi Sandy Sasso is the author of the nationally acclaimed children’s books. Her children’s book, The Shemah in the Mezuzah won the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Best Illustrated Children’s Book. She is the recipient of an Indiana Author’s Award. In 2018 she received the Indiana Author’s Award for Best Regional Author.

Jeffrey Schein is the past Executive and current Senior Consultant for Jewish Education of the Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood. He has been a leading figure in Reconstuctionist Jewish Education the past fifty years and is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1977). He has authored 50 articles and a dozen books used in the education of Rabbis and Jewish educators.

Soulwork: Exploring Our Depths
2026-02-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-11 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-18 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-25 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, February 4, 11, 18 & 25, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

“From the depths I call to you!” – Psalm 130

When was the last time you truly checked in with yourself? In the midst of life’s busyness and the overwhelm of living in our current reality, it’s easy to forget our own inner world. In this four-week journey, you’ll explore four soulwork practices rooted in a Gestalt approach: dreamwork, inner child work, nature soulwork, and Soul Collage©.

Each week, you’ll dive into one modality, uncovering insights about yourself and sharing them in soulwork hevruta dyads and group conversation. We’ll begin each session with a short Jewish-spiritual text to frame our inquiry and set the tone for reflection. Step into this time for yourself—listen, explore, and respond to the call of your own depths.

All sessions 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.

Tools for Creating our Own Jewish Meditations
2026-02-05 13:00 - 14:30, 2026-02-12 13:00 - 14:30, 2026-02-19 13:00 - 14:30, 2026-02-26 13:00 - 14:30
February 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2026
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$180

What is Jewish Meditation—and how can you bring it into your daily life in a way that feels authentic and nourishing?

In this four-part course, you’ll be invited to slow down, listen inward, and explore the wisdom of Jewish meditative tradition. Together we’ll study foundational texts, stories, and teachings from our ancestors and spiritual teachers who have turned to stillness, breath, and awareness as pathways to connection with the Divine.

Each session will include guided meditation and gentle experiential practices. You’ll have the opportunity to reflect, write, and share as you begin to create your own personal intentions or meditations—ones that meet you where you are and speak to your unique spiritual needs.

We’ll explore a range of Jewish meditative approaches that can help transform ordinary moments into sacred ones. Through mindful eating, breathing, visualization, and prayer, you’ll develop tools to infuse everyday life with deeper presence, gratitude, and meaning.

By the end of the course, you’ll leave with both inspiration from Jewish sources and practical, personal meditative practices to carry forward in your own way.

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.

Lifting the Threads: Writing Past and Present
2026-02-17 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-24 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-03 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, Feb 17 & 24 and March 3, 2026
12-1:30 p.m.
$154

As storytellers, how do we balance our present lived experience with the past that shapes it? In Jewish tradition, memory and narrative carry profound weight—from the retelling of ancestral journeys in the Torah to the intimate stories passed through our families. In this 3-week workshop, we’ll explore strategies for seamlessly integrating backstory, experimenting with time shifts to deepen meaning rather than interrupt narrative flow. Through readings, discussion, and writing prompts, we will move fluidly between temporal layers—the “forward momentum” of the lived story and the “backwards glance” demanded by memory.

By the end of the workshop, you will produce a short memoir piece that demonstrates fluid interplay between present and past—using backstory as a source of resonance, not digression, and honoring the threads of memory that connect us to our histories and communities.

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

Megan Vered writes about family, friendship, and the dazzle of daily life. Megan lives in Marin County, where she facilitates local, international, and Jewish-themed writing groups. Her essays and interviews have appeared in HuffPost, Kveller, The Jewish Writing Project, High Country News, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Writer’s Chronicle, among others. Megan holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and chairs the board of Heyday Books. Learn more about her work at www.meganvered.com

Sarah and Hagar: Uncovering Feminine Strength and Wisdom
2026-03-03 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-10 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-17 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-03-24 12:00 - 13:30
Mondays, March 3, 10, 17 and 24, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

The story of Sarah and Hagar is often told as a tale of rivalry and cruelty—but a closer look reveals a far richer story, hinting at a complex, powerful, and spiritually resonant relationship between two extraordinary women.

In this workshop, we’ll explore the story through text study, discussion, and writing prompts, uncovering new possibilities for understanding female relationships, motherhood, and feminine archetypes. Together, we’ll re-examine these matriarchs to discover strength, wisdom, and inspiration for our own lives.

Led by Tzivia Gover, author and professional dreamworker, this session draws on years of deep engagement with the story of Sarah, Hagar, and Abraham through poetry, translation, and spiritual inquiry. Tzivia will guide participants to uncover hidden treasures in the text—and to make new discoveries of their own.

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.
