Ritualwell

ADVOT@Ritualwell Studio sessions - Winter semester
2023-01-09 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Join in for a time to create and connect!

Words of Power: Writing from the Language of Torah
2023-01-10 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
January 10, 17, 24, 31, February 7, 14, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
Tapping into the layers of meaning in key words of Torah will be our gateway into writing poetic midrash and interpretive Torah. Building on his forthcoming book from CCAR Press, These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, poet and liturgist Alden Solovy will open the well of Torah wisdom in words ranging from God’s names to the mysteries of creation.
Alden Solovy spreads joy and excitement for prayer. An American Israeli liturgist, lyricist, poet, author, and educator, Alden is the Liturgist-in-Residence for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Alden teaches prayer and spirituality throughout the world. Based in Jerusalem, his five solo books include This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, and the newly released This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, all published by CCAR Press. A regular contributor to Ritualwell and a member of the Ritualwell Immersion faculty, his work is anthologized in more than 20 other volumes across the religious spectrum. Alden also contributes regularly to RavBlog, ReformJudaism.org, and the Times of Israel. He’s a three-time winner of the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism. Alden made aliyah to Jerusalem in 2012. See his work at www.tobendlight.com. Alden can be reached at alden@tobendlight.com.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Wonder and Awe: Poetry as Play and Inquiry
2023-01-18 12:00 - 13:30
Poets are lovers of language play: riffing with lyricism and idiosyncratic phrases to describe a thought, creating eccentric rhythms and sound patterns, using different types of speech, or blending references from sources as disparate as the Bible to pop culture. A poet’s writing practice is cultivated by a sense of the wonder often found in child’s play—trying out new possibilities with language and seeing how it can be shaped differently to share our individual experiences. In this session, we will look at poets who engage with the creative fire and dance of language play as a tool to make serious inquiries about the world around us. We will read the work of Jewish poets Samuel Ace, Rosebud Ben-Oni, and Erika Meitner. We will experiment with writing our own short poems that involve play and thoughtfulness.
Leslie Contreras Schwartz is a multi-genre writer, a 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, and was the 2019–2021 Houston Poet Laureate. She is the author of four collections of poetry, including Black Dove / Paloma Negra (FlowerSong Press, 2020), a finalist for the Helen C. Smith Memorial Award for 2020 Best Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters; Fuego (St. Julian Press, 2016); and Nightbloom & Cenote (SJP, 2018), a semi-finalist for the 2017 Tupelo Press Dorset Prize, judged by Ilya Kaminsky. Her poet laureate community projects include Writing and Mindfulness: Creative Writing Exercises, a free e-book on mindfulness and writing, and the poetry film IT’S A MASK IT’S A VIRUS IT’S A KNEE, a collective, communal poetry film composed of poems written by Houstonians about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is currently a faculty member at Alma College’s MFA low-residency program in creative writing. For more about her work, visit lesliecschwartz.com.
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. Please consider adding a donation to Ritualwell to help us continue to offer free programs like this one!

Dreamwork as a Window to the Soul
2023-01-25 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
January 25, February 1, 15, March 1, 15, 29, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
“A dream unexplored is like a letter not read,” says Rabbi Hisda in the Talmud (Brachot 55b). The biblical Jacob before him called his dream a portal to the Divine. Kabbalists after them both called dreaming a form of prophecy.
For many of us, dreams have become especially vivid during these tumultuous times. Whether or not that is true for you, dreams are an invitation to look deeper. They can be a window to your soul and a channel for your divine inner voice. In six sessions, I will introduce you to the wonderful world of dreamwork in the method I was taught, which is primarily a Gestalt approach, influenced by my experience in spiritual companionship. The main principle in my dreamwork is that the dream belongs to the dreamer, and only the dreamer holds the key to decipher it. The role of the dreamworker is to help the dreamer understand their own dream, not interpret it for them.
Participants will be asked to start keeping a dream journal before the immersion begins, and together, we will share and work our dreams. Topics will include: keeping a dream journal, learning to “interview” our dream elements, the ego in the dream, following your intuition and curiosity, dreamwork as a spiritual practice, and more. Participants will be paired off into hevruta dream partners, and you will be invited to work together practicing the method between sessions, which will be every other week. Together, we will discuss texts on dreams in pairs and as a group, and work one another’s dreams in class, with me demonstrating and offering guidance.
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.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Miracles and the Strange: Writing Inspiration from Sephardic Folktales and Modern Speculative Fiction
2023-01-25 12:00 - 13:30
January 25, February 1, 8, 15, 22, March 1, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
Traditional Sephardic folktales take the experience of the marginalized Jewish diaspora and create narratives of hope and justice through inexplicable miracles and magical events. In this generative workshop, we will use these folktales of miracles as inspiration to write our own speculative stories, using elements of the strange amid a backdrop of realism. We will look to modern fiction by Karen Bender, Lina María Ferreira Cabeza-Venegas, Shirley Jackson and Samanta Schweblin, and examine how these writers grapple with social and cultural experiences, especially the realities of violence, misogyny, and anti-Semitism, through speculative approaches to storytelling. By the end of the workshop, each participant will have developed the beginning of their own piece of writing (in any genre) confronting social anxieties, fears, and the lived experience of being Jewish in this moment in history.
Leslie Contreras Schwartz is a multi-genre writer, a 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, and was the 2019–2021 Houston Poet Laureate. She is the author of four collections of poetry, including Black Dove / Paloma Negra (FlowerSong Press, 2020), a finalist for the Helen C. Smith Memorial Award for 2020 Best Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters; Fuego (St. Julian Press, 2016); and Nightbloom & Cenote (SJP, 2018), a semi-finalist for the 2017 Tupelo Press Dorset Prize, judged by Ilya Kaminsky. Her poet laureate community projects include Writing and Mindfulness: Creative Writing Exercises, a free e-book on mindfulness and writing, and the poetry film IT’S A MASK IT’S A VIRUS IT’S A KNEE, a collective, communal poetry film composed of poems written by Houstonians about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is currently a faculty member at Alma College’s MFA low-residency program in creative writing. For more about her work, visit lesliecschwartz.com.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Survival of the Word: Poetry for International Holocaust Remembrance Day
2023-01-26 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Many of us have heard of Paul Celan and his haunting poem of the Holocaust, “Death Fugue”: “Black milk of daybreak, we drink you at night…” In preparation for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we’ll learn about some of Celan’s contemporaries: Nelly Sachs, Bertolt Brecht, Dan Paris, Abba Kovner, Primo Levi, Ida Fink, Abraham Sutzkever and many more, who wrote about one of the darkest moments in history. We will explore a bit about these poets’ biographies, how they survived the Holocaust, where they settled, the languages they wrote in, and sample their powerful poetry.
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.

The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. Please consider adding a donation to Ritualwell to help us continue to offer free programs like this one!

Jewish Art as Prayer: A Guided Art Session
2023-02-07 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Jewish artists over the centuries have used art as a form of prayer. In this interactive session, we’ll learn about the evolution of Jewish art and begin a new piece of art of your own. Participants are encouraged to bring in an image of their favorite piece of Jewish art that will become part of our discussion. We will close by sketching a piece inspired by an aspect of Judaism that is meaningful to us. Together we’ll learn about the rich history of Jewish art, engage with others interested in incorporating art into spiritual practice, and create in a supportive environment. Participants are welcome to use the medium of art most comfortable for them (written/vocal/visual/movement, etc.). No art experience necessary. Bring your enthusiasm to try something new!
Ayeola Omolara Kaplan (she/her) is a Black, Queer, and Jewish artist. Through depicting the intersections of identity, class, and spirituality, Ayeola hopes to meaningfully contribute to the growing body of revolutionary art. Her work features electrifying, surrealist imagery, created to celebrate the empowerment of oppressed people. In her experience, art is equally a spiritual and political medium. Art is the language that Ayeola uses to fully reclaim the power within herself. She hopes that through sharing her work, she is able to help spread joy and inspire folks to live truthfully and committed to building a world where we can all experience peace, freedom, and equity.
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

Language at the Edge: Exploring Holocaust Poetry
2023-02-09 12:00 - 13:30
February 9, 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
Join us for an in-depth look at the poetry of the Holocaust, some of the most profound poetry of witness known to humankind. These poems are borne within the extremity of survival and they are, as such, evidence of what occurred. They are also poems about the limits of language itself to convey the unimaginable. In this immersion, we will read deeply from a selection of poets who wrote about the Holocaust and learn about their lives, their stories, their survival, and their language. At the same time, we will explore our own lives, our family histories, and what it means to live in a post-Holocaust world. From these stories we will begin to form our own poems of witness.
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.

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

The Thinking Heart: Facing our Fears with the Wisdom of Etty Hillesum
2023-02-22 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
“Let me be the thinking heart of these barracks.” – Etty Hillesum
These powerful words were written from within Camp Westerbork, a transit camp in the Netherlands, by one of the most extraordinary writers during the Holocaust. Etty Hillesum was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 29. The diaries that she wrote in the last two years of her life are a document full of love, spirituality, compassion, and trust in life. With Hillesum as our inspiration, we will challenge ourselves to tap into our own “thinking hearts”: to face our feelings with awareness, to see the “other” without animosity, hatred, or bitterness. We will explore how Hillesum’s teachings can support the healing of individuals and nations. We will ask: What does it mean to be the thinking heart in times ruled by violence and fear? How can we connect with the power of our hearts? What is the guidance of my thinking heart? The session will include meditation, writing exercises, and group sharing.
Dina Awwad-Srour and Emma Sham-ba Ayalon are passionate women and peace workers who work for social change and global healing. Dina (Palestinian) is a lecturer and a writer on issues of women’s empowerment and sexuality. Emma Sham-Ba (Israeli) is a rabbi, poet, and artist. They created the Etty Hillesum Cards in three languages (English, Hebrew, and Arabic) in order to share the inspiration of Hillesum’s writings with others.
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

Jewish Art as Self-Defense
2023-02-28 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
February 28, March 7, 14, 21, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
Throughout history, Jewish artists have used their art as a tool for empowerment in the face of adversity. Join Black, Queer Jewish artist Ayeola Omolara Kaplan for a deep dive into creating artwork informed by Jewish social justice work. We will learn about Jewish artists and how their Jewish identity inspired their “art-ivism.” Ayeola will guide participants in creating an art piece in whichever medium they are most comfortable (visual, written, vocal, dance, etc.) in response to a social/environmental issue of their choice. This immersion will support both new and experienced creatives in learning to use art as a form of self-defense. By the end of the immersion, we each will have created a piece of art meant to empower us and developed art practices that we can return to during difficult times. We will celebrate the magic of creating art, and how to approach the creative process within the lens of Jewish spirituality.

You do not need to be experienced to create art. Art is a language we can all use. All you need is your enthusiasm to have fun and try something new.
There will be some designated time during each session for working on our art pieces; however, we encourage participants to spend some time outside of each session working on their piece. This ensures that we can spend most of the immersion learning/discussing/sharing with each other.

Ayeola Omolara Kaplan (she/her) is a Black, Queer, and Jewish artist. Through depicting the intersections of identity, class, and spirituality, Ayeola hopes to meaningfully contribute to the growing body of revolutionary art. Her work features electrifying, surrealist imagery, created to celebrate the empowerment of oppressed people. In her experience, art is equally a spiritual and political medium. Art is the language that Ayeola uses to fully reclaim the power within herself. She hopes that through sharing her work, she is able to help spread joy and inspire folks to live truthfully and committed to building a world where we can all experience peace, freedom, and equity.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Story Magic: Fiction Writing Through a Jewish Lens, Part 2
2023-03-02 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
From biblical and midrashic narratives to contemporary fiction published in literary journals, good stories ignite our imaginations and serve as portals to the human experience. In this generative workshop, we’ll explore the craft of fiction through reading and writing as we unfold the wings of imaginative prose. Each week we’ll discuss a short story, assimilate craft techniques, and write from prompts. This workshop is suitable for poets, journalists, fiction writers, and curious readers. While this immersion is a continuation of the fall series, new participants are encouraged to join.

Amy Gottlieb‘s debut novel The Beautiful Possible was a finalist for the 2017 Harold U. Ribalow Prize, a 2016 National Jewish Book Award and Edward Lewis Wallant Award. Her fiction and poetry have been published in Other Voices, Lilith, Puerto del Sol, Ilanot Review, On Being, Zeek, Storyscape, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, and elsewhere. She has received a Literary Fellowship and Residency from the Bronx Council on the Arts, and an Arts Fellowship from the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. Amy is a graduate of Clark University and the University of Chicago. She lives with her family on the edge of the Hudson River in New York City.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Inner and Outer Peace Work Inspired by Etty Hillesum
2023-03-08 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
March 8, 15, 22, 29, 2023, 12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
We live in times of transition, witnessing a huge change in humanity, a time that calls us to face many challenges in the political arena. We need to find our voices to contribute to the change we aspire to see. We can find strength through solidarity, deep listening, and spiritual connection. The diaries of Etty Hillesum represent a woman who found her own path of spiritual resistance against a totalitarian regime and ideology. She searched for inner freedom, chose to believe in the humanness of all people, even her so-called “enemies,” and carried a vision of a better future in her heart no matter how hard life seemed. Using her writings as the basis for our inquiry, we will ask: What is peace work? How can we channel our anger and frustration so that it does not control us? How can we develop spiritual resilience, face thoughts of despair that sometimes threaten to take over, and step out of victimhood? What is our spiritual source? What is our vision for a better world? We will read excerpts from Hillesum’s diaries and discuss the topics of inner and outer peace, inner freedom, healing hatred, and spiritual development. We will engage in writing exercises, meditation, and group sharing. All are welcome.
Dina Awwad-Srour and Emma Sham-ba Ayalon are passionate women and peace workers who work for social change and global healing. Dina (Palestinian) is a lecturer and a writer on issues of women’s empowerment and sexuality. Emma Sham-Ba (Israeli) is a rabbi, poet, and artist. They created the Etty Hillesum Cards in three languages (English, Hebrew, and Arabic) in order to share the inspiration of Hillesum’s writings with others.

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

Inner and Outer Peace Work Inspired by Etty Hillesum
2023-03-08 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
March 8, 15, 22, 29, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
We live in times of transition, witnessing a huge change in humanity, a time that calls us to face many challenges in the political arena. We need to find our voices to contribute to the change we aspire to see. We can find strength through solidarity, deep listening, and spiritual connection. The diaries of Etty Hillesum represent a woman who found her own path of spiritual resistance against a totalitarian regime and ideology. She searched for inner freedom, chose to believe in the humanness of all people, even her so-called “enemies,” and carried a vision of a better future in her heart no matter how hard life seemed. Using her writings as the basis for our inquiry, we will ask: What is peace work? How can we channel our anger and frustration so that it does not control us? How can we develop spiritual resilience, face thoughts of despair that sometimes threaten to take over, and step out of victimhood? What is our spiritual source? What is our vision for a better world? We will read excerpts from Hillesum’s diaries and discuss the topics of inner and outer peace, inner freedom, healing hatred, and spiritual development. We will engage in writing exercises, meditation, and group sharing. All are welcome.
Dina Awwad-Srour and Emma Sham-ba Ayalon are passionate women and peace workers who work for social change and global healing. Dina (Palestinian) is a lecturer and a writer on issues of women’s empowerment and sexuality. Emma Sham-Ba (Israeli) is a rabbi, poet, and artist. They created the Etty Hillesum Cards in three languages (English, Hebrew, and Arabic) in order to share the inspiration of Hillesum’s writings with others.

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

Poetic Midrash: A Conversation between Hila Ratzabi and Alden Solovy
2023-03-13 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom
Join Ritualwell’s Hila Ratzabi in conversation with liturgist Alden Solovy in discussion of his new book, These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah. Hila and Alden will explore creative midrash and the process he used to write 70 poetic midrashim on individual words of Torah. Alden will also read selections from the book and discuss the Torah learning behind several of the poems.

Alden Solovy spreads joy and excitement for prayer. An American Israeli liturgist, lyricist, poet, author, and educator, Alden is the Liturgist-in-Residence for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Alden teaches prayer and spirituality throughout the world. Based in Jerusalem, his six solo books include These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, and This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, all published by CCAR Press. A regular contributor to Ritualwell and a member of the Ritualwell Immersion faculty, his work is anthologized in more than 20 other volumes across the religious spectrum. Alden also contributes regularly to RavBlog, ReformJudaism.org, and the Times of Israel. He’s a three-time winner of the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism. Alden made aliyah to Jerusalem in 2012. See his work at www.tobendlight.com. Alden can be reached at alden@tobendlight.com.
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this event for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

How to Write Trauma Without Retraumatizing Yourself
2023-03-28 12:00
Writing about trauma can help organize thoughts, regulate emotions, encourage us to reach out for support, and enable us to discover meaning. But revisiting trauma on the page can be triggering. We will talk about how to write about traumatic experiences without retraumatizing ourselves or overwhelming our readers and what keeps writers grounded and writing.
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.
This session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

Recognizing the Good: Writing Jewish Prayers and Poems of Gratitude
2023-04-17 12:00 - 13:30
April 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
Judaism offers many opportunities to express gratitude, from the morning blessing Modeh Ani to Shabbat and holidays. To inspire poetic and liturgical writing, join us for a deep dive into the Jewish language of gratitude – hakarat hatov. Among our explorations: gratitude as a spiritual practice; hidden meanings in the language of gratitude; language that undermines gratitude; and the connection between prayer and gratitude. We’ll learn together and write from the heart.

Alden Solovy spreads joy and excitement for prayer. An American Israeli liturgist, lyricist, poet, author, and educator, Alden is the Liturgist-in-Residence for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Alden teaches prayer and spirituality throughout the world. Based in Jerusalem, his six solo books include These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Langauge of Torah,This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, and This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer, all published by CCAR Press. A regular contributor to Ritualwell and a member of the Ritualwell Immersion faculty, his work is anthologized in more than 20 other volumes across the religious spectrum. Alden also contributes regularly to RavBlog, ReformJudaism.org, and the Times of Israel. He’s a three-time winner of the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism. Alden made aliyah to Jerusalem in 2012. See his work at www.tobendlight.com. Alden can be reached at alden@tobendlight.com.

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

From Brokenness to Healing: Making Meaning through Memoir
2023-04-18 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
April 18, 25, May 2, 9, 16, 23, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
How can we make meaning from returning to a challenging or traumatic life experience on the page? What does it mean to write from the scar rather than the wound? And how can we find a spiritual lens in which to frame our trauma? In this six-week workshop, we will focus on the definition of trauma, how returning to it can help heal, how writing structure and pacing can help contain it, and how we can revision ourselves before and after. There will be opportunities to share work and receive feedback from the instructor on works in progress.
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.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

ADVOT@Ritualwell Studio sessions - Spring semester
2023-04-19 14:00 - 15:00 | Zoom

Reclaiming the Hebrew Goddess & Writing Her Anew
2023-04-20 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
April 20, 27, May 4, 11, 18, June 1, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
For thousands of years before patriarchal monotheism took hold, our ancestors worshipped the Divine Feminine. In this immersion, we will take a deep dive into the legacy of the Hebrew goddess, from her ancient biblical and Near Eastern roots to her demise at the hands of our prophets and scribes, from her reemergence in mystical Judaism to her manifestations in Judaism today. Discover where her secrets are hidden and reclaim her for your own, for the earth, and for the generations to come. We will engage in thoughtful reflection and inspired creative writing with guided writing prompts. Join gynocentric Torah scholar, creative writing professor, and student rabbi Sivan Rotholz as we harvest the bounty of the Divine Feminine in Jewish tradition. No previous creative writing experience or knowledge of the goddess required.
Sivan Rotholz is a professor of gynocentric Torah and creative writing. She has taught at Brooklyn College, Tel Aviv University, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, Moishe House, and elsewhere, and has shared her Torah in synagogues and living rooms across the globe. Her writing has appeared in the Jewish Journal, 929, and Ritualwell, among other publications. She is the Education Director for Achayot – Jewish Women Writers, and is pursuing rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion.

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

The Access Code: Naming God and Opening to Prayer
2023-05-03 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
The first line of the traditional liturgical prayer is the petikhah (the opening), where we name and describe the One we will be in holy conversation with and then state the basic premise of the prayer. Traditionally, we gain access to God by praying to Adonai, Melekh HaOlam, the “Lord, King of the Universe,” but we can call God by any name, gendered or not, hierarchical or not, depending of who or what we need to pray to or for. In this session, we will explore the petikhah and how to use it to create our own prayers.
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.org, 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, Ritualwell.org, and opensiddur.org.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

Creating Jewish Liturgy for Juneteenth
2023-05-11 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
May 11 & 18, 2023, 12:00–1:30 p.m. EST
Join us for a two-part workshop inviting people of all backgrounds, but specifically Black (and Jewish) individuals and allies, to give voice to the significance of Juneteenth through writing. In the first session, we will spend time working in havruta (in pairs) or alone to create prayers, poems, liturgy, or songs that engage meaningfully with the day. In the second session, we will come together to share our final pieces and reflect on the process of writing for Juneteenth.
This workshop is an opportunity to honor and celebrate the liberation of enslaved African Americans in the United States, and to give voice to the experiences and perspectives of Black individuals. All levels of writing experience are welcome. We hope you will join us in this meaningful and creative exploration of Juneteenth.

Rabbi Sandra Lawson (she/her) is the Inaugural Director of Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism and one of the first African American, queer, female rabbis. In 2020, the Forward named Lawson to its “Forward 50,” proclaiming her a “truth teller.” Prior to joining Reconstructing Judaism, Lawson served as the Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life and the Senior Jewish Educator at Hillel at Elon University in North Carolina. She is also the founder of Kol Hapanim – All Faces – an inclusive Jewish community that is relevant, accessible, and rooted in tradition, where all who come are welcomed, and diversity is embraced. She has also served as the investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region, becoming the go-to person when law enforcement in the South needed information on hate groups. Lawson lives in North Carolina with her wife Susan and three “fur babies”: Izzy, Bridget and Simon.
The sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer these two sessions for free. A suggested $36 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

Gathering Waters: Mikveh Ritual Creation Workshop
2023-05-12 12:00 - 13:00
Water is an ancient source of healing and transformation in Jewish tradition. In the past few decades, the ritual of mikveh immersion has been reimagined to include more and more voices and experiences, particularly that of women and LGBTQ individuals. A collaboration between Mayyim Hayyim’s Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network and Ritualwell, join us for a special workshop on creating mikveh rituals. We’ll dive into Jewish sources on mikveh and look at examples of innovative contemporary rituals. We will then be invited to create our own mikveh rituals, to workshop them in a small group, and to share. This workshop is ideal for those who serve as mikveh guides or anyone looking to create their own, personal mikveh ritual or to help others in that process.

Hila Ratzabi is director of virtual content and programs at Ritualwell.org. She has been with Ritualwell since 2015, shepherding the publication of hundreds of poems, prayers and rituals and creating innovative online programming. Born in Rehovot, Israel, and raised in Queens, Ny., Ratzabi is a poet, writer, editor and writing coach. She is the author of a book of poetry, There Are Still Woods (June Road Press, 2022). She holds a BA in English/Creative Writing from Barnard College, a BA in Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary (Double Degree Program, 2003), and an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College (2007). Her poetry is published in a variety of literary journals and in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry. She lives in Oak Park, Il., outside Chicago, with her husband and two children. Learn more at http://www.hilaratzabi.com/.
This session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.
Mayyim Hayyim is a 21st century creation, a mikveh rooted in ancient tradition, reinvented to serve the Jewish community of today. Mayyim Hayyim is a resource for learning, spiritual discovery, and creativity where women, men, and people of all genders and ages can celebrate milestones like weddings and b’nai mitzvah; where conversion to Judaism is accorded the honor and dignity it deserves; where survivors of trauma, illness or loss find solace; and where those who immerse monthly can explore the ritual on their own terms. Mayyim Hayyim is a fountain of creativity that, since its opening in 2004, inspired new liturgies and curricula, publications, music, artwork, and plays.
The mission of the Rising Tide Open Waters Mikveh Network is to inspire, strengthen and support communities that embrace an open, inclusive and welcoming approach to ritual immersion as a way to mark life transitions.
Ritualwell is the most extensive online resource that curates original Jewish rituals for Jews and fellow seekers. We publish rituals, ceremonies, prayers and poems to mark sacred moments in Jewish life. Through creating and sharing rituals, hosting Ritualwell Immersions (online learning experiences) and curating an online Judaica shop, Ritualwell fosters a supportive environment for Jewish creativity, spiritual growth and discovery.

Borrowed Language: The Cento and the Piyyut
2023-05-15 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
As Jewish writers, we inherit an ocean of text with which to be in relationship. How can we make creative use of our lineage as People of the Book and play with the language we’ve been given? In this generative workshop, we will explore two poetic forms of ancient origins: the Cento (Latin for patchwork) and the Piyyut (Hebrew for storytelling, a liturgical poem), which both borrow heavily, sometimes entirely, from pre-existing textual materials in order to create something new. We’ll read classical and contemporary examples of these forms and explore what they share. Participants will be guided through writing exercises, leaving with at least one new poem draft of their own.
Mónica Gomery is a rabbi and poet. Her work explores queerness, diaspora, ancestry, theology, and cultivating courageous hearts. Her second poetry collection, Might Kindred, won the 2021 Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize and is forthcoming from the University of Nebraska Press, fall 2022. She is the author of the poetry collection Here is the Night and the Night on the Road and the chapbook Of Darkness and Tumbling. Mónica serves as a rabbi at Kol Tzedek Synagogue and on the faculty of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva and is also a co-founder of Let My People Sing!
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

What My Hands Tell: Exploring Ekphrasis
2023-05-16 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
“My heart cannot bear to say what my hands tell.” —Maxine Silverman
A certain alchemy happens when different art forms speak to each other, which is known as ekphrasis. Poems that respond to visual art offer new avenues into expressing what the heart wants to say. In this session we will examine artwork and poems in relationship as they challenge and illuminate each other. We will explore ekphrastic poems and visual art from a variety of Jewish creatives (e.g., Maxine Silverman, Celia Dropkin) to inspire our own writing.
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).
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.

Liturgy Writing for Prayer Leaders
2023-05-24 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
May 24, 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EDT
Liturgy may be poetry, but is a poem necessarily liturgy? What turns a piece of writing into liturgy, something you can use during a prayer service? In this immersion, you will learn criteria and techniques to transform your poems and prayers into liturgy. In each session, we will discuss a topic you might need to address during a prayer service or event; then you will be prompted to write your personal take on it, as a first step toward creating your own liturgy. This immersion is for prayer leaders who have some experience writing prayers and want to receive feedback and hone their skills as liturgists in a supportive environment.
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.org, 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, Ritualwell.org, and opensiddur.org.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Tongues Shaped Like Harps: Experimenting with Poetry and Visual Art
2023-06-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2023
12:00–1:30 p.m. EDT
“Pray in the tongues / that are shaped like harps”
—From “Versöhnung” (Reconciliation), by Else Lasker-Schüler
Poetry and visual art have a long history of inspiring each other. The German-Jewish poet Else Lasker-Schüler, quoted above, was influenced by Franz Marc and other Expressionist painters, and her work, in turn, influenced other artists. In this immersion, we’ll look at connections between a variety of Jewish poets and artists, like Marc Chagall and Alexander Mazin, and John O’Hara and Mike Goldberg. We’ll also look at creatives who work across different media, like Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, Marcia Falk, and Maya Pindyck. These works will inspire our own experiments in writing ekphrastic poetry (poetry that responds to other art forms). We will also deepen our writing through simple exercises in drawing, watercolor painting, and collage. By playing with different media, we will see how writing and art can open up new avenues of creativity in conversation with each other. All are welcome, regardless of experience in writing poetry or artmaking.
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).
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Learning to Say “We”: Writing Identity
2023-06-15 14:00 - 15:30 | Zoom
June 15, 22, 29, July 6, 2023
2:00–3:30 p.m. EST
We often talk about identity as though it were something we have always been and absolutely are. But identity is not fixed: it is a way of understanding ourselves that relates us to others. Identities can be temporary as name-tags and enduring as monuments; singular as snowflakes and (think of Whitman’s “Song of Myself”) encompassing as oceans. We can think of our identities as a collage, or pointillist painting, or an ongoing story, or as the intersection of the histories that led to us and the social systems that surround us. American Jews, in particular, have no choice but to navigate multiple ways of identifying ourselves—as Jews, as Americans, as members of a racially stratified society, as targets and beneficiaries of oppression, as inheritors of and rebels against millennia of Jewish cultures and traditions. In this immersion, we will reflect and expand on our personal experiences of identity, using writing exercises and in-depth discussions to think about, challenge, discover, explore, and experiment with different ways to identify ourselves, to consider how those ways connect us to and separate us from others, and how they represent and misrepresent aspects of who we are.
Joy Ladin is the author of twelve books, including the National Jewish Book Award–winning revised second edition of The Book of Anna (EOAGH, 2021); The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective (Brandeis UP), a finalist for both a Lambda Literary Award and Triangle Award; Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey between Genders, a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award and winner of a Forward Fives Award; and ten books of poetry, including Shekhinah Speaks; Fireworks in the Graveyard (Headmistress Press); Psalms; Forward Fives–award winner Coming to Life; and two Lambda Literary Award finalists, Transmigration and Impersonation. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts writing fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, and two Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research fellowships, among other honors. She holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Princeton University, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

ADVOT End-of-year Celebration
2023-06-29 19:00 - 20:00
Celebrate the end of our second year of ADVOT@Ritualwell, our cohort of ritual innovators, poets and liturgists. Members of our community will read work created this year and we’ll celebrate the publication of our second annual anthology Like a Tree By Water.
Purchase the ADVOT anthology, Like a Tree By Water.
ADVOT@Ritualwell is an online creative community of ritual innovators, poets, and liturgists who meet regularly to share work and support and empower each other to create and innovate Jewish ritual, poetry, and liturgy. Launched in 2021, ADVOT means “ripples” in Hebrew. RIPL (pronounced “ripple”) is the acronym of “Ritual Innovators, Poets, Liturgists.”
Thank you to Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah for supporting ADVOT.
This event will be recorded and sent to registrants.
We are happy to offer this event for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.
By registering for a Ritualwell program you will be automatically added to our e-newsletter. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Weaving Water: Recreating Jewish Water-based Rituals
2023-08-23 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
August 23, 30, September 6, 13, 20, 27, 2023
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
How can ritual-weaving support us in bridging the gap between our own lives and our spiritual ancestors’ relationships with water? Explore how the Jewish calendar and our holiday cycle are built on the flow of water. Together, we will track the role of water throughout the Torah and how ancient Israelites’ relationship with rain evolved to influence modern Jewish rituals. We will cover cycles of rain in the Middle East, mikveh and other forms of purification through water, lesser known Jewish water rituals, water in liturgy, embodied practices related to water, and more. In each session, we will study primary texts, reflect on how these texts speak to our lives and needs today, and be invited to design our own rituals in response. All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Sarah Chandler aka Kohenet Shamirah is a Brooklyn-based Jewish educator, artist, activist, healer, and poet. She has been teaching Jewish eco-ritual weaving for over 15 years. She holds a M.A. in Jewish Education and a M.A. in Hebrew Bible from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a certificate in Non-Profit Management and Jewish Communal Leadership from Columbia University. She teaches, writes and consults on a national level on issues related to Judaism, earth-based spiritual practice, mindfulness, dreamwork, and farming. Sarah’s chapter in “The Sacred Earth” (CCAR Press, June 2023) focused on Jewish water spirituality. She is also the Liturgist in Residence at National Havurah Committee’s 2023 Summer Institute. An advanced student of Kabbalistic dream work at The School of Images, Sarah is the founder and lead trainer for “Soft as a Rock: Public Speaking for Sensitive Souls.”
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Change Through Acceptance: the Hasidic Notion of Teshuvah
2023-09-05 12:00 - 13:15 | Zoom
Tuesdays, September 5, 12, 19, 2023
12-1:15 p.m. EDT
Each High Holidays we are asked to engage in the challenging process of Teshuvah/change or repentance. The classic rabbinic notion of Teshuvah could be summed up as “Just say no!,” suggesting that, faced with the temptation to do something wrong, you should stop yourself. Hasidism suggests a different path, suggesting you acknowledge and accept that you have made mistakes and then seek to transform yourself to align with your vision of who you deeply want to be. In this three session program, we will explore the Hasidic notion of change through the study of texts and discussion.
No previous background required. All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld was one of the editors of the Jewish Catalog (1973), a guide to do-it-yourself Judaism that sold over 300,000 copies. He authored The Jewish Holidays (1985), co-authored A Night of Questions: A Passover Haggadah (1999) with his wife Rabbi Joy Levitt, and authored A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice (2002). His newest book, Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st century published by Ben Yehuda Press, has been published on the 50th anniversary of the Jewish Catalog. He is the rabbi emeritus of the SAJ (Society for the Advancement of Judaism).
