Ritualwell

Jewish Writers' Circle Anthology Celebration and Reading (Evening)
2026-09-09 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
8-9:00 p.m. ET

Join us to celebrate the contributions of our Jewish Writers’ Circles members and the launch of our first anthology showcasing their creations. Jewish Writers’ Circles are grassroots peer-led communities of writers who meet monthly for in-person gatherings (e.g. homes and cafes). Jewish Writers’ Circle (JWC) participants explore Jewish wisdom texts, deepen relationships and grow in their writing practice. This event is their opportunity to showcase their work to you as we launch our second year of this initiative,
We’re offering this special celebration at two different times so that Jewish Writers’ Circle participants and their friends across time zones have an opportunity to join us. Please choose the gathering time that works best for you!

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

Out of the Depths: A Journey through the Days of Awe
2026-09-15 12:00 - 13:00
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
12-1 p.m. ET
$18

Prepare your heart for the Days of Awe with a new Ritualwell companion booklet of reflections, poetry, prayers, and creative prompts designed to guide you from Elul through Yom Kippur. Whether used for daily reflection or moments of pause throughout the season, this collection offers pathways into deeper awareness, renewal, and spiritual practice. This printable PDF will be delivered electronically and accessible online, ready to bring to your table when you register.

As part of this sacred journey, we invite you to gather live with Rabbi Yael Levy on September 15, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, for an exploration of Psalm 130. Rabbi Levy, author of Psalms: Ancient Songs for These Times, will help us engage this ancient prayer of longing and hope as a guide for the inner work of the Yamim Noraim. Together, we’ll reflect on what it means to call out from the depths, embrace the possibility of return, and remain openhearted in these challenging times.

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

Rabbi Yael Levy is the founder and rabbinic director of A Way In, Rabbi Yael’s teachings offer “a way in” to spiritual practice and awareness that uses the language of Jewish tradition and address universal issues. Named one of “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by the Jewish Forward, Rabbi Yael has created daily and weekly online teachings and unique contemplative Shabbat and holiday services. She leads weekly call-in meditation “sits,” retreats and classes in Jewish Mindfulness. A Way In grew out of her part-time work as a rabbi at Mishkan Shalom Reconstructionist congregation for over 20 years. She is now Rabbi Emerita.

A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Yael has worked with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, co-leading retreats in Alaska for Jewish professionals and writing an online mindfulness guide to the Torah portions of the week. She also serves as a spiritual director to rabbinical students.

She is the author of Directing the Heart: Weekly Mindfulness Teachings and Practices from the Torah, Journey through the Wilderness: A Mindfulness Approach to the Ancient Jewish Practice of Counting the Omer and Chanukah Lights: Psalms for Hallel.

Marking October 7: Poetry, Reflection & Writing with Lesléa Newman
2026-10-07 13:00 - 14:00
Wednesday October 7, 2026
1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Please join the Ritualwell community on Wednesday, October 7, as we gather to mark this difficult day together through poetry, reflection, and writing.

We’ll be joined by acclaimed poet and author Lesléa Newman, who will share selections from her forthcoming collection, The Last Flame Last. This powerful suite of 18 poems responds to October 7 and the surge of antisemitism that followed.

Following Lesléa’s reading, we’ll have an opportunity to pause, reflect, and write our own responses. No writing experience is necessary—just a willingness to be present, listen, and make space for what this day brings up for us.

This gathering is open to all.

Lesléa is generously donating a portion of her royalties from the book to Beth Israel Congregation, to support their efforts to rebuild both their temple, which was damaged in an arson attack, and their faith in the kindness of strangers. Preorders are especially meaningful: they will help determine the book’s initial print run and royalty rate, which in turn will determine the size of the donation. You can preorder The Last Flame Last from Finishing Line Press.

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

photo credit: Mary Vazquez
Lesléa Newman has created 90 books for readers of all ages including the memoirs-in-verse, I Carry My Mother and I Wish My Father; the novel-in-verse, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; and the children’s books, Something Sweet: A Sitting Shiva Story; The Babka Sisters; Joyful Song: A Naming Story; Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed; and Heather Has Two Mommies. She has received two National Jewish Book Awards, two American Library Association Stonewall Honors, am Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award, a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Massachusetts Book Award. From 2008 – 2010, she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA.

Grounded Poetry: Sensitivity to Setting
2026-10-14 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-10-21 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-10-28 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-11-04 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesdays, October 14, 21, and 28 and November 4, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. ET
$180

Whether it’s the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a neglected backyard garden, or the landscape of memory itself, every place holds a story. In poetry, setting is never just a backdrop—it can reveal longing, loss, joy, identity, and what matters most. Sometimes, paying close attention to a place can also help us notice what is sacred within it—and within ourselves.

Together, we’ll explore how Jewish poets including Grace Paley, Louise Glück, and Gerald Stern use vivid details of time and place to create unforgettable poems. We’ll see how setting can deepen emotion, illuminate character, and invite us into a richer relationship with the world around us.

Through close reading, discussion, and a guided writing exercise inspired by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s “Abandoned Farmhouse,” you’ll discover how paying close attention to place can unlock surprising insights about your poem’s speaker—and yourself. Whether you’re writing about a sacred landscape, a childhood home, or an ordinary corner of your everyday life, you’ll leave with new tools for creating poems that are rich, grounded, and alive—and perhaps with a renewed sense of the holiness that can be found in the places we inhabit.

All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Susan Comninos is the author of a recent book of poems, “Out of Nowhere” (SFA Press/Texas A&M, 2022). Her individual poems have appeared in the Harvard Review Online, Rattle, The Common, Prairie Schooner and North American Review, among others. She’s taught writing to undergraduates at Siena College, The College of St. Rose, and SUNY Albany, as well as adults in the community. At present, she serves as poetry editor of Judith magazine and is at work on a second collection of poems, “Wild Joy of Receiving.” The title poem, published by The Baltimore Review, is forthcoming this spring in the anthology “The Color Wheel” (Terrapin Books, 2026).

Seeing Into the Life of Things: An Author Conversation with Rodger Kamenetz and Amy Gottlieb
2026-10-22 19:00 - 20:00
Thursday, October 22, 2026
8:00-9:00 p.m. ET
$18

How might we move through a noisy and distracted world with greater attention, imagination, and wonder?

Join the Ritualwell community for a special conversation between authors Rodger Kamenetz and Amy Gottlieb about Kamenetz’s new book, Seeing Into the Life of Things: Imagination and Sacred Encounter. As we enter the new year, we’ll explore how we might cultivate a deeper awareness of the sacred in our everyday lives.

Seeing Into the Life of Things is both a spiritual memoir and a practical guide to restoring the imaginative heart. Through stories, dreams, poems, and daily practices, Kamenetz invites us to “see into,” “listen at,” and “feel into” the world around us. He explores how memory can become a source of healing, how dreams can lead us toward sacred encounters, and how ordinary moments can become occasions for wonder.

In this intimate conversation, Amy and Rodger will explore imagination, attention, creativity, and the sacred—and what it means to practice seeing more deeply in our own lives. You’ll have the opportunity to listen, reflect, and ask questions of these two wonderful writers. Come ready to pause, wonder, and perhaps see the familiar world in a new way.

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

Rodger Kamenetz is an award-winning poet, author, and teacher whose work explores the intersections of Judaism, literature, spirituality, and dreams. He is best known for The Jew in the Lotus, the international bestseller about a group of rabbis who traveled to India to meet with the Dalai Lama, as well as The History of Last Night’s Dream, Burnt Books, Stalking Elijah, and seven books of poetry. His work has been recognized with a National Jewish Book Award, and he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and other foundations.

Kamenetz taught English and Religious Studies at Louisiana State University, where he founded the MFA program in creative writing and the Jewish Studies minor. Now based in New Orleans, he devotes himself to writing and to working with people through Natural Dreamwork, a spiritual practice centered on dreams. His newest book, Seeing Into the Life of Things: Imagination and Sacred Encounter, brings together his lifelong explorations of creativity, dreams, memory, and the sacred.

Amy Gottlieb is a novelist and poet. Her debut novel, The Beautiful Possible, was a finalist for the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Harold Ribalow Prize, and a National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. Her poetry has appeared in On Being, Ilanot Review, Storyscape, SWWIM, Quartet Journal, Poetica, Paper Brigade, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the Civita Institute and five individual awards from the Bronx Council on the Arts.

The Ritual of Small Moments
2026-11-09 12:00 - 13:00
Monday, November 9, 2026
12-1:00 p.m. EDT

Join writer, musician, and Torah teacher Rabbi Alicia Jo Rabins for an inspiring exploration of how ordinary moments can become sacred through mindful attention and Jewish ritual practice. Drawing from her new memoir, When We’re Born We Forget Everything, Alicia will share reflections on finding holiness in everyday life, followed by a creative writing prompt inviting participants to notice and honor the sacred moments woven throughout their own lives.

This gathering is part of Ritual Lab, Ritualwell’s new monthly series celebrating innovation in contemporary Jewish ritual. Each session features visionary writers, artists, and spiritual leaders who are expanding Jewish ritual practice in creative, meaningful, and accessible ways.

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

Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician, performer, and Torah teacher. The New York Times calls her voice “gorgeous,” and BookPage calls her writing “a balm against all the hurt places of humanity.” She is the author of five books including a spiritual memoir, When We’re Born We Forget Everything (Schocken Books, 2026), and the poetry collection, Divinity School, winner of the American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize, As a singer-songwriter, Rabins tours internationally with Girls in Trouble, her indie-folk song cycle about Biblical women. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family.

Four Characters in Search of a Story: Writing Inspired by Rav Kook's Fourfold Song
2026-11-12 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-11-19 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-12-03 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-12-10 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, November 12 & 19 and December 3 and 10, 2026
12-1:00 p.m.
$180

What stories emerge when we listen deeply—to ourselves, our communities, humanity, and the living world? Inspired by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook’s beloved teaching, The Fourfold Song, this generative writing workshop invites us to explore four interconnected dimensions of our lives through creative practice.

Together, we’ll reflect on “The Song of the Self,” “The Song of the Nation,” “The Song of Humanity,” and “The Song of the World,” using each as a doorway into fresh writing. Through inspiring prompts, guided reflection, and rich conversation, you’ll discover new ways to connect personal experience with larger questions of belonging, compassion, and purpose.

Guided by beloved Ritualwell teacher Amy Gottlieb, you’ll write in a warm, welcoming community where curiosity is encouraged, every voice is valued, and writers of all genres can find inspiration. Whether you write poetry, memoir, fiction, essays, or are simply curious to explore your creativity, you’ll leave with new writing, fresh insights, and the encouragement that comes from writing alongside others. No previous writing experience is necessary—just an open heart and a willingness to listen for the songs that are waiting to be written.

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

Amy Gottlieb is a novelist and poet. Her debut novel, The Beautiful Possible, was a finalist for the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Harold Ribalow Prize, and a National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. Her poetry has appeared in On Being, Ilanot Review, Storyscape, SWWIM, Quartet Journal, Poetica, Paper Brigade, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the Civita Institute and five individual awards from the Bronx Council on the Arts.

Writing What Matters Most: In Conversation With Anita Diamant
2026-11-15 13:00
Sunday, November 15, 2026
1-2:30 p.m. EDT
$54

For more than three decades, Anita Diamant’s books—including The Red Tent and Day After Night—have engaged readers with stories that illuminate Jewish tradition, women’s lives, and the power of narrative. In this special Ritualwell event, Anita will reflect on her writing journey, the evolution of her craft, and what it means to be a Jewish writer today.

Together, we’ll explore where stories begin, how research and curiosity shape creative work, and the practices that sustain a writing life.

Following the conversation, participants will be invited to write from a prompt in the Ritualwell spirit, gather in community to share reflections and new work. Come to listen, write, and discover what story is waiting for you to tell.

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

Photo credit: Sharona Jacobs
Anita Diamant is the author of thirteen books, most recently Period. End of Sentence. The New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice. Her first novel, New York Times bestseller, The Red Tent, has been published in more than 25 countries. Her other novels include The Boston Girl, Day after Night, The Last Days of Dogtown, and Good Harbor.
Diamant is the author of six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, including The Jewish Wedding Now, Living a Jewish Life, and Saying Kaddish, as well as a collection of essays, Pitching my Tent. An award-winning journalist, her work has appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Real Simple, Parenting, Boston Magazine and Cognoscenti, the online ideas and opinion page of WBUR-FM.
Anita is the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center: a 21st century reinvention of the ancient tradition of immersion for all Jews and those becoming Jewish. www.mayyimhayyim.org

Imagining Beyond the Self: A Mussar Poetry Workshop
2026-12-01 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesdays, December 1, 8 and 15, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$140

What might happen to our writing when we begin to imagine beyond the boundaries of the self?
Vanessa Machado de Oliveira calls the horizons we are walking toward “presently unimaginable futures.” We can’t fully imagine these futures as we are—we have to be changed in order to recognize them.
Mussar invites us into just this kind of transformation. At its heart is a questioning of the sovereign self: an opportunity to reimagine ourselves as people who include and depend upon others, and whose lives are inextricably connected to the lives around us. Mussar practice asks us to see beyond the sometimes-narrow structures of the self.
And poetry can do the same.
One of the most compelling intersections between Mussar and poetry is the way a Mussar mindset can open us to more imaginative ways of thinking and writing. It can invite us beyond familiar habits and approaches, toward poetry that is more experimental, surprising, and alive.
Join beloved Ritualwell teacher Rabbi Joshua Boettiger for an immersive poetry workshop exploring the intersections of Mussar and creative practice. Together, we’ll study a variety of poems and Jewish texts, use them as portals for reflection and experimentation, and generate and share new work. No particular experience with Mussar is necessary—come ready to explore, imagine, and write.
This series will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Rabbi Joshua Boettiger is Jewish Chaplain and Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is the current Rosh Yeshiva for the Center for Contemporary Mussar and for the last decade, directed the Mussar program at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon. Joshua also teaches Jewish Meditation and co-leads silent retreats. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Pacific University and his poetry has appeared in the Missouri Review, the Southern Review, B O D Y, and elsewhere.

Embodying Sacred Texts for Hanukkah
2026-12-09 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, December 9, 2026
12-1:30pm
$18

Celebrate Hanukkah through a rich, multisensory journey that invites you to experience the festival of lights with your whole self. Guided by Rabbi Yonatan Arnon, this interactive workshop weaves together music, meditation, somatic practice, creative writing, doodling, and gentle embodied movement inspired by Hanukkah’s stories, symbols, and sacred texts.

Through body, breath, voice, and imagination, participants will explore themes of light, resilience, renewal, and the miracles—both extraordinary and everyday—that illuminate our lives.

No prior experience with dance, meditation, or somatic practice is needed. People of all abilities are warmly welcome.

When you register, you’ll also receive Ritualwell’s new Hanukkah Companion Booklet—a printable PDF filled with reflections, poetry, prayers, rituals, and creative prompts to enrich your celebration throughout the holiday. It will be delivered electronically and available to revisit whenever you need a little more light.

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

Rabbi Yonatan Yosef Arnon is the founder of MoveMeant, a mindfulness practitioner, dancer, experiential educator, men’s circle facilitator, interfaith bridge builder, pastoral care provider, and spiritual guide.

He has been awarded the Be Wise Jewish Entrepreneurship Fellowship three years in a row, as well as the 92nd Street Y Jewish Entrepreneurship Fellowship, for his signature MoveMeant: Embodying Sacred Texts workshops. He has co-created more than 180 MoveMeant workshops, both in person and online, in diverse settings around the world, including the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, South Africa, and India, often in collaboration with world-class musicians.

You can learn more about Rabbi Yonatan here.
