Light the World: Dancing in Community for Hanukkah
2023-12-07 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Thursday, December 7, 2023
12 – 1:30 p.m. EST

Every person must know and understand
That a candle burns deep within them,
And their candle is unlike their friend’s
And no person without a candle exists.
And every person must know and understand
That they must strive to uncover
The light of the candle publicly
And light it into a great torch
And light the whole world
–Rav Abraham Isaac Kook
In this FREE session, we’ll welcome Hanukkah through the Nia movement practice. We’ll bring the light of community into the world to music by Matisyahu, Erran Baron Cohen, Divahn, Noa, and Balkan Beat Box, followed by prompts for reflection and writing.
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. 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 stomping up a sweat.
What you’ll need

Clear a space so you have room to move. However, Nia can also be done seated.
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.
Have writing materials at hand. You may want art materials, as well.

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

Janice Steinberg (she/her) holds a Black Belt in the Nia dance-fitness practice and has been teaching for 15 years. Last spring, she offered an Omer Nia program through Ritualwell. She is the author of the novel The Tin Horse (Random House) and a five-book mystery series published by Berkley.

Mussar Poetry: Writing Toward the Other
2023-12-11 12:00 - 13:30, 2023-12-18 12:00 - 13:30
Mondays, Nov. 13, 20, 27 and Dec. 4, 11, 18
12- 1:30 p.m. EDT
$250 for six sessions

Muriel Ruckeyser wrote that the task of poetry is to help us see ourselves “as a person moving toward other persons, or a person moving away from other persons, or a person moving against other persons….in great poetry you feel a source speaking to another source.” In this spirit, one might say that all poetry, at least all great poetry, is Mussar poetry. Mussar is a historical tradition within Judaism which asks us how we might become more awake to the needs of the other. Mussar poetry, then, might be poetry that interrupts its own habitual self-absorption, that takes risks, that listens.
In this six-session Immersion, we will look at poems that not just describe but embody encounter itself, such as poetry written by people we might think of as ‘other’ and poetry in which the poem itself directly speaks to the reader. Poets covered will include Paul Celan, Marina Tsvetaeva, Osip Mandelstam, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ilya Kaminsky, Ariana Reines, and more. The course will prioritize a workshop component. We will be writing poetry – including poems in dialogue with the above poets and in response to particular prompts – all designed to take us out of our familiar styles and stances. We will be writing inside and outside of class time and sharing work during each session.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger is the Rosh Yeshiva at the Center for Contemporary Mussar and has taught Mussar for the past decade. He is the Jewish Chaplain at Bard College, where he also teaches, including the recent course, “The History of Jewish Poetry” (Spring 2023). Joshua has an MFA in Poetry from Pacific University and his work has appeared in The Southern Review, december, Willow Springs, Image, and elsewhere. Joshua was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2006. He is a Rabbis Without Borders fellow, and regularly teaches Jewish Meditation in different contexts, including retreat settings.

Soulwork: Exploring Our Depths
2023-12-12 12:00 - 13:30, 2023-12-19 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesdays, November 28, December 5, 12, 19, 2023
12-1:30 p.m. EST

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

In the busyness of our lives, how often do we set aside time to explore our own depths? To listen to our souls? With a taste of four soulwork modalities based on a Gestalt approach – dreamwork, inner child work, nature soulwork, and Soul Collage© – we will take the time for that introspection. Each week, we will explore one modality. You will delve into your own inner world and share your insights in soulwork chevruta dyads and in the group meetings. Our inquiry will be framed in a Jewish-spiritual context, with a short text study at the start of each meeting.

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 a rabbi and writer. She 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 dreamwork), and holding a doctorate on mikveh from Bar Ilan University, she offers mikveh guidance and spiritual companioning for individuals and couples and mikveh workshops and talks for groups. She is the author of three spiritual journey memoirs — Dreaming Against the Current; A Rabbi’s Soul Journey; and 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, which was a runner up for the National Jewish Book Council Awards; as well as two novels: Hope Valley and To Die in Secret; and the first and only children’s book on mikveh: Yonah and the Mikveh Fish. She lives in Israel on Kibbutz Hannaton, is the mother of seven children, a teacher and lives with FSHD, a genetic muscular disease, which has been her biggest life challenge.

Reclaiming the Hebrew Goddess and Writing Her Anew
2023-12-14 12:00 - 13:30, 2023-12-21 12:00 - 13:30, 2023-12-28 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-11 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-18 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, December 14, 21, 28, 2023 and January 4, 11, 18, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
If the Hebrew goddess could whisper to you, she might say, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know that we were seeds.” For thousands of years before patriarchal monotheism took hold, our ancestors worshipped the divine feminine. In this six-part Ritualwell 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 and to her manifestations in Judaism today. Through thoughtful reflection and inspired creative writing with guided writing prompts, discover where her secrets are hidden and reclaim her for your own, for the earth, and for the generations to come. Join gynocentric Torah scholar, creative writing professor, and student rabbi Sivan Rotholz as we harvest the bounty of the divine feminine in Jewish tradition. This is the second installment of a previous Ritualwell Immersion. This second Immersion will introduce all-new materials. New explorers and returning students alike are most welcome. No previous creative writing experience or knowledge of the goddess required.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

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.

Creative Midrash: Beyond Talmudic Texts
2024-01-02 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-09 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-16 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-23 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-30 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-02-06 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesdays, January 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and February 6, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$250
Talmudic narratives are filled with distinctive characters, strange plots, and enigmatic silences. These stories provide a treasure trove for creative writers. For example, when Moses sits in the back of Rabbi Akiva’s classroom and doesn’t recognize his own teachings, how might we imagine Moses’s sense of dissonance? If we transpose the emotional core of this scene to another setting, what story would we conjure? In each class, we’ll explore a specific Talmudic text with a lens on character, images, narrative twists, and unspoken qualities that pique our curiosity. We’ll then pivot to a generative session in which we write from prompts related to our text study. Be prepared to surprise yourself on the page as you uncover fresh possibilities in your writing practice. This generative workshop is suitable for creative writers of all levels as well as readers seeking to engage imaginatively with Jewish texts.
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‘s debut novel The Beautiful Possible was a finalist for the 2017 Harold U. Ribalow Prize, a 2016 National Jewish Book Award and the 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.

Writing Poetry in the Shadow of War
2024-01-08 12:00 - 13:30
At all times but especially in a time of war and grief, we need literature to remind us of what it means to be human, what justice demands, where our struggles and conflicts, our strengths and hopes reside.In this Ritualwell event, we will see how other poets have responded to disasters and conflicts Jews have faced and are facing. We will see how poets including Marcela Sulak and Bob Hicok are responding to the Israel-Hamas War and the resurgence in antisemitism and also look at poetry from the Holocaust. In between these readings and discussions of the poems, you will write your own poems based on prompts that will help you shape your thoughts. This experience is all about finding a way through poetry to express ourselves in this critical time.
This session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Lynn Levin is a poet and writer. She is the author of nine books, most recently, her debut collection of short stories House Parties (2023). Widely published as a poet, Levin’s five poetry collections include The Minor Virtues (2020); Miss Plastique (2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Fair Creatures of an Hour (2009), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Imaginarium (2005), a finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award; and A Few Questions about Paradise (2000). She is co-author, with Valerie Fox, of Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (2019, 2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in writing/publishing. She is the translator, from the Spanish, of Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2014), poems by the Peruvian Andean poet Odi Gonzales. Levin is also the producer/director of the 2017 video documentary Life on the Napo River: A Glimpse of the Ecuadoran Amazon, Its People, and Their Traditions.
She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and teaches English and creative writing at Drexel University, where she received the Adjunct Award for Teaching Excellence. For many years, she taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Holding Each Other
2024-01-11 12:00 - 2024-03-28 12:30
Two is better than one…for should they fall one can lift the other.
–Ecclesiastes 9-10
We are here. We’re in this challenging time together.
Ritualwell invites you for a weekly meeting time where we will lift each other up with prayer, song and creative prompts. Join us every Thursday from 12-12:30pm EST
Bring pen and paper– each week a different poet/liturgist will lead us in an expressive prompt. Pour out your feelings in words, images, doodles or whatever works best for you. We look forward to seeing you. Invite a friend or loved one who might appreciate this comforting space.
Upcoming Date: March 28th
Guest speaker: Tiferet Welch

Tiferet Welch is a poet whose work is inspired by kabbalah. She writes: “My poetry is, I hope, steeped in modern Jewish mysticism and draws on the arc of Torah and deeply felt personal experience to create a sensuous and sensual swirl of living in and through the four worlds, especially in the time of the pandemic, the death of my mother, and sadly, post October 7th. Exploring the parshiot by way of the sages, drawing out the kaballistic essence, mining the subterranean allusions of the Hebrew letters and binding them all within the personal, the poems form a chronicle of this liminal time.”

God Cafe: The Immersion
2024-01-22 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-01-29 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-02-05 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-02-12 12:00 - 13:30
Mondays, January 22, 29 and February 5, 12, 19, 26, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$250 for six sessions
Who is God? What do we talk about when we talk about God? For six weeks, we will discuss God/divinity as a concept, exploring what God means to each of us and learn about the variety of approaches to God in Jewish tradition. This will be an opportunity to explore a topic often not discussed and to build community around our questions and insights. Learning will include reflection on our own experiences, listening to the stories of others and diving into a variety of texts. Rabbi Sarah began this project while she was in rabbinical school through the support of the Auerbach Grants for Rabbinic Innovation. The project began with 1:1 phone conversations and evolved into an entire cohort series, in Jewish and multi-faith settings. All are welcome to join, whether this is something you rarely think about or it’s your favorite thing to explore.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in May 2022. She serves as the Interim Dean of Religious Life/Chaplain and Rabbi at Grinnell College in Iowa. She loves the diversity of her work with students, supporting them to figure out who they are, who they want to be and how Judaism plays a role in that pursuit. While in rabbinical school, she created The God Cafe Project with the goal of creating space for people to explore moments of Divine connection and grappling. At the core of her identity as a Jewish leader and community organizer is the desire for people to get out of isolation and into connection. She has more than 15 years of community organizing experience in a variety of fields including, but not limited to, Israel/Palestine, labor, feminism, workers’ rights and health care. Sarah was a co-founder of IfNotNow and has served in various leadership roles with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence as well.

Choosing Joy: The Teachings of Rebbe Nachman
2024-01-25 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-02-01 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-02-08 13:00 - 14:30
Thursdays, January 25 and February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EST
$250 for six sessions

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772 – 1810) founded a specific stream of Chasidism that was once tiny, and has somehow become an influential force throughout the Jewish world. The psychological insight, poetic beauty and spiritual power of his teachings have touched many seekers. Together, we will explore who he was, how his ideas spread, and some of his key themes, in theory and practice. These include: the transformative power of music and song; our power and responsibility to shape ourselves and our world; how our thoughts affect our reality; the struggle to be joyful; the practice of praying in our own words (Hitbodedut); and maintaining resilience and equanimity throughout the challenges of life.

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.

Hidden Moments of Holiness: Finding Sacred Potential in the Everyday
2024-01-31 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
Free
Secular ritual is a precious part of our social and communal fabric. Starting or ending work meetings, welcoming a new neighbor, that perfect cup of coffee in the quiet of morning before anyone else is awake: all are moments waiting for rituals of their own. Join Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny for an exploration of ritual that lifts up the otherwise-overlooked moments in our lives. Drawing on the work of the ritual lab at the Stanford Design School, we’ll explore the core elements that define these rituals and identify other “missed moments” that beg for attention.

In this generative session you will have the opportunity to build and launch new personal or communal rituals and to share them with the Ritualwell community. Participants with any background or level of Jewish literacy and ritual crafting are welcome.

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

Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny is the Cantor at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, California. She completed her cantorial investiture, rabbinical ordination, and a Masterʼs degree in Sacred Music at the Jewish Theological Seminary before joining the staff of Temple Beth Am in August, 2014. For several years, Hillary has co-produced the Sacred Sounds Unbound concert series with burgeoning Jewish music artists and the Kol Tefilla conference on prayer experiences with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Hillary is an instructor for first year students at the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies. She is an avid writer and is currently enrolled in UCLA’s extension program for a certificate in creative nonfiction writing. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School’s Professional & Lifelong Learning Program, Hillary is committed to the ongoing study and proliferation of ritual in Jewish community and beyond. She currently serves as one of the vice-presidents of the Cantors Assembly, the largest professional body of cantors in the world. She and her husband, Rabbi Daniel Chorny, met in Israel and continue to enjoy learning together with their two children, Ella and Yossi.

The Golden Shovel: Digging in Text for New Meaning
2024-02-01 12:00 - 13:30
Thursday February 1, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST

To receive the spiritual impact of our traditional texts, sometimes we need to turn the words upside down and inside out. In this workshop, we will use poetic forms and techniques to bypass the logical brain and discover new levels of meaning and insight in verses from the Torah. Join Tzivia Gover in this generative workshop and learn to create a Golden Shovel poem—with a twist. The poems that results, like a shirt that’s been turned inside out, will reveal new patterns beneath the familiar ones.
No previous experience writing poetry is necessary! You will receive step-by-step guidance and support as you learn inventive ways to approach and adapt this poetic form. You can bring 1-3 verses to work with, or use the ones that will be provided. Everyone is welcome, whether you consider yourself a poet or not, and no matter your familiarity with traditional texts.

The session 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.

Jewish Coming-of-Age Stories: Writing the Younger You
2024-02-08 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, February 8, 15, 22, 29, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180 for four sessions
All of us have our coming-of-age stories: events we experienced as children, teens, and young adults. Your experiences may be humorous and pleasantly nostalgic. They may be profound or disturbing. This four-session immersion will give you a chance to tell the stories of the younger you in poetry and micro memoir.

We will begin each session by reading and discussing some representative poems and micro memoir pieces of one or several paragraphs, written by various writers, both Jewish and not. Then, using prompts and thematic suggestions, you will be invited to write the stories of the younger you–perhaps about school days, starter jobs, life-cycle events, family times and holidays, foods, spiritual awakenings, relationships, and anything else. Some of your writing might center on being Jewish, but that is not required. We will have time during each session to share and appreciate each other’s work. Writers of any level of experience are welcome.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Lynn Levin is a poet and writer. She is the author of nine books, most recently, her debut collection of short stories House Parties (2023). Widely published as a poet, Levin’s five poetry collections include The Minor Virtues (2020); Miss Plastique (2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Fair Creatures of an Hour (2009), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Imaginarium (2005), a finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award; and A Few Questions about Paradise (2000). She is co-author, with Valerie Fox, of Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (2019, 2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in writing/publishing. She is the translator, from the Spanish, of Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2014), poems by the Peruvian Andean poet Odi Gonzales. Levin is also the producer/director of the 2017 video documentary Life on the Napo River: A Glimpse of the Ecuadoran Amazon, Its People, and Their Traditions.
She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and teaches English and creative writing at Drexel University, where she received the Adjunct Award for Teaching Excellence. For many years, she taught creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Disability Wisdom and Knowing Ourselves Whole
2024-02-13 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
In recognition of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month and our ongoing commitment to disability inclusion and advocacy, we are delighted to bring the Ritualwell community the opportunity for learning and reflection with scholar and activist Rabbi Julia Watts Belser. In this session, Rabbi Belser will lead us in interactive text study with a spiritual focus. We’ll begin by grappling with questions about reimagining the nexus of disability, beauty, and belonging—and then explore micro practices for loving our own bones. What tiny gestures and small reorientations might we use to nourish and sustain ourselves and each other, as we navigate an ableist world?
The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
Rabbi Julia Watts Belser (she/her) is a scholar, spiritual teacher, and longtime activist for disability, LGBTQ, and gender justice. She is a professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University and core faculty in Georgetown’s Disability Studies Program. She’s also an avid wheelchair hiker, a devoted gardener, and a lover of wild places. Her latest book is Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole.
