Ritualwell

Finding Our Place in the Stories of the Hebrew Matriarch: Sarah
2024-02-29 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Thursdays, February 29 and March 7, 14, 21, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

“The Kabbalah teaches that all the characters of the Torah are within ourselves.”
—Miki Raver, ‘Listen to Her Voice: Women of the Hebrew Bible’

It might seem that to gain the full stories of the matriarchs of the Hebrew Bible we need to read between the lines. But there is much to discover and explore within the texts themselves where hints and information are hiding in plain sight. In this 4-week workshop author, poet, and Certified Dreamwork Professional Tzivia Gover will share what she learned about Sarah when she used poetry and imagination to move beyond seeing her merely as an adjunct to Abraham and Isaac, and instead as a powerful woman, prophet, and priestess in her own right. In this Immersion we will learn how reclaiming the stories of Sarah and the Hebrew matriarchs through poetic writing can empower us to know ourselves more fully—and access the gifts of wisdom, healing, and joy that are our universal birthright.

Tzivia will invite participants to reconsider key passages from Genesis, beginning with the first Hebrew matriarch, using interpretive tools including:

PaRDeS, the Kabbalistic method of interpretation that explores what is said explicitly, as well as hints, questions, and secret meanings;
Dreamwork methods for unlocking the information transmitted through archetypes, symbolism and story; and
Literary analysis.

We’ll also use guided visualization, writing prompts, and exercises based on those techniques, and participants will be invited to write poems and stories of their own. This workshop is appropriate for everyone, whether you consider yourself a writer or not, and no matter what your level of Jewish education or experience.

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

Tzivia Gover is the author of ‘Dreaming on the Page: Tap into Your Midnight Mind to Supercharge Your Writing’, and other books about dreams, writing, and everyday joy. She is the creator of ‘The Life of H: Sarah, Reimagined’ an online poetry project. The founder of 350 Dreamers, an online international community dreaming for global healing in this time of climate crisis, Tzivia is a board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and a past Director at the Institute for Dream Studies. Tzivia is a Certified Dreamwork Professional and a Certified Proprioceptive Writing Instructor. She has her MFA in writing from Columbia University, and has taught in college and community settings domestically and abroad. Learn more at www.thirdhousemoon.com and https://tziviagover.substack.com.

Behind the Mask: A Creative Exploration of the Characters in the Purim Story
2024-03-14 13:00 - 14:30
Thursdays, March 14 and 21, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EDT
We each carry inside of us both the hero and the villain. One of the things that makes writing effective is the willingness of the writer to step into the voice of a character who we might not “identify” with. This is the way we build empathy, both on the page and in our lives.
There is pshat, the literal text of the Torah, and drash, the interpretation. So much of our understanding of Judaism and the Torah comes from the exploration of drash. In this workshop, we will use the persona form—a kind of drash—where the writer takes on the mask or voice of a character who is clearly not them. We will try on the voices of multiple characters in the Purim Story and beyond. Gaining inspiration from texts by Patricia Smith, Margaret Atwood, and others to inspire us to move beyond writing from the personal “I” and see what we can discover about the Purim stories and their meaning for our own lives when we put on the mask and write.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Elana Bell is a poet, sound practitioner and creative guide. She facilitates artistic rituals and processes that support individuals and groups in accessing their authentic voice and alchemizing raw experience and emotion into artistic expression. Elana is the author of Mother Country (BOA Editions 2020), poems about fertility, motherhood, and mental illness. Elana’s debut collection of poetry, Eyes, Stones (LSU Press 2012), was selected by Fanny Howe as the winner of the 2011 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets and brings her complex heritage as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors to consider the difficult question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition to leading her own embodied Creative Fire workshops, Elana teaches poetry to actors at the Juilliard School and sings with the Resistance Revival Chorus, a group of women activists and musicians committed to bringing joy and song to the resistance movement. She is also the founder of the Mother Artist Salon, a community dedicated to supporting mothers in their artistic practice. www.elanabell.com

The Jewish Approach to Conflict Transformation
2024-04-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-16 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, April 4, 11, 18 and May 2, 9, 16, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$250 for six sessions
The lengths to which some of us will go to avoid conflict are extreme, but what if we flipped the script on conflict? What if we understood conflict as an invitation to embrace difficult aspects of ourselves and others in order to grow? Conflict transformation theory says that conflict is actually not the problem, rather it is how we respond to conflict that creates the most difficulty. The good news is that we always have a choice in how we respond.
Even better news is that Jewish tradition is a storehouse of wisdom and practical application on how to navigate the world of conflict and how we respond to it, from sources in the Torah and from how our rabbinic sages model of conflict transformation. In this Ritualwell Immersion, we will explore what conflict transformation might look like for the Jewish community in our times. Using parts of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Center for Conflict Resolution “Constructive Conflict” curriculum, we will navigate both ancient and modern approaches to conflict and rebuild our own conflict toolboxes applicable in contexts from the interpersonal, intercommunal, to the international realms. Together, we will imagine a Jewish community that knows how to show up in disagreement, even when it gets hard.
All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

Rabbi Ezra Weinberg is a shaliach tzibur, officiant and Jewish educator dedicated to creating connection and community. He is a native Philadelphian and holds an MA in Conflict Transformation. Reb Ezra officiates weddings and Bnai Mitzvot and teaches a University course called, “One G-d, Three Paths” alongside a priest and imam. He currently works with individuals and families within the Jewish community and founded ReVoice, a network of resources for Jewish going through divorce. He shares: “The work that I do is inspired by my own divorce as well as my experience as a child of high conflict divorce. A big part of my mission is to offer support in Jewish contexts when divorce radically changes a family’s path. However, I also want to change the conversation around divorce within the Jewish community today so that it is no longer taboo to get divorced or talk about divorce.”

This Immersion is happening in partnership with the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.

This is My Jewish Heart
2024-04-10 12:00 - 13:30
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT

“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt” –Exodus 7:3

It is now known that trauma is stored in the body and that the heart, in particular holds onto grief, sadness, shame and ancestral loss. No other biblical story focuses more on the heart than the provocative story of Va’eira when Pharoah’s heart is hardened against the plight of the Jewish people as we suffer and fight for freedom from slavery. Poet, performer, and holistic health coach Corie Feiner will lead a discussion on this parsha, our relationship to our own hearts, and introduce a guided poetry writing exercise where we will write the stories of our hearts and make our way from a narrow place of anxiety and pain towards inner and outer liberation. Included in this workshop will be breathwork, movement, and supplemental text from the poet, Dorriane Laux. Seasoned writers and those new to writing are welcome to join.

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

Corie Feiner is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Bucks County, PA and an award-winning poet, performer and educator called “wonderful” by The New York Times and “absorbing” by Backstage Magazine. She is the author of the poetry book, Radishes into Roses and the children’s book Who Was Born at Home. Dedicated to embodied Judaism, she has been commissioned to perform her inspiring
Jewish poetry and psalms for synagogues and peace organizations across the world. For the past ten years she has been a dedicated homebirthing, homeschooling, cook from scratch tiger mama, whose latest project, A Poem for Every Pose arose out of her at-home yoga practice and her belief that inner strength and inner peace are essential for creating a more peaceful world. You can learn more about Corie and and her current projects by subscribing to her Substack at: https://coriefeiner.substack.com

Moses, A Stranger Among Us: A Conversation with Rabbi Maurice Harris
2024-04-17 13:00 - 14:00
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
1-2:00 p.m. EDT

In his book, Moses: A Stranger among Us, Rabbi Maurice Harris leads us to look beyond familiar and popular portrayals of Moses so that we can discover the Moses whose lesser-known attributes and experiences provide us with surprisingly fresh ethical and spiritual guidance. You may have seen Rabbi Harris sharing his perspective about Moses on Netflix’s new docudrama series, Testament: The Story of Moses.

Now, you have an opportunity to ask your questions about this complex prophet with Rabbi Harris himself! Join us for a conversation between Ritualwell’s Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer and Rabbi Harris, focused on understanding Moses through traditional religious interpretations, academic Bible scholarship, psychological and sociological analysis, feminist readings, and more. Participants will have the chance to ask questions, join the conversation and write your own creative midrash about Moses’ legacy.

We’ll draw names of everyone who joins us and raffle off two autographed copies of Moses: A Stranger among Us!

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

Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2003, Rabbi Maurice Harris is Associate Director for Thriving Communities and Israel Affairs Specialist at Reconstructing Judaism. Previously, Maurice served as Associate Rabbi and Head of School at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, OR. Maurice is the author of three books: Moses: A Stranger Among Us (2012), Leviticus: You Have No Idea (2013), and The Forgotten Sage: Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah and the Birth of Judaism as We Know It (2019), all from Cascade Books. He blogs at theaccidentalrabbi.substack.com.

Judaism Through The Kaleidoscope: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
2024-05-01 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-15 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-22 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-05-29 13:00 - 14:30, 2024-06-05 13:00 - 14:30
Wednesdays, May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and June 5, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. EDT
$250
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865 – 1935) was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, a profound poet, and a giant of both mysticism and Jewish law. He was a radical thinker, writer and activist who provoked much opposition during his lifetime from conservative leaders of Ultra-Orthodox communities.
Rabbi Kook saw the Divine spark in everything and viewed all events as part of an evolutionary process towards a redeemed and unified world. His writings contain beautiful and insightful gems on subjects such as: freedom as the key foundation of Judaism; our relationship with our bodies; pluralism, tolerance and polarization; the many layers of our multiple identities; particularism and universalism; the narratives of our own lives and of all of human history. Together, we will explore his rich, beautiful writings and use them as opportunities for spiritual practice, including creative writing and guided embodied exercises.

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

Daniel Raphael Silverstein is a rabbi, educator, meditation teacher and MC/poet. He lives in Israel with his family, where he directs Applied Jewish Spirituality (https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/), an online portal which makes the transformative spiritual wisdom of our tradition accessible to all who seek it. Daniel is an accredited teacher of Jewish Mindfulness Meditation and regularly teaches classes and retreats. He was born and raised in London and received a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MA from Warwick University. After receiving semikha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, he served as Director of Jewish Life and Learning for Hillel of Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. Daniel has performed and facilitated all over the world as a spoken word artist, MC, and creative educator, and the Jewish Week selected him as one of their “36 Under 36” young innovators reshaping the Jewish community. Daniel is a cofounder of Lines of Faith, a Muslim-Jewish hip hop and poetry collective that uses performances and workshops to challenge prejudice and build meaningful bonds between communities.

Presence and Absence: Images of the Divine in Kabbalah
2024-05-07 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-21 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-05-28 12:00 - 14:00, 2024-06-04 12:00 - 14:00
Tuesdays, May 7, 14, 21, 28 and June 4, 2024
12-2:00 p.m. EDT
$250

We live in a time of deep division and loneliness. The Zohar, the 13th- century Kabbalistic work, offers rich and beautiful images to speak to this separation, and equally powerful ways to imagine divine presence, healing, and connection. In this series we will delve into the multifaceted, dynamic Divine through the radical imagination of the Zohar. We’ll bring what we discover into our own creativity through the Jewish Studio Process, a facilitated, intuitive use of art materials and reflective writing. We’ll pay particular attention to the experience of the Shekhinah, the feminine, immanent, indwelling Sacred Presence.

This practice is appropriate for absolute beginners and experienced artists who would like to explore this imagery. The focus isn’t on creating a polished piece of artwork, but rather on deepening your own intuition, insight and voice.

During this series, we will harvest the insights and images that have come onto the page in word and color to write new midrash and liturgy.

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

Margie Jacobs is a Reconstructionist rabbi who has served as a congregational rabbi, regional director of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Hillel director, and teacher of mindfulness meditation. In 2020, She completed the first 2-year Jewish Studio Process facilitator training. She has brought JSP to synagogues, Hillels, retreats, conferences, special events, and groups of clergy across the country. Margie works with individuals as a Spiritual Coach and designs websites for clergy and Jewish organizations.

This Immersion is happening in partnership with the Jewish Studio Project.

Jewish Spiritual Autobiography
2024-05-16 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-23 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-05-30 12:00 - 13:30, 2024-06-06 12:00 - 13:30
Thursdays, May 16, 23, 30 and June 6, 2024
12-1:30 p.m. EDT
$180 for four sessions

When we write out our spiritual paths, it clarifies how ordinary moments of life can be holy moments. Writing a spiritual autobiography helps you to discover how teachers, touchstones, symbols and stories have led you to make meaning and understand the sacred in your personal story. In this immersion, join Ritualwell’s Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, a writer and spiritual director, to map out and narrate your most meaningful life experiences. We’ll read excerpts of powerful spiritual autobiographies to inspire us and expand our understanding of the formats that this kind of writing can take. There is also ample room to write about spiritual experiences that may be outside of a Jewish framework. This immersion is for everyone—whether you identify as a religious or spiritual person or are seeking a spiritual path. No prior creative writing experience needed.

Topics we will explore include:

Understanding your name/birth story
Exploring family lineage/Ancestral resilience, trauma/connections
Mapping your spiritual journey/the sacred moments in your life
And more…

Participants will have the opportunity to share feedback with the facilitator and present to the group through the immersion.

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

Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer is Ritualwell’s Director of Virtual Content and Programs. She is an author and educator whose work focuses on spirituality, creativity and disability. Her personal essays have been featured in Tablet, Shondaland, NBCThink, Wisdom Daily, WHYY and many other publications and she has published several nonfiction books as well as plays for children. Gabrielle is currently working on a memoir about the power of intuition and ongoing conversations with her ancestors. She writes a Substack newsletter called “Journey With The Seasons,” a weekly practice of meditative reading with creative self-expression prompts.
Gabrielle holds a BFA in theater and creative writing from Emerson College and an MA in Jewish Studies from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

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

Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner is a meditation teacher, climate change chaplain, and educator who leads with warmth, curiosity, gentle humor, and compassion. Over the past 15 years, she has worked in prisons, hospitals, and congregations to steady folks through hard times.
Exploring Apocalypse is an extension of her rabbinic and pastoral care work (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, 2016), and is shaped by additional professional trainings in Climate Psychology (California Institute of Integral Studies, 2022), Clinical Pastoral Education (East Jefferson General Hospital, 2017 and Bellevue Hospital, 2013), and certified yoga and meditation teacher training (Yoga Sanctuary Academy, 2011), as well as graduate work in intergenerational trauma narratives (University of Toronto, 2008).

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

Join us for an evening dedicated to celebrating the contributions of our Advot@Ritualwell members and the unveiling of our third anthology showcasing their creations. Advot@Ritualwell serves as an online community for Jewish writers to learn, connect, and collaborate, providing a platform for mutual support in what can often be a solitary journey. Members bring their diverse backgrounds and expertise to share, co-create, and inspire one another. This event is their opportunity to showcase their work to you. Show your support by attending! Registrants will receive a 15% discount on their purchase of the anthology.

The members of our ADVOT community include: Elliott batTzedek, Elizabeth Caplun, Alex Carter, Cathleen Cohen, Audrey Cohn-Ganz, Muriel Dance, Batya Diamond, Tzivia Gover, Joanne Greene, Judith Kerman, Rabbi Janet Madden, Mandie McGlynn, Yael Navid, Rabbi Taylor Poslosky, Melissa Rosen, Anne Schulman, Janice Steinberg, Cantor Karen Webber and McKenzie Wren,

Threading Stones: An Elul Tradition
2024-07-02 14:00 - 15:30, 2024-07-09 14:00 - 15:30, 2024-07-16 14:00 - 15:30, 2024-07-23 14:00 - 15:30
Tuesdays, July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and August 6, 2024
2-3:30 p.m. EDT
$250

Prepare yourself for Elul and the High Holy Days by learning an ancient tradition, rarely taught by those who have practice in this tradition.

For generations, Jewish women in Eastern Europe utilized threads to measure cemeteries and graves. These threads were used to create special soul candles known as neshome likht, or sometimes as protective bands worn on wrists, ankles, or necks. Typically overseen by skilled women called feldmesterins, activities such as feldmestn (cemetery measuring) and kneytlekh leygn (laying wicks) were most prevalent during Elul to prepare soul candles for Yom Kippur.

In this Ritualwell Immersion program, you will be guided on how to carry out these rituals based on translated Yiddish ethnographic studies and memoirs. The session will include teaching Yiddish songs, reciting tkhines (Yiddish prayers), and reading poems, some of which are focused on this ritual. Delving into the history of this tradition will shed light on how cemeteries were perceived in shtetl society, serving as a means to communicate with the deceased and seek their assistance. At the end of this Immersion, you will be able to host a cemetery measuring event in Elul or any other time of the year.

This Immersion is open for all! If you are intrigued by Yiddish, Jewish, or local history; eager to explore overlooked folklore and protective practices; or seeking new avenues to connect with your ancestors; if you are a Jewish educator, spiritual leader, or community members interested in leading this program during the month of Elul at their local cemeteries: You are welcome to join us!
Want to learn more? Watch this short video!

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

Annabel Cohen is a PhD Student in Modern Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, focusing on the interwar Jewish anti-fascist left. She has a Masters with distinction in History from the University of London. Alongside her PhD research, Annabel researches and translates materials relating to Jewish women’s religiosity in Eastern Europe, publishing her work on the blog www.pullingatthreads.com. Her essay on feldmesterins – cemetery measuring women – was published in the recent anthology Strange Fire: Jewish Voices from the Pandemic, published by Ben Yehuda Press in 2021. She is one of the Yiddish Book Center’s 2023-24 Translation Fellows, for which she is translating the memoirs of Communist journalist, Gina Medem. Annie teaches Yiddish with the Workers’ Circle and YIVO, and this coming academic year will be teaching Yiddish language, history and culture at the Sorbonne university, Paris. Since 2018, Annie has been studying feminine and earth-based Jewish practice with the Kohenet Hebrew institute. She will be ordained as a Kohenet on August 18.

Sarah Chandler aka Kohenet Shamirah is a Brooklyn-based Jewish educator, artist, activist, healer, and poet. She teaches, writes and consults on issues related to Judaism, earth-based spiritual practice, respectful workplaces, mindfulness, and farming. An ordained Kohenet with the Hebrew Priestess Institute and a trainer for “Taamod: Stand Up!”, she is also is an advanced student of Kabbalistic dream work at The School of Images. Previously, Sarah served as the Director of Romemu Yeshiva, Chief Compassion Officer of Jewish Initiative for Animals, and Director of Earth Based Spiritual Practices at Hazon’s Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. Currently, she is the CEO of Shamir Collective, as a coach and consultant to high profile artists and authors to launch new music and books, as well as lead trainer for Soft as a Rock: Public Speaking for Sensitive Souls.

Éléonore Weill is a French-American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Éléonore Weill creates and performs soulful interpretations of Klezmer, Yiddish, French, Occitane music as well as original compositions, poems and improvisations. In addition to her social justice Yiddish music ensemble Tsibele, she performs and records internationally in a variety of ensembles with Frank London, Michael Winograd, Walter Thompson, Joey Weisenberg and the Hadar Ensemble, Kenny Wallesen, FADA, the Baroque Music Center of Versailles (C.M.B.V.), Orchestre National de Toulouse, Midwood, Les Saqueboutiers, Miqueu Montanaro, and many others. She also composed and played for Theater companies such as Doppelskope, Great Small Works and Bread and Puppets and performs at leading international festivals including Yiddish New York, the Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto), Kleztival (São Paulo), and KlezKanada (Quebec), Fun Dor Tsu Dor (Chateau Ligoure, France) on wooden flutes, piano, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, and as a lead singer.

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

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

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

This course is open to people of all backgrounds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adva Chattler (she/her) is an Israeli-Mizrahi Jew, born and raised in Be’er-Sheva, Israel. Adva is passionate about bringing people together in ways that spark relationship building and connecting to others on a deeper level, both in the challenging and ever-changing world of online gatherings, and in person. She holds a MA in conflict Resolution and Management from Ben Gurion University of the Negev and BA in Public Administration and Management from Sapir College in Sderot, Israel. She is a Makhloket Matters fellow for Jewish professionals from the Pardes Institute and believes that even though we can’t avoid conflicts, we can take the steps to avoid conflict escalation through education and practice. With her experience in teaching and curriculum building, she support facilitators and presenters for Ritualwell and Reconstructing Judaism and encourages them to bring not only their best self, but best practices and tools for successful teaching online. Adva lives in Del Rio, Tx., with her husband, daughters and their dogs.
