Ritualwell

Holding Each Other
2026-01-26 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-02-02 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-02-09 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-02-16 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-02-23 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-03-02 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-03-09 12:00 - 12:15, 2026-03-16 12:00 - 12:15 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Every Monday, 12-12:15 p.m. EDT

Now more than ever, we need each other.

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

Weekly, gather your strength and provide support to others.

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

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

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

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

Bearing Witness: Writing Poetic Testimony
2026-01-27 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-03 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-10 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-02-17 12:00 - 13:30
Tuesdays, January 27 and February 3, 10 & 17, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST
$180

When you are touched by extremity, you witness—anywhere, anytime.
Atrocities are unfolding across the world at an unprecedented rate. You may wonder: Who gets to tell these stories? Do you need to be in the middle of a conflict to write about it, or is it enough to read a firsthand testimony, watch the news, or listen to a podcast?
Poetry of witness emerges when you respond to events that reach beyond your individual life—when shared trauma, collective grief, and moral urgency enter the poem. To bear witness is to open your human heart, allowing the personal and the political to meet on the page.
In the tradition of poets such as Anna Akhmatova, Yannis Ritsos, Paul Celan, Federico García Lorca, and Nazim Hikmet, you are invited to bring your own witness into language—to write from attention, empathy, and truth.
In this Ritualwell Immersion, you will join Rachel Neve-Midbar to reflect on and write from your personal responses to the stories unfolding in the world today. No previous writing experience is needed—only your willingness to listen, feel, and bear witness.
This session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.
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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David is the rabbinic founder of Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body, and Soul, the only mikveh in Israel open to all to immerse as they choose. Ordained as both a rabbi and an interfaith minister, certified as a spiritual companion (with a specialty in dream work), and with a doctorate on mikveh from Bar Ilan University, she offers mikveh guidance and spiritual companioning for individuals and couples, as well as mikveh workshops and classes for groups. Rabbi Haviva is the author of three spiritual journey memoirs and a novel. Her most recent memoir, Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi’s Soul Journey, is about her journey into interspirituality and dreamwork. Her two previous spiritual journey memoirs are titled: Chanah’s Voice: A Rabbi Wrestles with Gender, Commandment, and the Women’s Rituals of Baking, Bathing, and Brightening, and Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination, a runner up for the National Jewish Book Council Awards. Hope Valley, her debut novel, is about the friendship between a Palestinian and a Jewish woman in Galilee, where Haviva lives. She is also the mother of seven and lives with FSHD, a form of muscular dystrophy, which has been one of her greatest teachers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Drawing from Torah: A Generative Jewish Poetry Workshop
2026-02-15 12:00 - 13:30
Sunday, February 15th, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST

How do poets weave Jewish imagery, Torah stories, and sacred language into their work in ways that feel alive and authentic? And how might you do the same in your own poetry?

This generative poetry workshop invites you to explore Jewish themes through reading, writing, and conversation. Together, we’ll read poems by writers such as John Keats, Sharon Olds, Dan Pagis, Yehoshua November, Marie Howe, and Lucille Clifton—poets who draw on the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish texts to shape their work. We’ll look closely at how these writers transform ancient stories and symbols into powerful, contemporary poems.

You’ll be guided through writing prompts inspired by these texts and poems, with a special focus on moments from the Torah that spark imagination, memory, and meaning. During the session, you’ll have time to write, share your work (as you feel comfortable), and receive thoughtful, supportive feedback.

This workshop is open to anyone interested in reading and writing poetry with Jewish themes—whether you’re an experienced poet or just beginning, and whether your connection to Jewish texts is deep, curious, or newly forming.

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

Dr. Eve Grubin is the author of the book of poems Boat of Letters (Four Way Books). She is also the author of Morning Prayer (Sheep Meadow Press), The House of Our First Loving (Rack Press) and Grief Dialogue (Rack Press). Eve holds a PhD on the poetics of reticence, and she is a lecturer at NYU London and a tutor at the Poetry School.

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

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

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

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

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

Exploring Disability Torah: Text, Reflection, and Creative Voice
2026-02-23 12:00 - 13:30
Monday, February 23, 2026
12-1:30 p.m. EST

Join Ritualwell and the Disability Torah Project for a powerful, inclusive gathering exploring disability, Jewish text, and creative expression. We’ll hear from Mat Wilson, Founder and Director of the Disability Torah Project, and a dynamic panel of writers working at the crossroads of disability and Torah wisdom, then move into a guided text-study session designed to invite your own reflection and writing.

Through a short writing prompt, you’ll have the chance to respond to what you’ve read and experienced, exploring how disability Torah can deepen our communal conversations, spiritual imagination, and sense of connection.

This event welcomes everyone—whether you identify as disabled or nondisabled, whether you’re a seasoned text-studier or new to it. Come ready to listen, reflect, and write in a space of curiosity, care, and shared meaning-making.

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

Mat Wilson (he/him) enjoys board and video games, road trips big and small, and any opportunity to be in the water. They discovered a love for Torah study through the art of source sheet creation and are currently expanding their written reflections through the Disability Torah Project. Outside of their free time, Mat is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is pursuing a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

No Kings, No Masters: Purim & the Poetry of Resistance
2026-02-26 20:00 - 21:30
Thursday, February 26, 2026
8-9:30 p.m. EST
$18

Whether Purim is your favorite, somewhat problematic holiday or the source of some of your least favorite rabbinic takes, this generative poetry workshop invites you to unpack, reclaim, and rewrite the sacred words we need now.

Led by poet Anna Goodman Herrick, author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken Whole , this Ritualwell gathering turns to the Book of Esther as a text of hiddenness, inversion, and holy disruption. Purim asks us to question power, unmask false authority, and listen for voices that have been pushed to the margins—including our own.

Through playful, mystical writing prompts and shared reflection, you’ll craft poems, blessings, and sacred language rooted in resistance, courage, and joy. Open to both new and seasoned writers; no prior writing experience is necessary. Come ready to play with language, embrace the chaos, and enter Purim as a time of celebration, courage, and creative rebellion.

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

Anna Goodman Herrick is the author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken Whole (Monkfish, 2024). She works at the intersection of spirituality, sacred words, and human rights, towards collective liberation. Anna has performed her poetry at the Emily Dickinson Museum and One Billion Rising’s Artist Uprising at the El Paso Border, and shared her work at the Library of Congress, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Bloomsday on Broadway. She has recent and upcoming poetry in Spirituality + Health Magazine, Rattle, and the Los Angeles Press. Anna has created work for television and branded content for platforms like Teen Vogue, Sony, ABC Family, Oprah Winfrey Network, MTV, and the Sundance Channel, and created installations based on her poetry for museums and galleries worldwide.

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

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

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

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

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

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