Endings & Beginnings

Our lives are shaped by a series of stories, each with its own narrative arc. We leave home and welcome people to our home; we enter our reproductive years and leave them; we end one piece of our life’s work and begin another. Endings and beginnings are bittersweet—we celebrate each with the awareness of the other.

Latest Rituals

Without a Jewish Calendar Poem for a New Month or a New Year

Without a Jewish calendar, what does Jewish life entail?

celebration, community, time

hebrew words on stones

Retirement Prayer

“So teach me to number my days / Savor the music of the birds / Entwine my branches with those of others”

aging, tikkun olam

two yellow birds on grey bare branches

Every Truth Spoken Is a Step Toward the Promised Land

“When we speak the truth to power – saying, this is who we are / We reach back to help those still stifled in Mitzrayim, or poised / Uncertain at the shore.”

identity, mitzrayim

bare feet on a rock in a stream

Our Mikdash (For dedication of a sanctuary)

A short ceremony to rededicate/rename a sanctuary in someone’s honor

dedication, shehekheyanu, synagogue

synagogue sanctuary with red carpet

An Embodiment Ritual for Planting the First Seeds of the Season

A ritual for the holy work of seeding your garden or farm

earth, garden, tree planting, water

An Embodiment Ritual for Planting the First Seeds of the Season

Ritual for Moving Out of a Home

A ritual to help you acknowledge your time in a particular space and prepare to move on

Havdalah for Community Transitioning to New Rabbi

“We bless separation, between light and darkness, between Shabbat and weekday, between rabbi and rabbi.”

havdalah, transition

light skinned jewish woman with dark curly hair in purple t-shirt holding a silver spice holder and sniffing the spices with a smile

Mikveh Ceremony: Gift of Transitions

“I stand here today to acknowledge and affirm this moment in my spiritual journey”

mikveh, transition

black and white photo of white woman immersed in ocean water, head sticking out the water, leaning back, eyes closed

Berukhah At (Shehekheyatnu): A Divine Feminine Blessing for Momentous Occasions

“We praise you, Shekhinah, / who has given us life”

shehekheyanu, Shekhinah

purple flowers with a banner reading brucha at bayta diamond

When Might Be Last?

“I am more aware of the fluidity of it all”

joy, love, mikveh

close up of ocean water with sunlight on the surface