Reading & Writing Poetry as Sacred Jewish Text

Mondays, November 15, 22, 29, December 6, 13, 20 @ 8–9:30 p.m. EST 
$216 for 6 sessions 

Reading and writing poetry is a spiritual act: it is a way to push language to its outer limits where the sacred can be encountered. Today, there’s a profound need for new, inclusive, contemporary Jewish texts to be held sacred, and to help us discern the mythic outline of what it means to be Jewish. The goal of this Immersion is to create a community of like-minded readers and writers who will together explore a variety of approaches to spiritual writing by modern and post-modern poets as vastly different in their spiritual and poetic practices as Allen Ginsberg, Alicia Ostriker, Fanny Howe, Norman Fischer, Sun Ra, Jane Hirshfield, and others. As poet Denise Levertov wrote: “To contemplate... means not simply to observe, to regard, but to do these things in the presence of a god. And to meditate is... to muse... to stand with open mouth... to breathe in. So—as the poet stands open-mouthed in the temple of life, contemplating his experience, there come to him the first words of the poem.” Together, we will contemplate our way toward a new Jewish sacred poetics.

Jake Marmer is a poet, performer, and educator. He is the author of three poetry collections: Cosmic Diaspora (Station Hill Press, 2020), as well as The Neighbor Out of Sound (2018) and Jazz Talmud (2012), both from The Sheep Meadow Press. He also released two klez-jazz-poetry records: Purple Tentacles of Thought and Desire (2020, with Cosmic Diaspora Trio), and Hermeneutic Stomp (Blue Fringe Music, 2013). Jake is the poetry critic for Tablet Magazine. Born in the provincial steppes of Ukraine, in a city that was renamed four times in the past 100 years, Jake lives in LA.

About Ritualwell
Ritualwell is the most extensive online resource that curates original Jewish rituals for Jews and fellow seekers. We publish rituals, ceremonies, prayers and poems to mark sacred moments in Jewish life. Through creating and sharing rituals, hosting Ritualwell Immersions (online learning experiences), curating an online Judaica shop and hosting Rabbi Connect, Ritualwell fosters a supportive environment for Jewish creativity, spiritual growth and discovery. Learn more at www.ritualwell.org.

Ritualwell is committed to offering an accessible space to our community members. We commit to:

1. Providing participants with all the session materials ahead of time
2. Providing automated captions on all live sessions
3. Providing subtitles for all recorded sessions
4. Using the chat function and read it aloud during the sessions
5. Asking for participant accessibility needs and doing our best to accommodate them. Please feel welcome to contact us at ritualwell@reconstructingjudaism.org.