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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250831T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250831T170000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20250831T172627Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T172736Z
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SUMMARY:"Poetic Lineages" with Ilya Kaminsky
DESCRIPTION:“Poetic Lineages” with Ilya Kaminsky \n\n\n\nWe will read poems from Jewish poets of Eastern Europe and elsewhere and we will marvel together on the idea of poetic lineages: how do poets learn from other poets across time and geography? Is there such a thing as a poetics of diaspora? poetics of exile? How do poets enter in conversation with poets that came before them? How do poets bring back to life the authors who came before them and were (unjustly) forgotten? How can our own words grow and change as we overhear conversations between other poets\, on and off the page? I hope that in our time together we will all ask impossible questions—and then try to answer them with unpredictable new lyrics. \n\n\n\nThis workshop is a modified version of the one Ilya taught at our 2023 Jewish Poetry Conference\, to give you a taste of Yetzirah’s conference offerings. \n\n\n\nWorkshop Cost\n\n\n\n1 recorded class (just under three hours) \n\n\n\nHandout with the texts discussed and the chat transcript$36—standard registration  \n\n\n\n$30—discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Ilya\n\n\n\nIlya Kaminsky was born in Odessa\, former USSR and came to USA in 1993 when his family was granted asylum by the American government. He is the author of Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo) and Deaf Republic (Graywolf) as well as co-editor of Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (Harper Collins)\, Homage to Paul Celan (Marick) and many other books. He has also translated books by Marina Tsvetaeva\, Polina Barskova\, Boris and Ludmila Khersonsky\, among others. His work has received The Los Angeles Times Book Prize\, The Guggenheim Fellowship\, and was shortlisted for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. Visit Ilya’s profile in Yetzirah’s Jewish Poets Database.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/poetic-lineages-with-ilya-kaminsky/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250831T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250831T170000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20250831T172102Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T172106Z
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SUMMARY:"Telling the Soul’s Stories: Spiritual Anecdote & Autobiography" with Joy Ladin
DESCRIPTION:“Telling the Soul’s Stories: Spiritual Anecdote & Autobiography” with Joy Ladin  \n\n\n\nSpiritual experience often feels private\, isolating\, uncommunicable. Spiritual autobiographies\, from anecdotes to full-blown memoirs\, use storytelling techniques to break down this sense of isolation\, offering others glimpses of our own struggles and exaltations\, and\, more importantly\, because readers interpret narratives by identifying with characters and projecting our own lives onto events in stories\, turning our private experiences into stories through which others can recognize\, reflect on\, and be inspired in their own spiritual journeys. In this generative writing workshop we will look at examples of spiritual anecdote and autobiography\, discuss the communicability and incommunicability of spiritual experience\, and practice using midrash\, haiku\, and self-inventory to develop our own spiritual narratives. \n\n\n\nWorkshop Cost\n\n\n\n\n3 recorded classes\, followed by recorded Q&As\n\n\n\nhandouts with representative texts and prompts to guide your writing\n\n\n\n\n$72—standard registration \n\n\n\n$59—discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Joy\n\n\n\nJoy Ladin has published ten books of poetry\, including National Jewish Book Award winner The Book of Anna\, Lambda Literary Award finalists Transmigration and Impersonation\, and newly published Shekhinah Speaks  (Selva Oscura). She is also the author of a memoir\, National Jewish Book Award finalist Through the Door of Life; and Lambda Literary and Triangle Award finalist The Soul of the Stranger.Visit Joy’s profile in Yetzirah’s Jewish Poets Database.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/telling-the-souls-stories-spiritual-anecdote-autobiography-with-joy-ladin/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250831T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250831T170000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20250831T171324Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T171445Z
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SUMMARY:"The Golden Chain: An Introduction to Yiddish Poetry" with Danny Kraft
DESCRIPTION:The Golden Chain: An Introduction to Yiddish Poetry with Danny Kraft \n\n\n\nCurious about Yiddish poetry? Eager to draw on Yiddish literature as inspiration for your own writing and art? No language or cultural background is required for this four-week\, online course introducing the richness\, beauty\, and diversity of Yiddish poetry. Together we’ll read and discuss great Yiddish poems and writers\, exploring the themes\, contexts\, and concerns of modern Yiddish poetry and their meaning for our own lives and labors. \n\n\n\nWorkshop Costs\n\n\n\n\n4 recorded classes\n\n\n\nhandouts with representative texts and prompts to guide your writing\n\n\n\n\n$90—standard registration \n\n\n\n$74—discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Danny\n\n\n\nDaniel Kraft is a writer\, poet\, translator\, and essayist. He holds a master’s degree in Jewish studies from Harvard Divinity School\, where he was a resident at the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions. His poems and essays appear in a number of publications including Image\, Jewish Currents\, EcoTheo Review\, and Peripheries; his translations of Yiddish\, along with brief personal and critical essays\, can be found in his newsletter\, Di Freyd Fun Yidishn Vort/The Joy of the Yiddish Word. In addition to writing and translating\, Daniel has worked as a full-time Director of Education at synagogues across the American South\, and as an educator at the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow\, Poland.Visit Danny’s profile in Yetzirah’s Jewish Poets Database.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/the-golden-chain-an-introduction-to-yiddish-poetry-with-danny-kraft/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T163000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20251027T195010Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251028T133351Z
UID:10000064-1739368800-1739377800@yetzirahpoets.org
SUMMARY:"In the beginnings: Writing in Conversation with Sacred Texts" with Jessica Jacobs
DESCRIPTION:In the beginnings: Writing in Conversation with Sacred Texts \n\n\n\nTexts like the Torah and New Testament are often presented as not only sacred but inviolate and above reproach. For many of us\, this means these texts and their difficult subject matter can feel far from us\, or so close and well known we can no longer really see them. Yet it is here we find the stories and rituals\, commandments and prohibitions\, that—whether or not we follow a religious tradition of our own—have shaped the world in which we live. With close readings of work by poets including Marie Howe\, Ada Limon\, Leila Chatti\, and Eleanor Wilner\, in this workshop\, Jessica Jacobs\, author of unalone\, a collection of poems in conversation with the Book of Genesis\, will share how drawing on the ancient Jewish practice of midrashic inquiry\, as well as the Jesuit practice of Ignatian Contemplation\, can help us delve into scripture and find the stories and knowledge waiting beyond the surface layer of the page\, to see both the text and ourselves anew. \n\n\n\nCo-Sponsored by Lilith \n\n\n\nWorkshop Cost\n\n\n\n$54—standard registration$45—18% discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Jessica\n\n\n\nJessica Jacobs\, a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow\, is the author of unalone\, poems in conversation with the Book of Genesis (Four Way Books\, March 2024)\, named one of Library Journal‘s Best Poetry Books of the year; Take Me with You\, Wherever You’re Going (Four Way Books\, 2019)\, also one of Library Journal‘s Best Poetry Books of the year\, and winner of the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University and the Goldie Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society\, and a finalist for the Brockman-Campbell\, American Fiction\, Eric Hoffer\, and Julie Suk Book Awards. Her debut collection\, Pelvis with Distance (White Pine Press)\, a biography-in-poems of Georgia O’Keeffe\, won the New Mexico Book Award in Poetry\, was an Over the Rainbow selection by the American Library Association and a finalist for the Lambda Literary and Julie Suk Awards. Her chapbook In Whatever Light Left to Us was published by Sibling Rivalry Press. She co-authored Write It!\, a collection of writing prompts from Spruce Books\, an imprint of Penguin/RandomHouse. \n\n\n\nJessica holds an M.F.A. from Purdue University\, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of Sycamore Review\, and a B.A. from Smith College. Her poetry\, essays\, and fiction have appeared in publications including Orion\, Ploughshares\, Image\, and New England Review. She leads workshops around the country\, teaching for programs including the Fine Arts Work Center\, and serves on the North Carolina Writers’ Network Board of Trustees.She is the founder and executive director of Yetzirah: A Hearth for Jewish Poetry.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/in-the-beginnings-writing-in-conversation-with-sacred-texts-with-jessica-jacobs/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T163000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20250903T215624Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250903T215628Z
UID:10000059-1739368800-1739377800@yetzirahpoets.org
SUMMARY:"Songs of the Grass: Exploring Jewish Ecopoetry" with Hila Ratzabi
DESCRIPTION:“Each and every grass has a song” – Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav \n\n\n\nThe Jewish environmental movement has sought to excavate and breathe new life into ancient texts that call us to right relationship with this fragile and holy earth. Jewish poets vividly describe the human encounter with plants\, animals\, and the elements where they often find intimations of the Divine or cause for protest on behalf of the non-human world. Together we’ll read poetry and other Jewish writings that will inspire our own experiments with ecopoetry. Some poets we will read include Marge Piercy\, Muriel Rukeyser\, Alicia Ostriker\, Adrienne Rich\, Denise Levertov\, Stanley Moss\, Stuart Kestenbaum\, Phillip Levine\, Mónica Gomery\, and more! We’ll engage in writing exercises\, some of which will take us outside to our local environments to allow us to listen to\, and translate\, the voices of the earth. You will come away with a deepened appreciation for Jewish wisdom on the environment and a number of poem drafts that will help you envision your personal Torah of the earth. \n\n\n\n“Songs of the Grass: Exploring Jewish Ecopoetry was a powerful class for me to take when I was working on a project related to climate justice and responding with bravery to emotions around climate change. Looking at these issues through a Jewish lens added depth to my writing and thinking. Hila created a thoughtful and engaged community in the course\, and sessions included rich discussion of source texts followed by writing exercises that were both generative and nourishing.”– Elisa McCool\, previous participant in Songs of the Grass \n\n\n\nWorkshop Dates & Cost\n\n\n\n$126—standard registration$90—18% discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Hila\n\n\n\nHila Ratzabi’s first full-length book of poetry\, There Are Still Woods (June Road Press\, 2022)\, won a 2023 gold Nautilus Award and was a finalist for a National Indie Excellence Award. She was a finalist for the North American Review’s 2021 Terry Tempest Williams Prize in Creative Nonfiction\, for the Fourth Genre Steinberg Essay Prize (2019)\, and for the Fifth Annual Narrative Magazine Poetry Contest (2013). She is the author of a poetry chapbook\, The Apparatus of Visible Things (2009). Her poetry has been published in Narrative\, Linebreak\, Alaska Quarterly Review\, The Adroit Journal\, and other journals\, and in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. She has received scholarships and fellowships to the Willapa Bay AiR residency\, the Vermont Studio Center\, the Crater Lake National Park residency\, and the Arctic Circle Residency. Ratzabi is the former editor-in-chief and poetry editor of Storyscape and holds an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. She was director of virtual content & programs at Ritualwell.org (2015–2023). Ratzabi is currently director of communications at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe\, IL. She lives in Oak Park\, IL\, with her husband and two children. Visit Hila’s profile in our Discover Jewish Poets database.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/songs-of-the-grass-exploring-jewish-ecopoetry-with-hila-ratzabi/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20221103T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20221103T163000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20250903T220127Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260223T203514Z
UID:10000060-1667484000-1667493000@yetzirahpoets.org
SUMMARY:"Translating Worlds\, Exploring Words" with Joanna Chen
DESCRIPTION:“A translation can serve as a lens into the underground life of another culture”– Cynthia Ozick  \n\n\n\nLiterary translation involves a deep reading of words; it is the natural companion of both reading and writing. The art and practice of literary translation enriches and informs our own writing. It provides a unique perspective on words we thought we knew\, holding each one up to the light\, examining it and deepening its presence.   \n\n\n\nIn this generative workshop we will examine and explore translated poetry from Yiddish\, Hebrew and other languages\, opening doors to other worlds\, both past and present. \n\n\n\nTogether we will discuss what translation means to us and how to approach it. We will experiment with our own translations of poetry\, letting our love for language guide us. No prior experience necessary\, all welcome.  \n\n\n\nHandouts will be sent with the texts to be discussed. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nWorkshop Dates & Cost\n\n\n\n$36—standard registration$30—18% discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Joanna\n\n\n\nJoanna Chen’s full-length poetry translations include Less Like a Dove (Shearsman Books)\, Frayed Light (Wesleyan University Press\, finalist for The Jewish Book Award)\,and but first I call your name (Shearsman Books). She is also the translator of My Wild Garden (Penguin/Random House) and Shooting in America (forthcoming with Penguin\, winner of The Paper Brigade Award for New Israeli Fiction). Her work has been published in Asymptote\, Waxwing\, Mantis and La Piccioletta Barca\, among numerous others. Her poetry\, essays and interviews have been published in The Los Angeles Review of Books\, The Washington Monthly\, Lilith and Narratively\, among several others. She teaches literary translation at The Helicon School of Poetry in Tel Aviv.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/translating-worlds-exploring-words-with-joanna-chen/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20221103T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20221103T163000
DTSTAMP:20260531T000334
CREATED:20250804T144836Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260330T163554Z
UID:10000007-1667484000-1667493000@yetzirahpoets.org
SUMMARY:“To See What Is Heard: Concretizing the Spiritual & the Abstract” with Yehoshua November
DESCRIPTION:In this generative workshop\, we will look at a Hasidic mystical text that explores the relationship between imagery and abstraction during the watershed moment when the Torah was received at Mount Sinai. Then\, taking our cue from Hasidic mysticism and contemporary poetry\, we will attempt to harness the dynamic interplay of imagery and abstraction as we work toward generating several new poems. \n\n\n\nWorkshop Dates & Cost\n\n\n\n$36—standard registration$30—18% discounted registration for Yetzirah Members (you can become a member here) \n\n\n\n*As we want our offerings to be accessible to all\, there is a pay-what-you-can option if this pricing is a hardship. \n\n\n\nAbout Yehoshua\n\n\n\nYehoshua November is the author of God’s Optimism (a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize)\, Two Worlds Exist (a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize)\, and The Concealment of Endless Light (Orison Books\, 2024). His work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine\, Harvard Divinity Bulletin\, The Sun\, VQR\, TriQuarterly\, and on National Public Radio and Poetry Unbound. November teaches creative writing at Rutgers University and Touro University and serves as mashpia\, spiritual mentor\, at Chabad of Teaneck. Visit Yehoshua’s profile in our Discover Jewish Poets database.
URL:https://yetzirahpoets.org/event/to-see-what-is-heard-concretizing-the-spiritual-the-abstract-with-yehoshua-november-2/
CATEGORIES:Asynchronous Events
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