Shalom from your friends at AriYael!
We have come through Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, and hope you and your loved ones were able to share some meaningful time with family and community. We mourn with people all over the world for the tragic events at Bondi Beach in Australia. In the face of this horror, we are inspired by the heroic actions of both Muslims and Jews who resisted and protected innocent people that day.
The word “Chanukah” means “Dedication,” and we at AriYael rededicate ourselves and our organization to bring innovative healing practices to the regional and national Jewish community. As we prepare to move into 2026, we THANK YOU for the donations you made, and can still make, in 2025 to help us move closer to our goal of becoming an even more recognized and vital presence in the Jewish community.
The Jewish grief retreat weekend created and produced by the former Bay Area Jewish Healing Center for over 25 years, known as Grief and Growing, is BACK! Zoë was privileged to serve on staff for Grief and Growing several times, and Rabbi Dan, Marc and Susan attended as participants. Each of us came away from that weekend feeling that something in us had been catalyzed through music, art, nature, poetry and ritual that helped us –and many others– transform grief into healing.
Now, thanks to the efforts of therapist Liora Brosbe and end of life doula Yael Galinson, along with Abra Greenspan of A Healing Legacy, Liz Orlin of Sinai Memorial Chapel and Rabbi Dan Goldblatt and Zoë Goldblatt of AriYael, we are restoring and renewing Grief and Growing in 2026.
We are formally announcing Grief and Growing™ at URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, February 27-March 1, 2026. Please join us for a powerful weekend retreat for mourners of all ages, infants through elders. If you have experienced the death of a loved one, visit Camp Newman to learn more. Please share this information with friends who could benefit from this extraordinary experience of holding and processing grief.
You can read an article here about Grief and Growing in the Jewish News of Northern California.
What else is coming up soon, in 2026?
- A presentation on “Sacred Intimacy” and “Jewish Men’s Initiation Rites” at the Philadelphia conference for OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis and Cantors for Jewish Renewal
- An online interfaith panel on “Psilocybin and the Second Half of Life” for End Of Life Psychedelic Care
- An online workshop, “Dying As a Sacred Transition” for the Wilderness Torah program, “Older to Elder”
- A year-long Men’s Initiation program, “Brit Adam,” created by Rabbi Zelig Golden and John Wolfstone, sponsored by AriYael, with Rabbi Dan featured as one of the teachers and leaders.
If you would like AriYael to produce a program for your own organization, community, chavurah or other association, please contact us at: admin@ariyael.org.
Shalom u’Vracha, Peace and Blessings,
AriYael Jewish Healing Center