Ben HaMetzarim (In the Narrows): Grief Technologies for the Broken (Open) Hearted
a workshop for Jews on an anti-Zionist path
Sunday, August 4th
3 - 6 PM PT/ 6 - 9 PM ET
on Zoom
$18 - $180 Sliding Scale, NOTAFLOF (No One Turned Away for Lack of Funds)
18% of funds redirected to Gaza
"How we grieve will determine how we change the world... Grief is the medicine." - Malkia Device Cyril
“The reason why some things feel too big to be felt alone is that they are. A lot of our distress is bigger than one body, or one generation. We need the alchemy of witness, ceremony, ancestors to feel.”
Join Jo Kent Katz, meital yaniv, Ray Himmelman le Blanc & Elana-June for a workshop exploring, experimenting with and expanding our embodied relationships to ancestrally encoded Jewish grief technologies in service of the healing of our hearts and our life-long commitment to fighting for a Free Palestine, the sanctity of the Jewish soul and the liberation of all beings (including us).
We commit to de-exceptionalizing Jewish grief, and decentering it in the movement towards a Free Palestine. Simultaneously, we commit to tending to Jewish grief responsibly, in honor of the healing of our lineages and our refusal to continue patterns of harm borne from unprocessed trauma.
Join us as we explore and experiment with grief technologies rooted in the four elements: somatic practice & stone work/ earth, grief bowls/ water, breath & kriah (tearing fabric)/ air, and clearing with fire.
This workshop is offered in preparation for the Nine Days of Grief (beginning the next day, on Rosh Chodesh Av) which are part of the Three Weeks of Grief (AKA Ben HaMetzarim "In the Narrows"), culminating on Tisha b'Av (the 9th of Av, the most sacred grief day in the Jewish calendar). Our work will offer alternative (anti-Zionist) frameworks for understanding the Ben HaMetzarim as well as Tisha b'Av - practices and prayers existing simultaneously outside of and in active opposition to Zionism.
About the facilitators:
Jo Kent Katz (she/her) is an Intuitive healer, a social justice educator, a ritualist, an ordained Kohenet, and an auntie. Jo is a political educator who centers healing, a healing practitioner who believes in collective liberation. As a white, queer, cisgender, able-bodied, assimilated Ashkenazi Jew, Jo is committed to reclaiming Ancestral connection, healing inherited legacies, and bolstering our collective capacity to dismantle racism, antisemitism, and all forms of oppression.
meital yaniv (b. 1984, Tel-Aviv, israel) is learning how to be in a human form. they do things with words, with moving and still images, with threads, with bodies in front of bodies, with the Earth. they are a death laborer tending to a prayer for the liberation of the land of Palestine and the lands of our bodies. they keep Fires and submerge themselves in Ocean and Sea Water often. yaniv is learning to listen to the Waters, birdsongs, caretakers, and ancestors as they walk as a guest on the home and gathering place of the Cahuilla-ʔívil̃uwenetem Meytémak, Tongva-Kizh Nation, Luiseño-Payómkawichum, and Serrano-Yuhaaviatam/Maarenga'yam. yaniv is the author of
bloodlines. they
make
offerings through
true name collective.
ig: @bloodlines_book
Ray Himmelman Le Blanc is a queer Ashkenazi Diasporist, a ritualist, a healer, an artist, and a mama living in Oceti Sakowin territory of the Dakota people, in what is known as Minneapolis. Being raised as an orthodox Jew deeply informs Ray’s earth-based, anti-Zionist spiritual practices. As a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Ray brings a focus of healing and embodiment to their ritual work. Ray strives to listen for wisdom of ancestors and other-than-human teachers while grounding through Jewish tradition and leftist community. Ray was a core facilitator of the Eye of the Needle Kaddish Call in the early stages of the Pandemic and is the co-facilitator of the weekly virtual grief call Kruim Yachad (Torn Together) Diasporist Jewish Griefwork for the Longhaul with Elana-June. Elana-June Margolis (she/they/WE) AKA Kohenet Chalav u Dvash ba Tehomo (Priestexxx of Milk & Honey in the Gay Void) is a white, queer, femme, Ashkenazi, anti-Zionist Jewish mystic, teacher, writer & artist. Her life’s work is dedicated to liberating ancestral texts, technologies & tales in service of personal healing towards collective liberation. Elana-June was the initiator and core facilitator of the Eye of the Needle Kaddish Call in the early stages of the Pandemic and is the co-facilitator of the weekly virtual grief call Kruim Yachad (Torn Together) Diasporist Jewish Griefwork for the Longhaul with Ray Himmelman le Blanc. She is a devoted grief tender, with a life-long love of the broken heart. Elana-June has recently journeyed through a significant death/ rebirth portal which led her to relocate from Lenape land (colonially known as Brooklyn, NY) to Northern Pomo territory (colonially known as Ukiah, CA) where she is putting down roots as a long-term resident at the Mariposa Institute. You can learn more about her work @ https://elanajune.com or on IG @madamfullcharge
ACCESS: Automated captioning will be provided. We regret that we cannot afford ASL for this offering. The workshop will be recorded and shared with registered participants within 24 hours of the session.
Questions? Reach out to elana.june.margolis@gmail.com
Ready to register? Wonderful. We are honored to gather with you in honor of our sacred grief. Please fill out the form below and be sure to press submit!
With love,
Elana-June, Ray, Jo & meital
