Stay tuned: this course will soon be available as a pre-recorded class.
Soul Candles for the Days of Awe 5783
Sunday, October 2nd, 2022, 3-5pm PST , 7th of Tishrei on Zoom
Please join as we continue our study of the Eastern European and Russian tradition of making Soul Candles made to both honor ancestors and protect the living. Burned during Yom Kippur and throughout the year, their lighting awakens the souls of ancestors and calls on them to pray for the wellbeing of the living. This tradition is part of a long line of tkhines (Yiddish, derived from the Hebrew word tehinnot, “supplications”), prayers and devotional practices created and prayed by women and gender-non-conforming people who did not have access to the practices that centered Jewish men and the Hebrew language. Obscured historically by Patriarchy and Christian Dominance, we bring the tkhines and spontaneous prayers into our lives and hold them up to shine brightly.
Making soul candles is traditionally done during the Days of Awe. We will give background on this mysterious and captivating practice, instruct participants on how to make Soul Candles at home, and will enter ritual space during the workshop. During these intense times, we need all the help we can get from our wise and loving ancestors. We come together to welcome our benevolent plant and people ancestors to collaborate on building our strength and brightness during this time of great turning.
Rebekah and Jonah have both been practicing, learning and teaching about this beloved tradition since 5776 (2015) and with joyous hearts we invite you to join this ritual space.
The Soul Candles ritual is available to us throughout the year, however the practice is traditional and particularly potent during the Days of Awe (the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). One important part of this tradition is visiting graves and using candle wicks to wrap and measure cemetery perimeters and specific graves. We are offering this workshop on Sunday before Yom Kippur to give people a little time and space after the workshop and before the holiday to participate in this part of the tradition (with guidance from the class content).
Inside of the container of our workshop, in service of accessibility and embodiment, we will be offering creative reinterpretations to the literal wrapping of graves, and engaging in this ritual together, so participants will have an opportunity to participate in this ritual in a variety of ways if they choose.
Access Information:
This online series of live sessions will be hosted on Zoom with ASL interpretation and live closed captioning. Workshop will be recorded and available to watch for one week. You are welcome to join regardless of your spiritual background; if you have beginner or advanced knowledge of Judaism, interest in converting to Judaism, or are a Jew by Choice. No prior knowledge of Judaism or Hebrew is required for participation in this cohort.
Price of Workshop: $54-$162
All participants will receive a download of the Soul Candles Ritual Guide with their workshop ticket.
This workshop is offered on a sliding scale. You determine your place on the sliding scale based on your income and access to money. You may fit anywhere the between $54-$162 range. See the green bottle graphic below from Alexis of Worts & Cunning Apothecary about the sliding scale system to assist you in identifying what your payment for this class should be.
Black, Indigenous and People of Color are welcome to attend this workshop free of charge.
A portion of profits from this class will be donated to the Adalah Justice Project.
Purchase Workshop Ticket & Ritual Tools Here:
Please bring:
A journal
Photographs of benevolent blood or chosen ancestors (can be on phone/screen or paper photographs)
books of spiritual or ancestral significance, a prayer book, objects of meaning from your ancestors or chosen ancestors
We will be making Soul Candles together in this class. Please plan to:
1. Gather candle wick and dipped wicks prior to class for making candles together
Or
2. Purchase the Dipped and Raw Wick product in the Narrow Bridge Candles store.
If you don’t have these items, you can still participate in the workshop, learn the practice and do the ritual at a later time.
Rebekah Erev is a queer artist, teacher, ritual leader/kohenet, community herbalist, dream worker and healer. For over two decades they have practiced and taught a Judaism steeped in the old ways, ancestral and earth reverence and visions of the world to come. They celebrate diaspora with Dreaming the World to Come & Queer Mikveh Project, a community, advocacy tool and art practice.
jonah aline daniel is an queer and trans, disabled, anti-zionist descendant of Russian, Lithuanian and English Jews and the founder of Narrow Bridge Candles. They love nothing more than holding space for radical transformative ritual with beauty, care, accessibility, and connection to land and home at the center. They are a ritualist, medicine maker, and herbalist with Sick Witch Herbs, an herbal project located on Skokomish land seeking to support and uplift the brilliance and resilience of queer, trans, sick and disabled communities. They hope you will come visit and support the tending of the beautiful land that they call home.