Rabbi Elana Zaiman loves connecting with people. In her book, The Forever Letter, she encourages us to deepen, heal, and uplift our relationships with the people who matter to us most. Elana is the first woman rabbi from a family spanning six generations of rabbis. She serves as an inspirational speaker and as a scholar-in-residence, and workshop facilitator to audiences throughout North America. She’s a chaplain at a retirement community in Seattle, a certified Wise Aging instructor (IJS), and adjunct faculty at a local Seattle hospital’s CPE Program. For ten years she served as the Ethics and Spirituality columnist for LivFun, a publication for Leisure Care retirement facilities in 10 states, and she has been published in The Gettysburg Review, The Sun, Post Road, American Letters & Commentary, and elsewhere. Elana also volunteers as a co-partner in the Seattle Limbe Sewing Circle, an intergenerational and interracial community which brings together Jews, Muslims, and Christians to create feminine hygiene kits for girls in Cameroon, Africa. Elana lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and son.
The Transformational Power of Forever Letters (Friday Eve Services April 28th: 6:15-7:45 pm. Register here)
Rabbi Zaiman will be our guide on a storytelling journey into forever letters—what they are, why write them, and how they can be powerful tools to authentically connect us with ourselves and with the people we love.
Lunch and Learn: Open the Door to Forgiveness (Saturday, April 29th: Lunch and Learn 12:00 pm. Register here)
Do you have a collection of injustices that you have amassed over the years? A collection that no longer serves you? If you do, you are not alone. Join Rabbi Zaiman as she weaves together stories, texts and questions that will challenge you to consider letting go of your carefully crafted collection and move toward healing.
Forever Letter Writing Workshop (Sunday April 30th 10:00 am-1:00 pm. Register here)
Emotional and spiritual connection is at the core of this workshop. Rabbi Zaiman facilitates a writing process and an interactive experience that encourages self-reflection, and a deepening, healing, and uplifting of our relationships. You don’t have to be a writer to get something out of this workshop. You don’t have to love writing. You don’t even have to know to whom you will write. The only requirement: show up and be yourself. In this workshop, we will look at excerpts of letters from medieval and modern times as templates for the forever letters we will begin to write. We will talk about tone, content, and how to write to be heard. We will write to prompts to reflect on ourselves, the people we love, and our shared relationships. Feel free to bring a special notebook and pen or your laptop. Our time together will fly by.
Please note: We welcome participants of all abilities. If you need any accommodations, please contact Justin Regan at justin@hsosc-baltimore.org.
