A Journey into Jewish Eldering: In-Person

This program is for Jewish adults age 64+ who are:

• Curious about the spiritual dimensions of aging and interested in a program with a Jewish context
• Interested in nature connection practices for the elder journey
• Seeking community with peers
• Interested in Jewish wisdom and practice
• Exploring questions of meaning, mortality, and legacy
• Ready to transform accumulated life experience into elder wisdom

Limited to 16 participants, the program fosters deep relationships and meaningful transformation.

This program runs from February – April 2027

February 7, 2027 | Preparation Zoom Gathering (4 Hours)
1:00-5:00 PM PT, 4:00-8:00 pm ET

Our opening online session introduces participants to one another and to the core themes of the program.

Topics include:

• Introductions and community-building
• Overview of the full program
• Key concepts: radical acceptance and resilience
• Introduction to the book Getting Good at Getting Older
• First facilitated peer-group meeting
• First chevruta conversation (see below for chevruta info)

Participants are assigned to:

• Peer groups of 4–5 participants, facilitated initially by program alumni (online or in person)
• Chevruta partnerships or triads for ongoing reflection between sessions (online or in person)

Sunday, March 7– Friday, March 12, 2027 | Residential Retreat
Arrive Sun. at 2:45 PM – Depart Fri. at 2:30 PM

Location: Ralston White Retreat Center, Mill Valley, California

Set among majestic redwoods on Mount Tamalpais, this six-day, five-night retreat offers an immersive opportunity to step away from daily life and enter a sacred rhythm of reflection, learning, and community.

Sunday, April 11 2027 | Integration Zoom Gathering (4 hours)
1:00-5:00 pm PM PT, 4:00-8:00 pm ET

Our final online session supports participants in integrating insights from the retreat and reflecting on how they wish to explore and embody elderhood moving forward.

Includes:

• Reflection on retreat experiences
• Peer-group discussion
• Chevruta meeting
• Closing practices and next steps

Radical Acceptance
Learning to meet aging and life transitions with openness and compassion.

Resilience
Drawing on inner and communal resources to navigate change.

Transforming Experience into Wisdom
Reflecting deeply on life events to uncover their teachings.

Eldering Jewishly
Exploring Jewish texts and practices that illuminate later life.

Legacy
Considering what we wish to pass on to future generations.

During the retreat, participants will engage in:

• Morning movement and meditation
• Prayer and song circles
• Council practice for deep listening and authentic sharing
• Wilderness wanders and sit spots
• Hitbodedut (Jewish contemplative practice in nature)
• Lifeline activity for life lessons
• Storytelling and creative expression
• Jewish text study
• Conversations about death, grief, and legacy
• Yiddish singing and dance
• Wisdom bracelet-making
• Ancestor altar and guided ancestral visualization

The retreat includes teachings and workshops from a rich team of facilitators and guest teachers:

• Jerry Falek – Crafting and storytelling as pathways to elder wisdom
• Rabbi Dan Goldblatt and Zoe Francesca Goldblatt : Eldering Jewishly; dying, death, and grief
• Bruce Bierman – Yiddish singing and dance
• Tom Levy and Drew Sproul– Nature connection practices
• Ellie Schindelman: overall retreat leadership and facilitation 

(Bios Coming Soon)

Jewish Spiritual Practices for the Elder Journey AND  Dying, Death and Grieving with Dan and Zoe Goldblatt

The morning begins with Eldering Jewishly, which will include text study, contemplative practice, conversation, and ritual. Together, participants engage Jewish wisdom and spiritual practices that can support meaning, resilience, purpose, and connection in the later chapters of life. In the evening, the focus turns to dying, death, and grieving through the lens of “dying as a sacred transition.” By exploring our thoughts and feelings about death, we learn more deeply about how we are living now — coming into closer contact with our spiritual beliefs, life purpose, unfinished business, and the ways we shape and are shaped by our relationships and communities. Through guided reflection and discussion, participants explore hopes and fears around dying, deepen self-knowledge, and consider how to break down barriers between ourselves and others when we most need comfort, trust, communion, and safety. 

Death Cafe: Preparing for Our Deaths –brings practical and spiritual dimensions together by exploring questions such as: What is a “good death”? What resources and supports are available, including death doulas and end-of-life planning? What choices do we want to make about caring for our bodies after death, and how can we begin organizing our possessions, wishes, and documents in ways that ease the burden on those we love?

Throughout the day, participants are invited to approach aging and mortality not as subjects to avoid, but as sacred opportunities for reflection, preparation, connection, and growth.

Praying with Your Hands with Jerry Falek

We’ll make a ribbed basket with an oak rim and handle. While working, we’ll consider what we want to take with us into the next stage of our lives and what we want to leave behind, what are the stories we want to take with us, and which ones are burdensome and now longer serve us. The process will take most of the afternoon. 

Basket weaving encourages patience, presence, and creativity, qualities that support the eldering process. It offers an opportunity to slow down, engage the hands as well as the mind, and experience the satisfaction of making something tangible. The basket itself can become a symbol of what elders hold and carry: memories, stories, values, and blessings to be shared with future generations. In this way, weaving is not only a craft but also a practice of meaning-making, legacy, and connection. 

In the evening we’ll share the stories that that have charted and given meaning to our lives.

Sunday – Arrival and Opening

• Arrival and check-in beginning at 2:45PM
• Opening circle
• Song circle
• Dinner
• Evening program

Monday – Aging and Wisdom, Introduction to nature connection

• Morning movement, prayer, and song
• Introduction to council practice
• Council on experiences of ageism
  • Afternoon and evening with Jerry Falek:
    crafting, storytelling, and elder wisdom

Tuesday – Nature and Life Review; crafting and storytelling

• Introduction to nature connection practices
• First wilderness wander and council after
• Hitbodedut and sit spot practice
• Lifeline activity to explore life lessons

Wednesday – Eldering Jewishly; Dying death and grieving

• Jewish spiritual practices for the elder journey with Dan and Zoe Goldblatt
• Afternoon “Death cafe”
• Evening session on Dying as a Sacred Transition with Dan and Zoe Goldblatt

Thursday – Guidance from Nature, Yiddish song and dance and Exploring our legacies

• Extended wilderness wander; seeking guidance from the more-than-human world
• Yiddish singing and dancing with Bruce Bierman and a live klezmer band
• Evening program: Transforming our life experiences into wisdom

Friday – Integration and Closing

• Reflections- what are we taking away with us?
• Closing circle
• Lunch and departures by 2:30 PM

Program fees:

• $1700/person for shared lodging (rooms for 2 people)
• $1900/person for single lodging  
• $2100/person for a larger and nicer room or shared room with your own bathroom