working with Rabbi ariana
Rabbi Ariana is available to officiate weddings and funerals, tutor and officiate b'nai mitzvah, and plan creative ritual to mark moments of transition, lead prayer services, visit communities to teach, and consult on communications and project design. Contact Rabbi Ariana to plan your event.
Photographs courtesy of: Kathy Bunnell, Sammy DiDonato, Stephanie Dee, New Leaf Photography, and Kim Schmidt Photography, Ken Fink, Stephanie Shade
Weddings
Weddings are larger than life moments. Sure, most of your marriage will be brushing teeth at the same time, or arguing about who forgot to pay the electric bill, or falling over laughing in the grocery store. But the wedding is a ritual that says that those times are important, and does some magical realism larger than life ritual and party time to propel you through the rest of your life.
Ariana works with couples to create the rituals that make the people getting married feel married, not just look married. Ritual can be truly transformative; ritual can store up power and magic that we draw on for years to come. With the power of community, of love, the wedding ritual can be an honest representation of the family you have and the values you share–rather than fitting some pre-prescribed mold.
Ariana joyfully performs weddings for all kinds of relationships, including: queer, poly, interfaith, and multi-tradition ceremonies.
life cycle moments, continued
The moments that make up our lives deserve to be consecrated and called holy:
To be called to the Torah as a b'nai mitzvah after months of rigorous learning, accepting tradition and innovation as a legacy.
To hang a mezzuzah in the threshold of a home, invoking protection, peace, and rest in community.
To celebrate the birth of a new baby, welcoming them into your family's customs and histories, blessing them with joy and potential.
To say goodbye to a family member or a friend who has become family, showing dignity to their life and the lessons they shared with you.
To mark public gender transition, affirming one's self and wholeness before the Creator and all others.
To separate from a partner, to mark the end of long-term medical treatment, to prepare to conceive, to mark pregnancy loss, to mark the loss of a child's first tooth or first haircut, our brightest moments and our darkest moments fill up our lives, and can be all declared holy.
Ariana will work with you to base ritual in Jewish tradition and vision how to bring your values and life story into the container that ritual can hold. Rituals can be private with just the people marking the moment, or public to hundreds of guests.
workshops
Lo b'Shamayim Hi! The Law is not in the Heavens.
Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 59a-b
This cornerstone story found in the Talmud explains that it is upon human beings, not far away authority located in the Heavens, to create law and custom. It is upon us, not some far away authority, to do the work of our hands: making candles, braiding challah, creating seder plates, tying tzitziot (fringes on the end of prayer shawls). It is upon us to do the work of our communities: finding shared values, planning to share resources, hearing stories of the other.
Ariana is available to create and run workshops on a variety of topics, including:
Ritual object making and communal quilt projects
Curriculum development
Communications strategies for non-profits
Values based decision making processes
Tkhines, Yiddish women's liturgical prayer