We were finding it difficult dealing with the planning process in general and specifically the stresses of jump-starting a new lifestyle; your sessions were comprehensive, giving us the knowledge we needed to make educated decisions. They were also supportive, giving us the confidence to rely on the strength of our convictions.

-Ilana and Jack

Click here for the Reut brochure (PDF, 4MB).

Reut was founded to provide a service to couples who are planning to marry in the near future.  Couples in this uniquely intense and pivotal period in their lives can get so caught up in the details of planning the wedding that they neglect to invest the necessary time in nurturing their relationship and creating a shared vision for their future lives together.

Moreover, these couples require help to gather vital information and services.  Reut offers a single place where they can get what they know they are looking for, as well as things they didn’t even know they needed, from experienced professionals.

The Reut group seminar for Jewish Israeli couples embarking on the journey of marriage is designed to provide the information these couples seek in a relaxed, fun, and safe group atmosphere.  Reut creates a space in which couples can share their feelings of excitement and anxiety and support one another — and also share good tips on caterers or rabbis!  An added benefit of participating in the Reut seminar is that couples share these experiences with other Israelis from many different walks of life.

The frame of the Reut seminar is “couplehood,” or zugiyut.  Couples therapists run the opening and closing sessions of the seminar, and each session in between contains “couple processing time,” in which the couples break off with their partners to discuss the topic of the evening in the context of their relationship.  This way, the experience is not one of a frontal lecture, but rather of a supportive group environment that at the same time lends space to the individual couples to process the sometimes heavy, sometimes not-so-heavy, but always relevant topics of the sessions.

Reut’s second goal is to provide a modern alternative to the pre-marriage seminars required by the Israeli Rabbinate.  Any Jewish couple marrying in Israel must take a course on the laws of “family purity” and Jewish marriage.  In contrast to the official Rabbinate seminars, Reut’s seminars are open and forward-thinking in their outlook on marriage, gender-roles, sexuality, and Jewish Law.

Enrollment is now open -- to sign up, or for more information, contact Reut.