Author: SandraLaya Ruch, Wedding Officiant

SandraLaya Ruch, Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess) is a Motivational Speaker, Teacher, Life Cycle Officiant and Healer. For 3 decades SandraLaya Ruch has been inspiring women to live their lives to the fullest. She is a firm believer that anything is possible and each of us must dare to dream. She encourages women not be held hostage to our victim story but to use our survival as a reminder of our strength and possibilities. Her workshops are especially popular in women and family centres for both clients and staff. She ran a women’s program at Merrymount Children’s Centre for many years. She has facilitated workshops for organizations including the Oneida Nation of the Thames is an Onyota'a:ka First Nations band, Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI), Women’s Community House, Second Stage Housing, and Child Reach. SandraLaya is a deeply committed activist and advocate to the rights of women and children. She retired recently, after almost a decade as the National Coordinator of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW). VOW is the only national Feminist peace organization in Canada. She has lived in conflict areas, working with International Feminist organizations. As a result of her human rights advocacy, she has been arrested and detained several times both abroad and in Canada. She has spoken about her experiences to audiences across Canada and Internationally. For 2 ½ years SandraLaya volunteered with Isha L’Isha – Haifa Feminist Coalition and as a result was chosen to be the keynote speaker at a Human Trafficking Conference in Boston, MA organized by the Washington based group FAIR Fund and the National Women Law Students' Association at Suffolk University Law School. She is currently enrolled in a clergy ordination program to become a Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess). SandraLaya is a Life Cycle Officiant, a Healer working in several modalities including Reflexology and Aromatherapy, a blogger, and motivational speaker. Both a Mother and Grandmother, SandraLaya raised her daughters independently facing many of the struggles familiar to single parents. She is no stranger to domestic violence and the dangers that women experience in a patriarchal society. “We must look for the opportunities waiting for us”. SandraLaya Ruch
Posted on in Life Cycle Officiant, Testimonials, Uncategorized

Aaron and Brittany

Aaron & Brittany

I can’t say enough good things about Sandra Ruch! My (now) husband reached out to All Seasons looking for a Jewish officiant for our interfaith wedding and Sandra was the perfect fit from the start. From our first meeting she was simply delightful, and truly interested in making it a wedding that was OURS. We worked with her to create a ceremony that was reflective of Jewish traditions, while remaining secular and more importantly inclusive. She was so positive and engaging through the whole process! Our ceremony went off without a hitch, and that’s in large part to Sandra’s professionalism, calm demeanor and positive outlook. We truly feel like we lucked out choosing/finding Sandra. Thank you! Aaron & Brittany July 14th, 2018

Posted on in Life Cycle Officiant, Testimonials

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Anonymous

Sandra (Ruch) did an amazing job! So glad that we had chosen her for our special day and would definitely recommend her to anyone looking. Sandra was very friendly and easygoing, which truly made the process that much easier on a very busy family. She handled our crazy day with ease and was amazing while dealing with/including my toddler into the ceremony (my daughter felt the ceremony was a perfect opportunity to shine). This truly made the ceremony feel more filled with love. Thanks for everything!

Posted on in Life Cycle Officiant, Testimonials

Lisa and Stephane

Lisa and Stéphane

Sandra Ruch was an absolute dream to work with, from start to finish. We knew from our first meeting that she was the perfect choice for our wedding officiant: smart, funny, so warm and compassionate. We knew we were on the same page. She really listened to us and helped us create a secular, interfaith ceremony that was perfect suited to our personalities and needs, combining our Jewish and Acadian backgrounds. Thank you, Sandra, for the most memorable day.

Posted on in Home Life, Living abundantly, Product Endorsements

Cleaning Chemical-Free

Full disclosure – my Enjo representative is also one of my very best friends.  She is honest and Enjo is her first foray into the world of business.  Next full disclosure – I am frugal (some may say cheap), committed to taking care of the environment, super sensitive to yucky chemicals and known in many circles as a clean freak.

Yolanda Tomaszewski
Yolanda T.

 

 

 

 

 

The Enjo products are not cheap but they really work and they have value for your buck. They last …and last…..and last. They are good to our planet.

This week Yolanda left me a small portion of the Enjo Marble Paste to try around my house.  It was really just a few crumbs in a tiny container.  She also left the Enjo Kitchen Scrub.

Kitchen Scrub

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to try it on my silver collection. Yowza!  It really worked and it worked quickly.  My silver was really tarnished and I had been ignoring it for several months.  I decided I wanted it back on display and looking fine!  It took me less than a half hour to polish everything with no scrubbing or hard rubbing and no smelly chemicals.

Before
After

I wanted to experiment so I tried the paste with a kitchen sponge and also with a micofibre cloth.  It still removed tarnish with the Enjo Marble Paste but not with the ease and success of the Enjo Kitchen Scrub and Enjo Marble Paste.  I don’t understand those Enjo fibres but they work!!  They work on tarnished silver, on cleaning your dirty oven, your  greasy pots, your floors, your windows and more.

I’m hooked.  I am a believer.

2 thumbs up.  For more information check out Yolanda Tomaszewski’s FaceBook page or email her at ytomaszewski@enjo.ca

Posted on in Celebrant, Life Cycle Officiant, Living abundantly, Uncategorized

What I love about Love

Being a wedding officiant is just about the most perfect vocation anyone could ask for.  I absolutely love spending time with people who are so positive about the future, so full of hope and love.  Joy, happiness and excitement surrounds them in a cloud of deliciousness!!!

Kenana and Dave

One of my daughters says there is nothing that she loves more than a love story and encourages her friends to share their stories.  My first favourite book ( I read it over and over) was Erich Segal’s “Love Story”.  ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Love_Story_(Erich_Segal_novel)_cover

 

The first thing I want to hear from a couple is their story.  I want to know how they met and how long they have been together.  It is that connection that is the foundation of the new life they are building.

It’s wonderful to hear about their plans for the future and the many things they have in common.  I often wonder what is the most important element of a relationship? Is it sharing hobbies, professions, physical attraction, values, culture, religion, politics, family values?  Somehow it is a little bit of everything.   A couple may seem like total opposites until there is a bit more excavating and you find that at the core they are so similar.

What do you think?  Will you share your love story with me?

Posted on in Home Life, Living abundantly, Uncategorized

My Closet Bedroom

I’ve been in my element these past few weeks.  I created a bedroom in my closet.  The closet is about 6 feet by 7 feet and I have loved having all that storage space!  I had an abundance of items organized in that closet – my clothes and everything else.  The apartment is only 400 square feet in total.  It’s small but more than enough space for me to live very happily. I often have friends and family over and can comfortably entertain a dozen or more guests.  I frequently have overnight guests too.

A few weeks ago I was scrolling Pinterest when I found this photo.  I was so inspired.  I went to my closet, took a look went back to the sofa, got up and looked again.  I repeated that scenario at least 3 times until I just couldn’t help myself. I started hauling everything out of my closet – clothing, suitcases, shoes, boots, boxes, jewellery, coats and so on and so on and so on.  A lot of stuff.

Pinterest

After washing the floors and the shelving, I moved the single bed into the room.  Now what to do with all the “stuff”.  Of course,  a quick trip to Ikea would have quickly solved all my problems but I didn’t have that amount of extra cash and I also prefer to use recycled products whenever possible.  Ol, I admit, I am very frugal and I hate waste more than anything.

That same week I found a dresser in the parking lot of my daughter’s condo. I am so lucky when it comes to finding things that I need.  Looking around my place right now there are many great finds.

the dresser
The dresser (free)

Then I started scouring Marketplace on Facebook.  I was hoping to find something cheap, in my neighbourhood  and that someone might deliver. No small wish list.  Here’s what I found this week.

 

 

The storage box
The storage box $15 picked up
The wardrobe
The wardrobe $40 delivered

 

The clothes are in the dresser, the wardrobe and the storage box.  I emptied a few shelves in my linen closet moving all the towels into the bathroom and all the bedding into the storage box of my Ikea Beddinge sofa.  Before the move, I had the beautiful quilts that my Grandmother made there but now I am showing them off in my new bedroom. I moved the shoe shelf into the entrance way and gave it a beachy look.

Beachy shoe rack
Shoes and boots

I love my new room.  I love the bold red accents.  I am surrounded by my favourite things.  I now have more living and dining room space and having a private bedroom is fabulous.  My rent is the same but now I have a one bedroom apartment.  This is the best of tiny space living!

Bedroom
My new bedroom

 

 

Posted on in Living abundantly, Living Life Large

My Mother’s Day Rant – Wishing you Joy and Happiness

It’s Mother’s Day and my birthday.  I am such a lucky woman.  Totally blessed with loving daughters, a lovely little apartment, a small pension, a great little job that I can do from home (teaching English to children in China online) and more than enough.  My cupboards are generally filled and I am able to have a few of those luxuries that make me smile and add to my contentment.

 

Some people don’t think I have a lot but I have everything that I want and need. To others I have a heaping helping of abundance.  I have so many friends that have been devastated from the military occupation of Palestine – homes destroyed, children murdered……that is what the opposite of my life can look like.

But my joy and sense of abundance is not in comparison to others, it’s just what I feel.  Nothing works more successfully for my sense of joy than writing out my Gratitudes.  This is a habit I acquired more than 20 years ago.  I was inspired by Sarah Ban Breathnach in her Simple Abundance book, by Oprah, and by the Secret (book and film).  I write out 5 things that I am grateful for from the previous day.  If I get off this path and I start to feel lousy, I reboot with this practice and quickly am restored to my grateful and abundant self. I always urge others to just give it a 14 day trial and just see how it feels.

simple-abundance

I love a little self indulgence – cosmetics, having my hair coloured and styled (yup, folks, I am not a real blonde!!), acquiring new clothing (at least, new to me), dressing up my living space, flowers, plants…………..I love surrounding myself with “pretty things” and I love delicious, fresh and healthy food!  I also totally adore my daughters and my grandson!

 

 

Flowers on the table
Hair and make-up

I know there are so many people that just can’t acknowledge Joy – they feel so deeply the hurting in our world.  I understand it but if I don’t indulge myself, if I don’t create balance for myself, I won’t have the energy to help others and to be a dissident voice on this planet. I am all about balance.

Now on my Priestess path – my ordination as a Kohenet is just a year away – I believe that we are created in the image of the Divine.  I am so blessed to feel that Love and Inspiration. I encourage those of you who can find that Presence to embrace it – to Love yourself.  I encourage you to acknowledge your Gratitudes, to indulge in what you love, to smile even when it hurts.  “Fake it til you make it, Baby.” The People are rising – let’s change this world.  Let’s make a difference!  Let’s spread love and respect.  This is your day!

Posted on in Celebrant, Living abundantly

Passover Liberation Sedars

This was undoubtedly my busiest Passover EVER!!!  My colleagues and I at the Jewish Liberation Theology Institute held 3 sedars in 3 different cities – Toronto, Hamilton and London.

Setting up in London, Ontario

Our founding Rabbi Lucia Pizarro led the sedars in both Toronto and London, Ontario. Lucia was born in Mexico City, where she became qualified to practice law. She completed an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Essex in the UK. She followed her academic passion for Jewish thought with four years working for social justice in Palestine. She recently became a mother and a Rabbi.  Our guest was Rabbi David Mivisair officiating in Hamilton. Rabbi David Mivasair is motivated by the commandments “justice, justice you shall pursue” and “seek peace and pursue it”.  For over 25 years, David served as the spiritual leader of synagogues in the US and in Vancouver, where he lives.  David is active in the leadership of Independent Jewish Voices in Canada and Jewish Voice for Peace in the US.  He lived in Israel for four years and in May went with 130 other Jews to support Palestinian activists defending their communities from destruction.

 

 

I was very excited to be the song and prayer leader in both Hamilton and London this year.

 

In London our guest speaker was Tarek Loubani. Tarek is a Palestinian physician and humanitarian. He is an Associate professor at the University of Western Ontario where he works as an emergency physician. He runs the Glia Project, which provides low-cost open-source medical equipment to impoverished locations, and EmPower Gaza, which puts solar panels for electricity on hospitals in Gaza. He will talk about his work at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, in the context of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba.

tarik loubani

In Hamilton, our guest speaker was Robert Massoud. Robert is a Palestinian-Canadian. In 2004, he founded Zatoun to build bridges between Palestine and North America through the sale of cultural and symbolic products from Palestine. The main offering is fair trade extra virgin olive oil to serve as a symbol of light, hope and peace.  Zatoun is available through the fair trade network, activist and faith communities. He believes that appreciating the enormity and wide-ranging impacts of the Israel-Palestine situation creates interest for people to self-educate which is the best path to commitment and effective civil society.

Robert Massoud

In Toronto we had a speaker from the Palestinian community who asks people to support the Indigenous Land Defence Across Borders (ILDAB) project.

Posted on in Celebrant, Living abundantly

Recipient of the Absolutely Fabulous Women over 40 Award

What an honour to be nominated and then chosen to receive the Absolutely Fabulous Women over 40 award.  The corporate sponsor was Mary Kay.  It was an amazing night with over 400 guests and 40 fabulous women receiving the award.

2018 Absolutely Fabulous Women Over 40 Award Recipient

This is the 5th annual extravaganza and it is organized by a dynamic group of women.  Rosanna Penilla-Bharucha is the founder of the event. Rosanna is an entrepreneur and believes in giving back to the community. She is the Executive Director of The Boomerpreneur and Boomerpreneurs Network, Regional Director for Asia-Pacific at Ed2All and Managing Director of the Host Students Network.

Reach-out-logoReach Out, an organization that helps to break the silence on sexual abuse benefited from the event.

The gala was held at the Grand Victorian Convention Centre in Mississauga.  Magnificent venue and the buffet meal was delicious.

Posted on in I Married Myself, Living abundantly, Uncategorized

Be Mine Valentine (committed to me)

 

I am no relationship expert.  Although, I have had many – I have had more failures than successes.  Well, I suppose many would sum it in that way.  I, however, look at back them as experiences, learning opportunities and mostly, a lot of fun.

Just days away from Valentine’s Day and I am getting excited.  My beloved and I have been making plans for weeks.  We’ve been married since the summer of 2012.  We?  Me and me.  I and I. Self-love.  I married myself and I highly recommend it.

I planned a lovely, simple wedding on the beach (my favourite place) in the evening.  The whole day was leading up to my ceremony was fun with a bit of shopping and a delicious meal.

July 2012 I promised to love myself.  I promised to honour and protect me.  Now as Valentine’s day approaches I see it as a day to recommit.  I want to have a day to honour Love, in general , and to honour a commitment to the one person who  will be with me until I die.  The one person who I want to love and take the best possi ble care of.   I am proud to say I love me. My commitment to my health, my safety, my well being and contentment is all part of my “marriage”.

I am also blessed to have wonderful people in life that I love,  my grandson, my daughters, their partners and my amazing friends.  However, my life changed the day I married myself.  Something flipped in me and a new contentment washed over me.  It has stayed with me over the years.  There was a moment when I realized I really wasn’t alone.

Whether you are in relationship or not, I invite you to explore making this personal commitment – to love, honour and respect YOU.