RECLAIMING THE UNLIVED LIFE:

November 11 & 12, 2026

Narrative, Legacy & Creative Renewal

A Two-Day Virtual Elder Wisdom Symposium

We want to thank our sponsors!

Meet the keynote speaker

Dr. Marc Cooper

Keynote

Growing old is inevitable. Becoming an Elder is a choice.

We’ve been taught how to build careers, accumulate wealth, raise families, and prepare for retirement. But nowhere are we taught how to transform decades of living into wisdom.

What if the greatest opportunity of your life doesn’t lie behind you—but ahead of you?

What if aging isn’t about decline, but development?

Join Dr. Marc Cooper as he challenges everything you’ve been taught about growing older and reveals why the world doesn’t simply need more older people.

It needs more Elders.

MARC WHO?

I embarked on a profound—and honestly, often messy—journey to become an authentic Elder in a culture that mostly confuses “elder” with “older.” Big difference. One is a stage of life. The other is a way of being.

On El Camino Hacia ser un Anciano—the road to becoming an Elder—there were no clear road signs, no GPS, and certainly no app announcing, “In 500 feet, turn left toward wisdom.”

I’ve lived many phases and stages: academician, researcher, healthcare provider, entrepreneur, consultant, teacher, speaker, husband, father, grandfather, and now great-grandfather. Along the way, I’ve succeeded, failed, reinvented myself, fallen down a few metaphorical staircases, and learned that wisdom usually arrives right after you needed it.

What I discovered is that becoming an Elder requires something beyond knowledge, status, appearance, or achievement. It requires higher wisdom: a deeper awareness of life, our interconnectedness, and our responsibility to one another.

In my books, webinars, and speaking engagements, I challenge the culture’s default path of decline and irrelevance. I propose another possibility:

Growing old is inevitable. Becoming an Elder is a choice.

WHY I SAID YES

I said yes to being a keynote speaker at the Reclaiming the Unlived Life: Narrative, Legacy & Creative Renewal symposium—which I think of as Reclaiming Your Unmet Future—is because I’ve reached the age where pretending no longer interests me.

Most people grow older carrying an invisible suitcase filled with unlived lives, postponed dreams, abandoned conversations, and futures they quietly gave up on. By late age, that suitcase can weigh more than the person carrying it. We call it “normal.” I don’t.

An unmet future is not failure. It is unfinished possibility still knocking at the door of your life.

I’m not interested in helping people age gracefully into irrelevance. The culture already has a well-funded program for comfort, distraction, and slow disappearance. Thank you, but no thank you.

What interests me is what becomes possible when a human being stops negotiating with fear and begins living from something deeper, clearer, and more truthful.

At 81, I’ve learned this:
The future does not disappear with age.
It becomes more personal. More urgent. More honest.

Because perhaps the greatest tragedy is not dying.
It is arriving at the end of your life, having never fully met yourself.

About the Symposium

This symposium creates sacred space for elders to examine the narratives that have shaped their lives and to reclaim the stories, dreams, and creative sparks left behind in the rush of responsibility.

Over two days, we gather to ask essential questions: What narrative are we living into? Who authored it—and who can rewrite it now? Drawing on Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi's teaching about resurrecting the unlived life and expanding that to include exploring the unimagined life that still beckons, we invite participants to move from unconscious inheritance to conscious authorship.

Through keynote teachings, dialogue with seasoned elders, and dedicated practice in reigniting creativity, we support each other in transmitting wisdom while simultaneously opening to what has yet to be lived. This is not about nostalgia or regret—it's about liberation, legacy, and the radical possibility that our most creative, authentic chapters may still lie ahead.

What “Reclaiming the Unlived Life” Will Do?

Illuminate the final decades of life — including a bold new look at the 80s and beyond— as a landscape of radical living, completion, and power, not decline.

Explore what becomes possible in this stage: concrete inspiration for what elders might yet do, build, or become

Unpack practical, actionable tools for engaged elderhood — addressing the isolation so many elders carry, and replacing that with the knowledge that they are not alone

Lift up the living example of elders already embodying this radical eldering, and the unity across difference the world urgently needs them to model

Build community, connection, and intentional inter-generational transmission — elders passing leadership forward with wisdom, in networks that carry the work beyond the event itself

Thinking of becoming a symposium sponsor?

ABOUT YERUSHA

Yerusha is dedicated to interspiritual and Jewish wisdom programming—bringing rigorous learning, contemplative depth, and genuine transformation to participants across generations. Our previous virtual symposia have welcomed over 200 participants, including 55 at our 2024 two-day symposium on the Unique Challenges of Aging Alone and more than 150 at The Wisdom of the Mothers in 2025 and 2026.

Reclaiming the Unlived Life marks our return to the spiritual eldering conversation. We come back with a deepened community, a proven format, and a growing network of wisdom seekers who are ready to go further.

Proven Track Record

5 prior virtual symposia

200+ Participants

Across our programming since 2024

Values-Driven Audience

Elders, educators, healers & creative practitioners

Who Should Sponsor

This symposium draws elders, educators, healers, artists, and contemplative practitioners—people actively investing in meaning, legacy, and creative renewal.

Mission-Aligned Organizations

Nonprofits, foundations, and institutions committed to elder wisdom, narrative work, or spiritual renewal

Publishers & Booksellers

Spiritual, interspiritual, psycho-social, aging, memoir, and creative renewal titles

Wellness & Ritual Practitioners

Somatic therapists, chaplains, ancestral healers, retreat facilitators, spiritual directors

Spiritual Education Platforms

Online learning platforms, retreat centers, coaching programs, and contemplative training institutes

Artisan & Creative Businesses

Journals, art supplies, ceremonial objects, handcrafted tools, and products that support creative life

Cultural & Heritage Organizations

Organizations working in legacy preservation, intergenerational wisdom exchange, or narrative change

Why Sponsor

Values alignment:

Your name associates with sacred wisdom, elder vitality, and the radical possibility of late-life flourishing

Early position:

You are establishing relationship with a growing movement at a formative moment

Quality over quantity:

Deep engagement with committed seekers beats shallow exposure to passive scrollers

Community investment:

You are supporting meaningful work that serves an under-served audience

Extended visibility:

Recordings and materials continue connecting your name with participants long after the event

Direct access:

Virtual format means your listing and recognition reaches every participant, everywhere

Sponsorship Levels

Legacy Sponsor

$1,500

For those who believe the most important stories are still being written

Limited to 3 sponsors

Ideal for: foundations, faith-based and inter-spiritual organizations, elder care nonprofits, spiritual publishers

Founding recognition: Designated as a founding sponsor in all materials
Premier logo placement on website, all promotional emails, social media, and virtual platform
Special acknowledgment during opening ceremony
Virtual presence: Dedicated listing with 200-word description and website link in sponsor directory
Social media: 3 dedicated posts + ongoing mentions and story features
Complimentary registrations: 4 full-access passes
Access to full session recordings
Future recognition: Listed as founding sponsor in subsequent symposium materials

Elder Wisdom Sponsor

$750

For organizations supporting healing, creative renewal, and the transmission of wisdom

Ideal for: wellness practitioners, retreat centers, spiritual education platforms, mission-aligned small businesses

Prominent logo placement on website, email communications, and virtual platform
Virtual presence: Listing with 150-word description and website link in sponsor directory
Social media: 2 dedicated posts + mentions in symposium announcements
Acknowledgment during the symposium
Complimentary registrations: 2 full-access passes
Access to all session recordings
Spotlight feature in post-event newsletter to our full community

Creative Renewal Sponsor

$360

Fueling the creative sparks that refuse to go unlived

Ideal for: independent practitioners, artisan businesses, authors, small nonprofits

Logo on website and in email communications
Listing in sponsor directory with 100-word description and website link
Mention in sponsor appreciation posts on social media
Complimentary registrations: 1 full-access pass
Access to session recordings
Welcome acknowledgment in symposium community space

Community Supporter

$180

Because every story deserves a witness

Ideal for: individuals, solo practitioners, and friends of Yerusha

Name listed in the symposium program and on the website
Acknowledgment in our sponsor appreciation communications

In-Kind Sponsorship

We enthusiastically welcome in-kind contributions valued at $360 or more. In-kind sponsors receive full Creative Renewal Sponsor recognition plus special acknowledgment as an in-kind supporter.

What We Welcome

Books: titles on aging, narrative, legacy, creativity, and spiritual renewal (for giveaways or speaker gifts)
Journals, art supplies, or creative tools for participant gifts
Gift items aligned with the symposium’s themes for door prizes

Professional Services

Marketing consultation
Technical support or virtual event production assistance
Accessibility or captioning services

Directed Sponsorships

Help fund a specific part of the program. Multiple donors are welcomed at each level. Directed sponsors are acknowledged in the symposium program.

Accessibility Sponsorship

$500

Fund sliding-scale scholarships so that cost is never a barrier to participation

Keynote Speaker Honorarium

$500

Support the wisdom keepers whose teachings anchor the symposium

Recording Sponsorship

$400

Fund professional editing so our sessions can reach participants and communities beyond the live event

Community Care Sponsor

$250

Support tech assistance and participant care during the event itself

How Your Support Helps

Building on the success of our previous programming, your sponsorship directly sustains:

Honoraria, honoring the wisdom keepers who anchor our program
Platform and technical infrastructure for a seamless, accessible virtual experience
Scholarship access for participants who could not otherwise attend
Promotion that extends the reach of this conversation into new communities

We welcome your questions and are glad to discuss how a partnership might work for your organization.

Please reach out:

RABBI NADYA GROSS - Yerusha

Email: rebnaya@yerusha.org

Learn about The Sage-ing® Legacy Program

The Sage-ing® Legacy Program (SLP) has been a cornerstone of Yerusha since our founding, rooted in the transformative work of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and his landmark book From Age-ing to Sage-ing. The spiritual eldering movement that Reb Zalman inspired drew together extraordinary teachers and practitioners — among them Rabbi Shaya Isenberg (obm) and Bahira Sugarman, who worked closely with Reb Zalman to develop and bring the sage-ing work to elders everywhere.

Together with Lynne Iser and Rabbis Nadya and Victor Gross, they created the Sage-ing® Mentorship Training — a rigorous and heart-centered program through which 39 sage-ing mentors have been trained over the years. These mentors have carried the practice of conscious eldering into their communities and professional lives as clergy, therapists, caregivers, and more.

The SLP has served as an ongoing platform for these mentors to teach and explore the full landscape of spiritual eldering — from foundational practices to confronting mortality, creativity in elderhood, and beyond. In 2024, we hosted a two-day virtual conference on The Unique Challenges of Aging Alone, bringing together voices and wisdom from across this community.

This year, we are excited to deepen that conversation with our upcoming symposium, Reclaiming the Unlived Life. And looking ahead, we hope to bring back our foundational courses alongside our beloved Tea Time workshops — gatherings designed to inspire elders to step into the “third act” with intention, creativity, joy, and a renewed commitment to a better world.

Learn more about Sage-ing®