Contributors

Kalsman Institute

Los Angeles , US

In the connections between Judaism and health, the Kalsman Institute of HUC-JIR is a catalyst for interaction, discussions and partnerships among spiritual leaders, healthcare providers, and Jewish community professionals and members. Kalsman provides pastoral education to future Reform leaders on the Los Angeles HUC-JIR campus. Conferences and workshops convened and co-sponsored by Kalsman generate ideas and projects on Jewish spirituality and healing, bioethics, illness and wellness, and the health of the healthcare system. Through an international network of nearly 2000 Kalsman Partners, the Institute makes positive contributions to Jewish thought and practice through training, collaboration and dialogue.

Conclusion

by Kalsman Institute

One chapter in my life has concluded, but my life journey continues. What do I look forward to in the coming year... ...for myself? ...for family and friends? ...for my community? ...for my world? La-shana ha-ba-a bee-yeru-sha-layeem! NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!

Commentary / Readings

Teach Us To Number Our Days- the Omer

by Kalsman Institute

By Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, CSW The number seven, which has so many associations in the Bible and Rabbinic tradition is primarily associated with the Creation of the world. It is a number of both generativity and of completion – the week being the basic unit of our lives, culminating in the “perfect rest” of Shabbat. Multiples of seven, similarly, are related to life, as the Psalmist says: “The span of our life is seventy years.” We may experience in the...

Commentary / Readings

Praise

by Kalsman Institute

Hesed is often translated as loving-kindness. There are times when we are aware of God's loving-kindness towards us. Hesed is also a gift we receive from other beings, and which we can give to them. Recall some of the acts of hesed that you experienced, and in which you have engaged, since the death of your loved one.

Commentary / Readings

Pour Out Your Wrath

by Kalsman Institute

Anger is very much a part of grieving. What are some of the things which have happened around the death of your loved one, and in the time since that have made you feel angry? On Anger By Rabbi Ira Stone Anger results from our inability to admit the disparity between what we want and what is. It is a consequence of the impossibility of perfection in the created world in which the idea of perfection nevertheless exists...Following the example of...

Cup of Elijah

by Kalsman Institute

Open door and sing: Eliyahu ha-navee, Eliyahu ha-Tish-bee Eliyahu, eliyahu, Eliyahu ha-Giladee Beem-hei-ra b'ya-mei-nu Yavo ei-leinu Eem ma-shee-ach ben David Eem ma-shee-ach ben David Death and loss often lead to a sense of isolation. The doors to the heart and the doors to community and love seem to be closed. What are the beliefs and the hopes you have which can help you to open the door again?

Birkat Hamazon

by Kalsman Institute

The Blessing after the Meal "They who sow in tears, shall reap with joy." You have shed many tears since the death of your loved one. What are the blessings you received from your loved one which continue to nourish you? What are the blessings that have come into your life since your loss?

The Afikoman

by Kalsman Institute

Finding and Eating the Afikoman In hiding and seeking the afikoman, we reunite the two parts separated at the beginning of the seder. At this moment, we have the opportunity to discover lost parts of ourselves, to become reconciled with relatives who have become distant and to find wholeness in aspects of Judaism which may not have been part of our lives. Finding that which is hidden is a powerful message when we feel loss and lost. Within our loss, we...

Shulchan Oreich

The Meal

by Kalsman Institute

Food is associated with life. When the mourners return from the cemetery, they are served a meal with specific foods. By feeding the mourners and insisting that they make a commitment to life even in the face of loss, the community expresses its concern and caring for the mourners. Like the foods of the seder, the foods which make up the mourner's meal are deeply symbolic. For instance, the hard-boiled egg, common to both the seder and the meal of comfort...

Hillel's Sandwich

by Kalsman Institute

Prepare sandwich of matza, maror, and charoset. While we may understand that maturity means accepting that life is the integration of the bitter and the sweet, the sandwich also reminds us that we are live our lives "in-between". We hang in the balance, alive, but not immortal, sandwiched between a fragile, limited, animal self and our eternal Divine image.

The Bitter Herb

by Kalsman Institute

A Meditation on Maror By Ira Steingroot (from A Different Night:: The Family Participation Haggadah, by Noam Zion and David Dishon) Personally, I cannot imagine Passover without horseradish. Its combination of intense pleasure and pain makes a good analog for the bittersweet nature of our memories at Passover. We remember good times with family and friends, often with those who are no longer with us or are far away. We give our brief lives added dimension by linking them to the...

Eating the Matza

by Kalsman Institute

The seder ritual seems to have it backward: One would think that we should eat the maror first, just as the bitter slavery preceded the liberation. But in truth, our chronology is not so simple. We need to have tasted freedom to really understand oppression. Maybe the lingering aftertaste of the matza can help see us through suffering and oppression. So it is, that the love we shared with our loved ones sustains us through the bitterness of their passing.

Washing Before Eating Matza

by Kalsman Institute

When we have been to a cemetery, it is customary to wash our hands before entering a building. It is a remnant of the Biblical idea that contact with the dead puts an individual into a different state. Purification by water is necessary prior to re-entering the community. What rituals have been helpful to you in making the transition from focusing completely on your loved one, and being able to be more fully a part of your own, albeit changed, life?

-- Exodus Story

Telling the Story

by Kalsman Institute

One of the central mitzvot of Passover is telling the story of oppression and the journey to liberation. It is interesting to note that the Haggadah offers us at least four versions of the Passover story. There is telling symbols, historical recounting, moral expositions, and facts with expanded interpretations. What are some of the different ways in which you tell the stories of your loved one and the journey you took together?

The First Dipping

by Kalsman Institute

The blessings: Blessed are You, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe, who creates the fruit of the earth. Ba-ruch ata Adonai, Elo-hei-nu melech ha-olam, Bo-rei pree ha-ada-ma. Salt water represents our tears as slaves in Egypt. In my bereavement, as time goes by, what are still the sources of my tears? What still makes me cry? Is there anything that still enslaves me to my tears? The karpas, the spring vegetable, represents renewal that comes in the spring-time. As I...

The First Hand Washing

by Kalsman Institute

The first hand-washing of the seder is unusual. The rabbis point out that even a child would wonder at least two things: why do we wash without a blessing and why do we bother to wash when we will not be eating our meal for some time. They suggest that we wash our hands here in order to raise questions. Questions, both of wonder and of despair, are crucial to our growth as human beings. As Jews we have permission to...

Commentary / Readings

Sanctifying Time

by Kalsman Institute

Time is a healer, we are always told. Your grief will get less over time. Yet, as time cycles around, it also reminds us of our losses. This is the season when...this is how we used to do it when... sometimes we feel a cushion of comfort as we remember fondly how we spent holidays with our loved one. And sometimes the pain is just as sharp and devastating as the first day.

Introduction to the Seder

by Kalsman Institute

Explain the Haggadah/journal at each place: While we will use a little of it during the program as our Haggadah, it is really intended for participants to take home and to use it as a journal. It offers one comment on each of the steps of the seder as a reflection. 1) Seder literally means “order.” Death and suffering upsets the natural order of the world, just as slavery and oppression upset natural order for Jewish people. Part of task of...

-- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Dayenu

by Kalsman Institute

If society provided compassionate caregivers and did not provide medication, Dayenu. If society provided medication and did not provide comprehensive health coverage, Dayenu. If society provided enough group homes and did not eliminate ignorance, Dayenu. If society elimnated ignorance and did not allocate resources for research, Dayenu. If society allocated resources for research and did not provide family and community support, Dayenu. If society provided family and community support and did not love us for us for who we are, Dayenu....

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