Discover the Jewish tradition’s insights on growing older and eldercare in this groundbreaking resource—the only one of its kind! “Judaism can be [tremendously] powerful for those searching for new meaning and roles, for perspective on life’s profound questions, and for solace amid the inevitable loss and change of later life.... It is time to forge a new paradigm for the Jewish response to aging.” —from the Introduction From the rapidly changing retirement years to the sometimes wrenching challenges of dementia and chronic illness, spiritual questions and needs among today’s elders and caregivers are central. This rich resource probes Jewish texts to offer solutions and suggestions for finding meaning, purpose and community within Jewish tradition. With timely—and timeless—wisdom, this rich resource probes Jewish texts, spirituality and observance, uncovering a deep, never-before-realized approach to responding to the challenges of aging with a refreshing and inspiring vitality. The insights—spanning textual analysis and spiritual and pastoral perspectives—provide practical guidance in spiritual care and communal programming to dynamically engage and serve elders and their families. Accessible and honest, Jewish and non-Jewish clergy, chaplains, elder- and healthcare professionals, volunteers and family members will find this guide an invaluable asset as they explore how to empower elders and their families through daily spiritual and communal life.

"Developed from over two decades of eldercare experience, this empowering sourcebook examines how to bring a new face to aging by creating an environment where elders can find joy and meaning. It presents innovative ways to bring higher quality to elders' lives from the inside out, by empowering them as learners and teachers, celebrants and worshippers - participants with talents, wisdom and resources to bring to their personal lives and the community."--BOOK JACKET.

Offers inspiration and guidance to help you make greater meaning and flourish amid the challenges of aging. It taps ancient Jewish wisdom for values, tools and precedents to frame new callings and beginnings, shifting family roles, and experiences of illness and death. For seekers of all faiths; for personal use and caregiving settings.

The spiritual tools you can use to infuse Jewish life cycle ceremonies with meaning, integrity and joy. Discover the spiritual meaning in Judaism’s major life cycle moments. Understand, create and enter wholeheartedly into Jewish life cycle ceremonies, preparatory practice, and celebrations. More than just how-to, Rabbi Goldie Milgram guides you in making your Jewish rites come alive with meaning, beauty and with lasting impact on you, your friends and family. She takes you beyond rote rites—beyond just surviving—and directly into accessing Jewish rites of passage as a force for thriving. With careful attention to both traditional and emerging practices across the full spectrum of Jewish life, Rabbi Milgram examines: Jewish Weddings, Traditional and Inclusive Rites Welcoming a New Baby and Raising a Healthy Jewish Child Meaningful, Memorable Adolescent and Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Ritual Support for Many Stages of Adulthood Jewish Rituals for When Relationships End Jewish Approaches to Dying, Death, Burial, Mourning and Remembering

The first comprehensive resource for pastoral care in the Jewish tradition—and a vital resource for counselors and caregivers of other faith traditions. The essential reference for rabbis, cantors, and laypeople who are called to spiritually accompany those encountering joy, sorrow, and change—now in paperback. This groundbreaking volume draws upon both Jewish tradition and the classical foundations of pastoral care to provide invaluable guidance. Offering insight on pastoral care technique, theory, and theological implications, the contributors to Jewish Pastoral Care are innovators in their fields, and represent all four contemporary Jewish movements. This comprehensive resource provides you with the latest theological perspectives and tools, along with basic theory and skills for assisting the ill and those who care for them, the aging and dying, those with dementia and other mental disorders, engaged couples, and others, and for responding to issues such as domestic violence, substance abuse, and disasters.

The seventh edition of this classic text champions healthy aging by demonstrating how to prevent or manage disease and make large-scale improvements toward health and wellness in the older adult population. The text synthesizes state-of-the-art research findings—providing convincing evidence that health promotion truly works—with practical, effective strategies. Encompassing important research results that supplant prior recommendations, this new edition provides updated best practices and strategies to ensure the active participation of older adults in all aspects of life. Completely reorganized for ease of use, this textbook features updated demographics and rankings for leading causes of death, new blood pressure screening guidelines and data on obesity and diabetes, updated exercise regimens, older-driver statistics and innovations such as the driverless car, cautions regarding ineffective brain-training programs, and more. Highly practical, the text includes health-promoting tools, resource lists, assessment tools, illustrations, checklists, and tables. Additionally, the book includes key terms and learning objectives at the start of each chapter, along with thought-provoking questions and reflection boxes. An Instructor’s Manual and PowerPoint slides are available to facilitate teaching. New to the Seventh Edition: Provides updated blood pressure, cholesterol, Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), and lung cancer screening guidelines Presents updates on exercise regimens ranging from yoga to the tango Expands and updates section on emotional regulation and conflict resolution skills with aging Discusses Boomer Entrepreneurism Provides new policy recommendations including student loan debt among older adults Expands gerotechnology and smart home innovations Updates on “Obamacare” and health care delivery recommendations Addresses “Buyer Beware” regarding brain-training programs Expands global aging and LGBT aging content

Essential reading for people interested in the Jewish healing, spirituality and spiritual direction movements, this groundbreaking volume explores the Jewish tradition for comfort in times of illness and Judaism?s perspectives on the inevitable suffering with which we live.Pushing the boundaries of Jewish knowledge, scholars, teachers, artists and activists examine the aspects of our mortality and the important distinctions between curing and healing. Topics discussed include: the importance of the individual; health and healing among the mystics; hope and the Hebrew Bible; from disability to enablement; overcoming stigma; Jewish bioethics; and more.Drawing from literature, personal experience, and the foundational texts of Judaism, these celebrated thinkers show us that healing is an idea that can both soften us so that we are open to inspiration as well as toughen us?like good scar tissue?in order to live with the consequences of being human.

Originally published in 1994, Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a classic study of ideas of afterlife and postmortem survival in Jewish tradition and mysticism. As both a scholar and pastoral counselor, Raphael guides the reader through 4,000 years of Jewish thought on the afterlife by investigating pertinent sacred texts produced in each era. Through a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah, Hasidism and Yiddish literature, the reader learns how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout Jewish history. In addition, this book explores the implications of Jewish afterlife beliefs for a renewed understanding of traditional rituals of funeral, burial, shiva, kaddish and more. This newly released twenty-fifth anniversary edition presents new material on little-known Jewish mystical teachings on reincarnation, a chapter on “Spirits, Ghosts and Dybbuks in Yiddish Literature”, and a foreword by the renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Arthur Green. Both historical and contemporary, this book provides a rich resource for scholars and laypeople and for teachers and students and makes an important Jewish contribution to the growing contemporary psychology of death and dying.

An encyclopedic survey of the Jewish body as it has existed and as it has been imagined from biblical times to the present That the human body can be the object not only of biological study but also of historical consideration and cultural criticism is now widely accepted. But why, Robert Jütte asks, should a historian bother with the Jewish body in particular? And is the "Jewish body" as much a concept constructed over the course of centuries by Jews and non-Jews alike as it is a physical reality? To comprehend the notion and existence of a Jewish body, he contends, one needs to look both at the images and traits that have been ascribed to Jews by themselves and others, and to the specific bodily practices that have played an important role in creating the identity of a religious and cultural community. Jütte has written an encyclopedic survey of the Jewish body as it has existed and as it has been imagined from biblical times to the present, often for anti-Jewish purposes. He examines the techniques for caring for the body that Jews acquire in childhood from parents and authority figures and how these have changed over the course of a more than 2000-year history, most of it spent in exile. From consideration of traditional body stereotypes, such as the so-called Jewish nose, to matters of gender and sexuality, sickness and health, and the inevitable end of the body in death, The Jewish Body explores the historical foundations of the human physis in all its aspects.

This anthology of original essays by leading thinkers in the field gathers together in one place voices from diverse theological and practical commitments. Unlike other publications on Jewish bioethics, it adopts an explicitly pluralistic stance. The book addresses tension between the 'quality of life' and the 'sanctity of life' issues, and will be of interest to lay readers, graduate students of bioethics, and rabbis.