No bikini waxing on Passover, says feminist Talmud scholar

Ok, so that's not what the great Judy Hauptman was really saying in the fascinating talk she gave at NYU yesterday (although if the tabloid New York Daily News was covering it, that might have been the headline). What she was sharing was some of the intimate details from daily life in ancient times that she was has been uncovering as part of a new project to create a feminist commentary on the Talmud (an effort, believe it or not, that is being largely funded by the German government and is being led by professor Tal Ilan at the Free University in Berlin).

Hauptman's main points were about what was happening in the ancient kitchen. The evidence indicates, she says, that women were in charge there, not only doing the cooking, but also making sure that Jewish law was being followed, even on Passover, the Jewish holiday that, with its ban on eating leavened products, is the very most demanding when it comes to laws of food. "The women were baking the matzah," Hauptman said.

That is not to say that she thinks the ancient world was some kind of feminist paradise. Men were still very much in charge. "The men produce the laws," she said. "But the women are [in charge] in the kitchen." This implies that women knew quite a bit about halakha (Jewish law) even if they didn't learn it in the Beit Midrash (study halls), she said.

This view that many women knew halakha well extends also to how Hauptman understands the role of Beruriah, one of the most famous women in the Talmud and a figure who some think represented a most unusual thing in the ancient world of the rabbis -- a woman who was a great scholar. But Hauptman does not think Beruriah was such an anomaly. "I think she was like many other women who knew halakha [but] she's not a scholar."

That is, Hauptman thinks, Beruriah may have made it into the text of the Talmud because she was indeed exceptional among women in terms of her knowledge of halakha. But that does not mean she studied it alongside men in the Beit Midrash.

So, how did bikini waxing come into this? Hauptman was talking about the rabbinic discussion of whether תכשיטי נשים -- literally, women's ornaments (or jewelry) -- can be used on Passover. The common understanding of this term is that it refers to paste jewelry -- jewelry made of water and flour. But Hauptman says it also might refer to flour paste used as a depilatory (for the removal of hair).

It was really a treat to see how excited Hauptman -- a person who has been studying Talmud for so many years -- was about her new studies as part of the feminist Talmud commentary project. "I'm learning new things about women in the Talmud," she said. "There's so much I did not know."

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PS The main Talmud text she brought about Beruriah is from Pesachim 62b.

' שמלאי אתא לקמיה דרבי יוחנן א"ל ניתני לי מר ספר יוחסין א"ל מהיכן את א"ל מלוד והיכן מותבך בנהרדעא א"ל אין נידונין לא ללודים ולא לנהרדעים וכל שכן דאת מלוד ומותבך בנהרדעא כפייה וארצי א"ל ניתנייה בג' ירחי שקל קלא פתק ביה א"ל ומה ברוריה דביתהו דר"מ ברתיה דר"ח בן תרדיון דתניא תלת מאה שמעתתא ביומא מג' מאה רבוותא ואפ"ה לא יצתה ידי חובתה בתלת שנין ואת אמרת בתלתא ירחי כי שקיל ואזיל א"ל רבי מה בין לשמו ושלא לשמו לאוכליו ושלא לאוכליו א"ל הואיל וצורבא מרבנן את תא ואימא לך

Christian chumetz

In case you thought -- as our Festival of the Matzah approaches -- that only the Jews have eating restrictions related to holidays, here is this reminder (courtesy of Taco Bell) that some Christians do, too!

From what I understand, some of the fast food restaurants around here in Berks County, PA, add fish sandwiches to their menus during Lent, although I've never been able to confirm this.

[I also was never able to figure out what this "Lenten Section" was that I found two years ago.]

It's crowded in here -- life at NYU

One of the images I associate with college life is that of a wealth of common space -- big, broad green spaces and, inside, usually near empty lounges full of big couches. That is _not_ what it is like at NYU here in Greenwich Village -- life here is like life in NYC as a whole, crowded (but also full of youth and energy!).

Or so's been my theory. So the one thing that stood out for me in today's York Times story about NYU's ambitious expansion plan is this data, documenting just how tight things are compared to the competition:

By 2031, the university aims to have 240 academic square feet per student; it now has 160, according to its own study, compared to Columbia University’s 326, Harvard’s 673 and Yale’s 866.

I'm still glad to be here. :)

Is he leading us out? (close calls and Feasts of Freedom)

As Pesach fast approaches, I have been taking time to reflect on the ways that I have been led out of my own personal places of bondage over the past year. One thing that has gripped me more than once over my life is the terror of not being able to get medical care when I need it. I have let this fear influence me to stay in jobs and situations that were toxic to me -- just because of terror of living without health coverage.

I do not know exactly what this new bill will mean overall, but I do know that it will mean that I -- as an American citizen -- will never again have to stay in the bondage of a terrible job, enduring the efforts of abusive supervisors trying to harass me into quitting, just because of my fear of being left without health insurance. That is real freedom.

The vote in the House was close -- 219 to 212 -- which might seem discouraging at first. But let us not forget how many _votes_ over the millennia -- votes that now seem like almost everyone must have been for them at the time -- were in fact quite close calls. The first of those close calls was the decision to follow Moses -- משה/Moshe -- out of the bondage of slavery. It might seem strange that the People Israel would turn away from Moshe's leadership, from the gift of Torah at Mt. Sinai and from the path to the Promised Land. But turn away they did -- many times, including in the incident of the Golden Calf. But in the end they followed Moses to the edge of the Promised Land and then his follower, Joshua, into the Land itself.

President Obama, may it be God's will to give you the strength of Moshe -- the strength to endure many trials and much criticism -- in your efforts to do right.

And may it be God's will that we all should be guided out of our places of bondage in the coming year -- and that we should have the strength to follow that way out.

חג כשר ושמח

Spring (and Minna) blooms in Brooklyn!

Today was a beautiful day and we started it in Perth Amboy, so we decided to sneak across the Verrazano bridge to get to the Brooklyn Botanical gardens and the early flowering trees (Magnolias). We got to Prospect Park and the zoo there, too!

From Early spring at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (2010)

Bicycling the key to reviving moribund Reading, PA, economy?

When I tell people I live in Reading, PA, the only thing most people can connect to from their own memories is a long-defunct railroad that lives now only on the Monopoly game board.

But today when I, on a whim, asked the new Google Maps bicycling route feature how to get from Newark airport to LAX, it suggested you cycle where no Interstate Highway fears to tread -- right through Reading!

I don't know if I'll ever achieve my dream of some day cycling from coast to coast, but if I do, I'll take the Thun trail on the way!

Click here for the route (part of which I've excerpted in the graphic below)

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A late adopter learns a new trick: twittering in spring

It's taken me a long time, but I've finally found a reason to _try_ Twitter -- I want to know what's blooming at the botanical gardens (please, God, let me find the time this Spring to get to some of them and not miss the glory of Your early blooms!), and they all have Twitter feeds.

So, don't expect much in the way of "tweets" from me, yet, but I'm in there (as abayye).

"Commuting" via the High Line in spring

On my back to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Reading, PA, today, I "commuted" north for a bit where freight trains once ran and only weeds once grew -- through the wonderful High Line park built upon an old elevated freight railway that runs above the streets of Manhattan on the once industrial West Side.

If you click on the above photo to view it full size, you will see that there are crocuses blooming amid the grasses, signalling that spring is here and that Pesach quickly approaches. . . . . I hope I am able to get to one of the botanical gardens in time to see the explosion of daffodils and bulbs of all kinds!

Below is another shot from today as well as a link to some more photos.

From Early spring on the High Line, 2010

Riding in the rain

Despite the rain, today, I went out on this route with my bicycle, one of my favorite routes.

I've been doing hardly any riding at all this winter, so it was a good feeling to see that I could still handle this, fairly short (only about 15 miles round trip), but still challenging (steep!) run.

The route from the above link is something to be excited about, too -- it's made with the new bicycling directions from Google maps (my actual route was slightly different, but it's pretty close).

Fun!

The killer research (plus?) app -- Zotero

I don't like to gush about new hardware/software when I've only hardly used it . . . . . but I'm so wowed by the half-hour I just spent with Zotero -- a free and open-source on-line service for keeping track of your files and research -- that . . . well, here goes! :)

Zotero does the one thing I've been desperately wishing for ever since I started writing research papers back in September -- it not only lets you store pdf's online of the articles you're reading (which Google Docs does a great job of), but it also allows you to keep notes on all those files and organize them fifty-million some-odd ways. There is a program they like at NYU called refworks that lets you do _almost_ all of that -- everything but have easy access to the articles themselves! . . . . Which makes me feel like a well-groomed elephant who can't find his trunk. . . Or some such animal-based metaphor. :)

Zotero, on the other hand, gives you the full package. And I suspect that Zotero's utility is far beyond the graduate research area. I'm looking forward to using it more!

Rexxy is back

I got my Xtracycle out of the shop the other day just in time for the warmer weather we've been blessed with -- it's got some substantial upgrades! I had them put an Old Man Mountain rack on the front and disc brakes on the back, as well as Power Grips on the pedals. Both wheels are brand new, too.

I'm in New York City, today, so I didn't get to ride it. But I did see another Xtracycle -- a three seater (with two kiddie seats on top of the back) heading down 13th street near Union Square. I'd seen this Xtracycle around Greenwich Village before, but this was the first time I saw it in motion going through traffic, complete with the little ones on the back.

Here's another view of my Xtracycle:

I hope to ride more often!

The fired this time -- teaching or perishing in the USA

An entire school of teachers fired in Rhode Island because of low test scores. This is what seems to pass for educational reform these days -- blame the teachers. Or shut down the schools you don't think are doing well enough and start new ones. Or pay more to teachers who manage to make their kids -- by hook or by crook -- score a bit higher on a standardized test.

So, amid all this craziness, I was cheered to read this New York Times article. It's about people who are taking a different tack -- instead of blaming teachers, they're looking for ways to help them become better teachers. They're doing this by studying the one thing in education no one, if you can believe it, seems to think is worth studying anymore -- how kids actually learn (and how teachers can address that). The article gives an example about learning and teaching math:

It’s one thing to know that 307 minus 168 equals 139; it is another thing to be able understand why a third grader might think that 261 is the right answer. Mathematicians need to understand a problem only for themselves; math teachers need both to know the math and to know how 30 different minds might understand (or misunderstand) it.

The counterproductive overfocus on standardized test scores -- and the related overfocus on so-called basics like math and reading at the expense of art, history, literature and critical thinking -- is also brought to mind by the about face of education historian, and former darling of the Conservative pundits, Diane Ravitch. She now thinks the standardized testing championed by George Bush's No Child Left Behind act is counterproductive.

Maybe the times are changing!

A path to Jewish identity and a more healed world -- hearing the call of ethnography

One of the most painful questions for me to hear from fellow rabbinic students when I was working as a teaching assistant in the Ziegler School's Beit Midrash (study hall) was the one about, "why are we doing this anyway?!?! Why do we have to study Talmud? I'm never going to use this as a congregational rabbi, anyway!"

It was a painful question because, while I was passionately convinced it was important for future rabbis to immerse themselves in Talmud study, I had trouble articulating (to myself and others) why I thought it was so important.

In time, through my journeys after ordination of teaching rabbinics at a Jewish high school and then becoming a chaplain and a chaplaincy educator, I've come to understand it as being about something I call pastoral, or spiritual, formation -- it's about developing a particular, a rabbinic, way of thinking, or of understanding the world.

This kind of purpose for a way of education -- even of a text-centered way of education -- is not unique to rabbinic or clergy education. Lawyers, too, engage in a kind of study that very often does not have direct practical application to what they will do when they get out in the field (and, many law students complain, is of little help to them in passing the bar exam they must take in order to enter legal practice). But the educational method of being forced to answer the professor's difficult questions about a case they are studying helps the students develop a particular way of seeing the world, a lawyer's way. Similarly, other professional training methods -- like that of engineering school -- do more than teach content or technique; they shape (form!) a particular kind of person with a particular kind of values and a particular kind of way of understanding the world.

As I am learning from my studies at NYU (I am in the first year of a doctoral programin Education and Jewish Studies), the language of "a way of understanding the world" is one well-known in the social sciences. There is one research method -- ethnography -- that is particularly well-suited to getting at how people understand their world. Ethnography is very different from what people generally think research looks like. We, for example, all the time hear news reports about what people think, usually in the form of polls based on questionnaires administered through random phone calls.

The problem with polling is that it doesn't really get at what is happening in an in-depth way and, therefore, is especially weak in discovering something new that is developing or that has not been identified before by researchers. The strength of ethnography, on the other hand, is in its ability to get at depth. It involves a researcher, often for a year or more, immersing his or herself full-time in an institution like a school or a hospital and trying to watch what happens both with an open mind -- a mind open to discovering new things -- and a skilled mind -- one trained to look for how the people in the setting are making meaning of what is happening to them. Although sometimes this means just observing, it often means becoming a "participant-observer."

This became very clear to me the other night when I did some observation as part of a assignment for my qualitative methods class. I tried to sit quietly with my notepad in the corner of an ICU waiting room. Mere seconds passed before a distressed family member approached me and asked me to pray for her child. I spent 20 minutes talking with this person, and in the course of that learned a great deal about how she was understanding what was happening for her, what her relationship to God and her faith was, and what the most important tasks were for her and her family while their loved one struggled for life. I realized that while -- I could not claim to be some objective observer while I was talking to her -- that I could never have learned so much about how she was understanding her world if I had not been participating while observing.

One ethnography I am reading right now is helping me think about how this works. In My freshman year, the author -- a 50-something college professor -- spent a year "undercover" as an older student doing her first year of undergraduate work, including living in the dorms amid the 18 and 19-year olds. She admits that her experience could not be the same thing as a "real" student's. But "[a]t the same time, it is the experience of living [college] life that offers the insight and vantage point need to ask relevant questions and understand the context of the answers given. It is this that I hoped to accomplish by becoming a freshman." (15; emphasis, mine)

Indeed it is the art of knowing the right questions and understanding the context that affects people's answers that makes the difference between insightful research and unhelpful research, and it is here where the Gallup poll kind of method -- for all its "objective" science and methods -- falls short.

I am interested in adding to our understanding of things that are new -- things in flux, but terribly important. The Jewish world is changing. Our young people have more choices than ever; there is nothing making them be, or identify as, Jewish. How, amid this, can we ensure not just the future existence of the Jewish people, but that Judaism and Jewishness will be something that will deeply enrich the lives of those who choose to be Jewish and that those "choosers" will be able to add their own stamp to the millennium-long story of a faith and peoplehood that has been vibrant and ever changing in each generation? We certainly can't do it if we don't deeply understand how people are making meaning of their world and their choices, especially the choices about identity.

On my own path to finding the meaning of Judaism and Jewishness in my life, a most important stop was the illness and death of my Father, of Blessed Memory, as well as my own experience of illness and hospitalization. Amid my pain -- and the rupture in my way of making meaning of my world that illness and death constituted -- certain people of faith, as well as the wisdom of my faith tradition, touched me in special ways and helped transform how I understood my world. I was cemented on my path to seeking Torah and God's ways.

I am hardly unique in this. Many people, for example, have found the experience of "saying Kaddish" for loved one to be transformative in a way that pushed them to greater Jewish identification, observance and commitment. Recently, Yossi Prager, the North American executive director of a foundation that as been part of some of the most creative projects in the Jewish world in recent years, came to talk to one of my classes. He told us how a "saying Kaddish" experience had transformed the foundation's founder from a non-involved Jew to one who became observant and dedicated his fortune to the future of the Jewish people.

At these "saying Kaddish" times -- these border spaces, or liminal moments, in a person's life -- the rabbi, or other person of deep faith, can play a particularly important role. But it is hardly guaranteed that this role will be a positive one. Harm -- painful words and actions -- can also be done at this time. And there are important -- but subtle -- ethical issues involved in working with vulnerable people, with people who are at liminal spaces in their spiritual lives.

What kind of person is the one more likely to be the "good rabbi" at these moments? How does a rabbinic education -- including Talmud study -- function to make it more likely that this person will be the good rabbi, the one who can be "interrupted" from his or her agenda enough to recognize real pastoral or spiritual needs? The one who will be able -- in the words of the first Psalm -- to encourage the hurting person to seek to become one who seeks to occupy his or herself with God's Torah day and night?

Our rabbinic schools are in flux in a way that reflects the flux happening in the Jewish world in general -- there is a greater emphasis on spirituality and mysticism (even the great center of a "scientific" approach to rabbinic education now labels itself as being about "spirituality and scholarship"), as well as on charismatic models of leadership. Alongside this trend to spirituality is a related trend to put more of an emphasis on pastoral care. The new Orthodox rabbinical school (Yeshivat Chochevei Torah), for example, considers its emphasis on pastoral care training to be one of its greatest distinguishing factors from other programs and one of its greatest reasons for being.

There is a great connection between these two new emphases -- spirituality and pastoral care. I know from my own learning journey that pastoral care training (clinical pastoral education) has brought greater and deeper spirituality into my life -- especially in terms of an ability and comfort around talking about the role of God and faith in my life -- than I ever would have expected. But I can only say so much from my own journey. How do others make the link between these two trends? Are they mostly manifestations of the same thing or are they two separate, but parallel, trends? How are these trends affecting the formation of the rabbis being trained amid them? Are they more likely to become the "good rabbi" I talked about above than the students of a previous generation? And what about questions of admissions? How do administrators understand how they are assessing whether a candidate will be a successful rabbi or a successful rabbinical student (not necessarily the same thing)? [Wendy Rosov's dissertation on pastoral formation at an American rabbinical school suggests that rabbinical schools had traditionally expected candidates to be fully formed before rabbinical school, but that this may be changing.] And what are the ethical issues around teaching students who are themselves at such a liminal moment in their lives?

Ethnography is one way I could get at these questions, and I am starting to dream about spending a year at a rabbinical school studying this kind of formation. Another thing from the My freshman year book is helping me with these "dreams." The author talks about how she focused her work. She could have gone out in search of the kind of "sexy dirt" of college life -- the "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll," if you will. But that's not what interested her. Rather, she writes:

I highlight topics that engage the classic notions we have of "the university" as a world of ideas, as a residential place where diversity and community and integrity are nurtured. I wanted to see how student culture articulates with the institution of the American university, including the vision we have of it, its mission and its future. (5; bolding, mine)

This contrasts with the way of thinking I learned in my first career (as a journalist). There, we were taught to identify what was "sexy" (although, I have to admit I never was able to completely adopt this way of thinking, which probably partially explains why I didn't go farther in that field). But the way of thinking of a social science approach, in terms of approaching a study of rabbinic education, would free me to ignore the "sexy" and instead focus on the rabbinical school as a world of ideas where community and learning are harnessed in service of nurturing or forming rabbis. I could focus on understanding the processes of how this happens and how both students and faculty understand these processes. That's exciting!

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I'm nowhere near the place yet where I will be able to do an ethnography. The next step for me, I think, will be to engage in an analysis of some of the publicly available materials from some schools -- like what they post on their web sites -- to get some idea of how they are thinking of themselves and the work they do with students. What messages are these promotional/informational materials meant to send to students? What do these materials say about what their creators think will be attractive to qualified candidates? What do they say about what they think the role of the rabbi is in the Jewish world and how that is changing?
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I am dedicating this blog post to בבתא (Babatah), an אשת מלחמה (women of war) of the time before and during the last great revolt against the Romans in ancient times, the end of substantial Jewish settlement in the Holy Land until modern times. I have been studying her as part of a class I am taking with the great Dead Seas Scrolls scholar Lawrence Schiffman.

All we know of her is from the fragments of the 30-some-odd legal documents we found of hers in the cave near the Dead Sea where she likely died as the Romans starved out the last of the Jewish rebels. At first these documents meant little to me, but I have grown to feel something of her spirit as I imagine her standing up to the non-Jewish authorities who appointed a non-Jew as one of the guardians of her son after she was widowed. The documents tells us she even traveled to stand before the provincial governor to protest this injustice. In the end, she lost this small battle, just as all the Jews of the Holy Land would lose the larger battle against the Roman oppressors. Maybe it was a hopeless effort on her part from the beginning -- our knowledge of ancient law suggest that perhaps it was. But she stood up for her rights, anyway. She was determined.

Babatah, as I stand before the huge mass of forces that stand against the future of the Jewish people and seek my own place in the battle for that future, I take courage from your example and dedication. You were truly one of the עַם-קְשֵׁה-עֹרֶף -- one of the stiff-necked people!

Why we are sad and depressed (and how we can become "happy")

This fascinating New York Times magazine article -- Depression's Upside -- reminds me of a scene from Annie Hall The depressed Woody Allen character stops a good-looking couple on the street:

• Allen: Here, you look like a happy couple, um, are you?
• Woman: Yeah.
• Allen: So, so, how do you account for it?
• Woman: Um, I'm very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say.
• Man: And I'm exactly the same way.

In other words (according to Woody Allen, at least), chronic happiness -- as attractive as it might look from afar -- comes at too great a price, the price of being incapable of having interesting thoughts and doing interesting things.

The main psychologists profiled in the Times article say more or less the same thing, but from the opposite perspective: They claim that depression has a function -- the function of allowing people to do the kind of thinking required to come up with creative and effective responses to really tough (and interesting) challenges and questions, including challenges that lead to grief. Evolutionary psychologist Paul Andrews, for example, is quoted as saying about the person who has experienced a divorce or a tough breakup:

“I started thinking about how, even if you are depressed for a few months, the depression might be worth it if it helps you better understand social relationships,” Andrews says. “Maybe you realize you need to be less rigid or more loving. Those are insights that can come out of depression, and they can be very valuable.”

This idea that depression (maybe it's better to just say, sadness) actually has a function that should not be routinely medicated out of existence with Prozac and alike reminds me of some books I have encountered over the last few years that have influenced me, including Healing the soul in the age of the brain and Thomas Moore's Care of the soul. I was also reminded of the New Yorker's recent article on grieving around death, which asks the question of what the function of grief might be.

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I am also reminded of some thoughts I've recently had about the first Psalm (for which I have the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem to thank for the inspiration; check out their new blog on the Psalms). Psalm One starts out:

אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ-- אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ, בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים;

וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים, לֹא עָמָד, וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים, לֹא יָשָׁב.

Which is typically translated something like this:

Happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the path of the sinners,

nor sits in the seat of the insolent.

But I don't think happy is a very good rendering of what the Psalmist meant here (with the word אשרי/ashrei). The results of following God's ways -- the ways of Torah, as the next verse says -- are not simple happiness; rather, they are a deeper kind of fulfilment and satisfaction -- perhaps, blessed, is a better word, as the King James and some other translations use (even though it is impossible to literally translate ashrei as blessed).

Similarly, the Schechter blog's commentary on this psalm says of translating ashrei as happy:

[C]learly the term is more profound than that, i.e., deeper than our contemporary use of the word “happy.” Ashrei implies peace, satisfaction, fulfillment and tranquility of worldview. (Martin Cohen, noting the term’s centrality, points out that it appears a total of twenty-five times in nineteen different psalms!) Thus the speaker opens with the only “reward” he acknowledges, but that is less reward than description, and the image of the fruitful tree expands upon it. His claim is that the person of faith is“ashrei,” having a deep conviction of the rightness of his ways, of their long-range influence and permanence, and of their benefit to the world.

This kind of deep conviction in the rightness of one's ways -- in the path one is taking through the challenges of life -- is something I value much more than simple happiness. And as tough as the times of depression I've experienced in my life have been, I believe they have played a role in my finding my way towards my true convictions and towards my being able to make my walk through life to be in line with those (challenging!) convictions. In this sense I feel very much to be ashrei at this point in my life. And I have HaShem to thank for that -- especially for the beautiful Torah, including the Psalms, that HaShem has given to us.

Jews, chaplains and Clinical Pastoral Education -- why we need each other

People often come up to veteran chaplain John DeVelder and tell him that he doesn't know "how much good" he does. But DeVelder thinks that's not good enough for a professional chaplain to know he or she is doing a good job. "I never know how much harm I do unless I have clinical training," he told a group of rabbis and chaplains who gathered today for a Yom Iyun -- a day of learning -- under the auspices of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America.

DeVelder -- one of a handful of Protestant ministers who, as chaplaincy education/supervisors, have played a prominent role in introducing professional chaplaincy training to Jews --- is a passionate advocate for professional chaplaincy training, especially in a multicultural and multifaith age. Chaplains -- who in many cases may be the sole spiritual caregiver in a facility -- are being called on to minister to people outside their own faith, and therefore need the professional training to be able to offer "generic" spiritual care that does not involve imposing their own beliefs on vulnerable people, intentionally or unintentionally. But DeVelder says that does not mean the caregiver must leave his or her faith behind. "I bring my religiosity with me, but my practice," he said, "might be called a generic spirituality."

The push towards professionalism and inclusivity is undoubtedly a good thing, said DeVelder, but he also believes it is important to be aware it comes at a cost. "What seems to be lost [in adopting the language of spirituality] is the flesh and blood work of the chaplain . . . what might be described as particularity," including prayer.

I was thrilled to have a chance to hear DeVelder in this setting as I -- along with so many Jewish chaplains -- are struggling with these very same issues. I have been witness in my life to the unethical and harmful acts of untrained (although often well-intentioned and caring) educators and caregivers, and I have devoted myself to becoming a Clinical Pastoral Education professional largely to be a part of working against that. But I also know professionalism is not enough. There has to be genuine heart and caring, too. And I can't get there without my Jewish faith -- my own way of relating to the Blessed Holy One and the holy mission to care for each other that the Blessed One has commanded us with and shown us the way to with Torah. My journey is to find a way of walking the line that preserves that link with my faith tradition and faith community while leaving me also open to intimate encounters with my patients and my students.

The Jewish speakers at the conference who spoke after DeVelder shared some of their own journeys on this kind of challenging path. Rabbi Gary Lavit, director of pastoral care at the Hebrew Home and Hospital in West Hartford, CT, spoke passionately about how he uses spontaneous prayer in his work. And Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski -- author of the very best volume on traditional Jewish textual sources for pastoral care, To walk in God's ways -- and Rabbi Charles Sheer, director of Jewish studies at the Healthcare Chaplaincy -- both talked about how traditional Jewish legal sources relate to crucial end-of-life questions. Both rabbis were seeking paths that allow compassionate end-of-life decision-making that is in accord with the challenges of Jewish law.

Along with DeVelder, I believe that we cannot have an effective practice of pastoral care that does not involve our having engaged in an intensive examination of how our own beliefs and values affect how we minister to others -- including how we might unintentionally do them harm by not striving to come to an understanding of their needs and desires. That's what the clinical training that is called Clinical Pastoral Education is all about. But we also should not become so "generic" that we lose who we are as Jews, especially the ability to use the tools of our own spiritual care and textual traditions -- the great stories of our tradition! -- when the time comes.

Ozarowski, for example, reminded us of the power of the final chapters of the book of בראשית/brereishit (Genesis) as Jacob approaches his death and offers blessings and charges to his sons -- including instructions for his burial many miles away from the place of his dying. Read these words from the perspective of a person facing the end of his life, Ozarowski urged us. It's a powerful lesson, he said.

I agree!

Being there, being ready -- the chaplain in the face of grief

One really rewarding kind of moment as a teacher is when your students get to where you want them to go before you even prompt them to get there. Today, with my chaplaincy education students, I reviewed models for "stages of grief," including Kubler-Ross' famous five stages. The main thing I hoped they would take away from it is that -- while these kind of stage models (a number of which we had on the board above) can help you understand what a person might be going through -- one should never try and force a person into one of the stages in a misguided attempt to help them complete their journey through grief. And they really seemed to get that. I was so proud of them!

One student said that it is important to just "be there," while another talked about being "ready" to recognize when a person might be ready to talk about a painful event, or their grief around an experience. I put that together in the headline of this blog post -- the best way to minister to people around grief is to just "be there and be ready." Theoretical knowledge like these grief stage frameworks can help us have the awareness needed to recognize when a person in "ready" for a particular kind of care.

One thing we read for today's class was the New Yorker's recent article on grieving by Meghan O’Rourke. It's a really good overview of American attitudes towards death and grief in the 20th and 21st centuries. I recommend it!

Clinical Pastoral Education not good enough for Wikipedia?

I am a fierce advocate for Clinical Pastoral Education, but sometimes I think our field is in serious danger because we don't, as whole, seem to understand very well how to talk to the rest of the world about the importance of what we do. Nonetheless, I was stunned, today, when I saw that the Wikipedia entry for "Clinical Pastoral Education" had not only been much shortened since I last saw it, but is in danger of being disappeared altogether because it is not "notable" enough.

Here's what I found at the top of the page, today:

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.

• It needs additional references or sources for verification. Tagged since February 2010.
• The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed. Tagged since February 2010.
• It reads like a personal reflection or essay. Tagged since February 2010.
• It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since February 2010.

Now, admittedly, I could get up off of my own butt and write a new article, myself (although, in my defense, the first two sentences of the article --"Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is education to teach pastoral care to clergy and others. CPE is the primary way of training hospital and hospice chaplains in the United States" -- were written by yours truly a year or two ago). But, I'm hoping someone else (maybe at the ACPE, itself) will step up. . . . It could be you!

West Coast spiritual care institute hires new assistant director

Back in January I heard a rumor that the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health had fallen on hard times. So, I was glad, today, to get an email from them announcing a new hire and listing a series of programs they remain committed to.

Below is the text of the letter from institute director Michelle Prince. [I'm a little disappointed to see no explicit connection to Clinical Pastoral Education, which I would hope would be a main focus for any group interested in education around spiritual care. . . . It may be a result of the fact that much of the pastoral care in the Jewish world traditionally has been done by social workers rather than clergy. But new movements to focus on pastoral care education at rabbinical schools -- especially at the Jewish Theological Seminary and at YCT seem to be changing that, and making pastoral care a part of what rabbis are expected to do (and be well-trained to do during their seminary education).]

February 11, 2010

Dear Friends,

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the new Kalsman Institute Assistant Director,Adi Bodenstein. Having recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a masters degree in Social Work, Adi returned to her hometown of Los Angeles with expertise in areas such as leadership, communication, community building, research, and fundraising.

Prior to joining Kalsman, Adi worked with several well known social service organizations whose focus is also on health and healing, including the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, the March of Dimes, and Take Back the Night.

With a passion for growing non-profit organizations and creating new ways to strengthen them, Adi (pronounced add-ee, like Annie) will be of great assistance in the growth of the Institute. Please welcome her at 213-765-2131 or abodenstein@huc.edu. I am extremely grateful to Rachel Sisk, MSW, MAJCS, who worked as interim project manager for Kalsman through January. Rachel skillfully helped with our ever-growing list of projects, while bringing a strategic eye to our long-term planning.

Kalsman’s efforts are currently focused on:

1. ASSAF
2. Research Roundtable (Templeton)
3. Consulting Projects
4. 2010 Events

ASSAF: JUDAISM, HEALTH AND HEALING FOR CLINICIANS

A new group of healthcare clinicians began the ASSAF program earlier this month with an opening retreat in Phoenix, and are now engaged in chevruta study on texts and materials related to Judaism, health and healing. The ten-week program is designed to help these practitioners learn more about Jewish sources, and learn how to use this experience to strengthen the connection between their personal and professional lives. They hope to fight burnout and reconnect to the meaning of their work and commitments. It is a privilege for me and my partner Howard Silverman, M.D. to watch the immediate bonding and camaraderie of this second ASSAF group. Many thanks to Kalsman intern, Courtney Jacobson, from HUC’s School of Jewish Communal Service, for her work on this project, with Phoenix’s Temple Chai staff Sharona Silverman and Rabbi Mari Chernow.

KALSMAN ROUNDTABLE ON JUDAISM AND HEALTH RESEARCH

Growing and professionalizing the work of the Jewish healing movement is an increasingly important goal of the Kalsman Institute. We were awarded a grant by the John Templeton Foundation to help develop a scholarly foundation for the field of Judaism, health and healing. Advisors are assisting the development of a Research Roundtable whose members will gather in 2011 to help set priorities and an agenda for this work.

Advisors include:

· Jeff Levin, Director, University Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health
Professor of Medical Humanities, Director, Program on Religion and Population Health (PRPH), Baylor University (Scientific chair of Kalsman’s Research Roundtable)

· Kenneth I. Pargament, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Psychology, Bowling Green State University

· Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min., D.D., Director, Department of Jewish Family Concerns, Union for Reform Judaism

· Steven M. Cohen, Ph.D., Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy, HUC-JIR

The advisors met last weekend in Southern California. In addition to identifying research priorities and creating a professional community of scholars, scientists, and practitioners who will research the interconnections of Judaism and health, four outcomes are in the works as a result of this project:

1. A national program assessment, providing an overview of projects and offerings from congregations, healthcare settings, and other institutions

2. A literature review of the field, resulting in a searchable online archive

3. An initial survey on health and the Jewish population

4. Ongoing publication of journal articles and other scholarly writing projects.

CONSULTING PROJECTS

The Kalsman Institute continues our work as a matchmaker, convener, and consultant for others in the field of Judaism, health and healing. Several congregations are strengthening bikur cholim efforts, engaging healthcare professionals, or creating healing centers, and we have been privileged to provide resources and networks for assistance. The Institute is also working with Cedars Sinai Medical Center to provide a complete assessment of the hospital’s Chaplaincy Program.

SOCIETY FOR JEWISH ETHICS (ACJB SJE)

The Academic Coalition of Jewish Bioethics (ACJB) completed a strategic decision to become a Working Group of the Society of Jewish Ethics (SJE), which meets annually in January. Highlights of the most recent gathering, Jan. 7-10, in San Jose, CA, included papers on empathy, shame, and gender roles. More information is available atwww.societyofjewishethics.org.

MIDRASH & MEDICINE

We have very exciting news: Jewish Lights Publishing will publish Midrash and Medicine:Healing Body and Soul in the Jewish Interpretive Tradition, due out in Spring, 2011. Bill Cutter is the editor and he is crafting the contents, which include materials from the Midrash & Medicine conference in Monterrey in May 2009.

FUTURE OFFERINGS

I invite your collaboration while the Kalsman Institute is in the process of planning programs and events for 2011 - 2013.

1. Regional Kalsman one-day gatherings – we will explore partnering with institutions such as the NAJC, NCJH, congregations, and the URJ
2. A major conferences, following on the successes of “Mining the Jewish Tradition” and “Midrash & Medicine”
3. Maintaining and building our international health & healing connections, including those in Israel and South America

FINAL NOTES – PLEASE PARTICIPATE

Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh and Education Center is hosting the international Mikveh Conference, “Gathering the Waters International Mikveh” conference to be held in Boston, October 10-12, 2010. The conference will provide an in-depth exploration of the contemporary mikveh in theory and practice. Internationally renowned scholars, clergy, and educators will teach about immersion as a powerful tool for spiritual renewal, marking life transitions, and observing mitzvot. www.mayyimhayyim.org

8th North American Chevra Kadisha and Jewish Cemetery Conference
Atlanta, GA - Marriott Perimeter Center - June 6-8, 2010

Advance registration deadline extended until February 15, 2010. Co-sponsored by Kavod v’Nichum and the Jewish Cemetery Association of North America (JCANA).http://www.jewish-funerals.org/conference/conferencecontents.htm

Hiddur

Addressing the Spiritual Journey of Jews Beyond Midlife was held on November 19, 2009, in New York City. Click to listen to clips of the presentations and link to a conference toolkit:www.rrc.edu/spiritualjourney

Current Research: Gratitude, Religion and Health among Jews and Christians
A new study investigates the relevance of religious and non-religious gratitude to mental and physical well-being and distress among Jews and Christians. Researchers are looking for non-Orthodox Jewish individuals, 18 years of age and older, to complete a 20 minute online survey. Click here: http://www.jpsych.com/gratitude/consent.php . The JPSYCH website is an online laboratory to investigate the role of Jewish religiousness in psychological wellbeing.

IN CLOSING

In these times when we continue to hone our ability to live with good and evil in the world – I send you blessings of health and community. A Kalsman colleague is recovering from recent surgery, and as I return to agility, strength and balance (after my broken ankle, cast, and crutches for two months), I hope this creative English interpretation of the asher yatzerprayer from Rabbi Ruth Adar resonates with you.

Asher Yatzar (“Who brought forth”)

Thank God it all works!

No.

Thank God enough works.

For all our science, and all our technology,

These bodies You have made in Your wisdom are wrapped in mystery:

Rooms within rooms, openings and closings,

All work so wonderfully

That we only notice when they don’t.

We are able to stand or sit before You, our Creator,

Because enough works today.

Blessed are You, Eternal our God,

Ruler of Time and Space,

Who heals our flesh and continues doing wonders.

Interpretation by Rabbi Ruth Adar

My warmest regards,

Michele

_______________________________________________

Michele F. Prince, LCSW, MAJCS

Director, Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health

Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion

3077 University Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90007

213-765-2149 - telephone

213-749-1192 - facsimile

mprince@huc.edu

www.huc.edu/kalsman