Synopsis
We all are growing older. A Heart of Wisdom shows us how to understand and meet the challenges of our own process of aging and the aging of those we care about from a Jewish perspective, from midlife through the elder years.
How does Jewish tradition influence our own aging? What are the tasks and the meaning of aging? How does being Jewish inform our relationships with the elderly? How does living, thinking and worshipping as a Jew affect us as we age? How can Jewish tradition help us retain our dignity as we age?
Over 40 contributors people who themselves are dealing with the unique life passages that aging brings; their loved ones; and the rabbis, social workers and other professionals who assist them offer their insights about the changes and new perspectives that come with aging, retiring, growing, learning, caring for elderly parents, living and dying. By sharing experiences in direct and personal narratives, poems, ceremonies and stories, they help us explore:
Offering enlightenment from Jewish tradition, A Heart of Wisdom is not just for the middle-aged, the old or the soon-to-be old. It is for all of us.What traditional religious texts have to teach us about aging.Ways to cherish the integrity of the aging process.Women's unique roles as they age in our changing society.Advice for all generations on how to meet the opportunities and difficulties of aging.Creative ceremonies to mark milestones in our lives and in the lives of senior citizens.
Contributors:
Martha Joy Aft Aliza Auerbach Phyllis Ocean Berman Susan Berrin Paul Citrin Thomas R. Cole Ruth Daigon Eliezer Diamond Maggie Dwyer Ben Engelman Linda H. Feinberg Linda Knaster Feldman Dayle A. Friedman Everett Gendler Mary Gendler Muriel E. Ginsberg Hillel Goelman Lynn Greenhough Suzanne Hodes Barbara D. Holender Judith Magyar Isaacson Norma Baumel Joseph Marc Kaminsky Cary Kozberg Gloria Levi Sheva Medjuck Kerry M. Olitzky Victor Hillel Reinstein Carol Rose Joel Rosenberg Rosie Rosenzweig Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Jonathan Segol Alice Shalvi Danny Siegel Rachel Josefowitz Siegel Elizabeth Anne Sussman Socolow Marcia Cohn Spiegel Mickey Teicher Savina J. Teubal Anne Tolbert"
About the Author
Susan Berrin teaches and lectures on Jewish issues, particularly in the areas of aging, Jewish women and spirituality, and interfaith dialogue. She was guest editor for Sh'ma magazine's special issue on Judaism and aging, and is the editor of Celebrating the New Moon: A Rosh Chodesh Anthology. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Susan Berrin teaches and lectures on Jewish issues, particularly in the areas of aging, Jewish women and spirituality, and interfaith dialogue. She was guest editor for Sh'ma magazine's special issue on Judaism and aging, and is the editor of Celebrating the New Moon: A Rosh Chodesh Anthology. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Harold S. Kushner is author of the best-selling books When Bad Things Happen to Good People and Living a Life That Matters.
MarthaJoy Aft is a student and teacher of Jewish mysticism, a storyteller, and the editor of Neshama, a Jewish women's spirituality periodical. She lives in Boston.
Paul Citrin is senior rabbi of Main Line Reform Temple Beth Elohim, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He has published several articles as well as a children's novel, Joseph s Wardrobe. He and his wife, Susan, have four grown children.
Thomas R. Cole, PhD, is the McGovern Chair of Medical Humanities and director of the Center for Health, Humanities, and the Human Spirit at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. He is the author and editor of many books and articles on humanistic gerontology, including The Journey of Life: A Cultural History of Aging in America.
Ruth Daigon won the 1993 Eve of St. Agnes Award for her poem "Negative Capability." Her latest poetry collection is Between One Future and the Next.
Dr. Eliezer Diamond is the Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at The Jewish Theological Seminary and the author of Holy Men and Hunger Artists: Fasting and Asceticism in Rabbinic Culture. He is currently editing a commentary on Yerushalmi Pesahim written by the late Professor Louis Ginzberg, as well as a book on prayer.
Maggie Dwyer is a Winnipeg-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in Prairie Fire, Border Crossings, A Room of One's Own, and Necessary Fiction. She was the guest editor for Prairie Fire s special issue on Canadian Jewish writing.
Ben Engelman, a retired salesman, currently lives at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged in Roslindale, Massachusetts.
Linda H. Feinberg's poetry and nonfiction has been published in several women s journals. A graduate of Boston University, she and her husband have three grown children.
Linda Knaster Feldman, a native of Queens, New York, has worked in politics and written for Senator Alan Cranston, Barbra Streisand, McCall's, and Rolling Stone. For several years, shewrote a weekly column about older people for the Los Angeles Times. She cowrote with gerontologist James Birren Where To Go From Here: Discovering Your Own Life s Wisdom(Simon & Schuster).
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MA, BCC, is a pioneer in forging a fresh vision for the second half of life. She is a spiritual leader, social innovator, scholar, author of Jewish Visions for Aging: A Professional Guide to Fostering Wholeness and editor of Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional and Contemporary Sources. She founded and directed Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Friedman offers training, consulting and spiritual guidance through Growing Older (www.growingolder.co), her Philadelphia-based national practice.
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