The Centre for Rabbinic Excellence and JVisit held 2 webinars presenting pastoral care from both sides of the relationship.
Rabbi Jason Weiner, senior Rabbi and Executive Director of Spiritual Care at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, spoke about Fostering Spiritual Connection in Times of Illness, offering healing where a cure may not be possible.
“We are architects of a spiritual space, carving out time and giving people permission to access spiritual healing, through our presence, open conversations and the opportunity to pray.”
A key take-away was Rabbi Weiner’s 3 magic words for visiting, “tell me more”.
Ben Lazarus offered a patient’s perspective on ‘when you don’t know what to say’, living with a rare, degenerative and terminal condition, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Ben spoke openly and honestly, generously sharing both positive and difficult experiences of support from his community. The opportunity to make his end-of-life wishes clear, to be supported with going to shul, care for his family and a good game of chess, all have had a strong impact on his sense of wellbeing through his illness. Ben writes weekly about the parasha and has developed a guide to Tehillim, developing his depth of understanding of the texts and King David, their author, as well as blogging about his illness.
Both stressed the importance of being led by the person you are visiting, akin to the shiva tradition of waiting for the person you are visiting to speak first.
For more information about Jewish Visiting, see: https://www.jvisit.org.uk/