Spring Issue

ITHE JEWISH HEALING CENTER] 'The Outstretched cArm A Passover Journal Torah tells us The Search for Hametz response. But salt is also a thing of that the night be Hametz comes in many forms. value; because it is a preservative, it fore the depar The preparation of the house for is a symbol of per ture from the land Passover may tax my limited physi manence, like the of Egypt: "It was a cal strength, but the search for bread covenant that night of watchful- crumbs is easy compared to clean Adonai has made ness for Adonai for ing out my head of all that is not with all of us and bringing the children of Is spiritually kosher I'Pesach. The rab each of us. The rael out from the land of Egypt; this bis said that leaven symbolizes the salt water has a same night is a night of watchful yetzer ha-ra, the evil inclination, marvelous taste. ness for Adonai for the children of and getting rid of hametz is a way Israel throughout the generations." of spiritually purging ourselves. It's Ha LachmaAnya: This is (Exodus 12:42). The eve of Pesach not easy. Into what locked cabinet the Bread of Mfliction is a night of waiting, a time of antici do I put all the pain and struggle Did the wise rabbis, who estab pation. What are we supposed to that have made the last year so lished the form of the seder, know be watching for? The dangers that difficult? how deeply those words can touch lie ahead? Who of us knows where those who are ill? The matzah is not or how the journey into the desert Lighting the Candles only a reminder of the slavery en will end? For those who are ill, the On Pesach, we not only recite dured by the Israelites in Egypt, but question takes on an urgent mean the customary blessing as we light it symbolizes our own slavery as ing. the candles, thanking Adonai for well. It is an acknowledgement of sanctifying our lives, but we also the suffering we say the she-hecheyanu, praising have endured in Inside Adonai for sustaining us and for our lives. enabling us to reach this day. As I Everyone sit A Passover Journal ................. 1 recite the blessing, I realize that too ting at the Pass Introdudng David Hirsch ....... 3 seldom do I acknowledge the ways over seder is com What A Difference in which I feel the Divine Presence manded to see A Kimono Makes ................ 3 in my life, even when I am ill. themselves as Hesed Hevrtlh ......................... 4 slaves in Egypt, to Introducing Karpas live and relive the experience, to Rabbi Nina. Beth Cardin ...... 5 feel both the terror and the joy as Afraid But Not Alone .............. 6 At seders past, I have felt that we start out on a journey into the Reflections On the salt water in which I dipped the uncharted wilderness. My experi Healing Services ................. 7 sprigs of parsley was made from my ence of illness has made it easy for From Bridge to Bridge ............ 8 tears. The bondage of illness has me to summon up the terror of the Resources ................................ 9 seemed at times so overwhelming Events .......................... ·......... 11 that tears were the only possible continued on the next page unknown, but what if I haven't the question. And sometimes I am so energy to remember the joy? despairing that even asking any "Treasure Each Day: Yet I know that matzah is also question seems beyond my capa Jewish Teachings the bread of redemption, for it holds bility. on living & Dying" out the promise that, like our ances A Week-long Workshop tors, we can anticipate the exhilara Dayenu: It Would Have Scheduled August 7-13 tion of spiritual freedom even in the Been Enough midst of physical bondage. "In ev The Psalmist asks that we may be We sing this song loudly and ery generation, every person should taught to treasure each day, that with exuberant delight, recalling all feel as though she or he had actu we may deepen the heart of wis the miracles that Adonai performed ally been redeemed from Egypt." dom that beats within us. This for the children of Israel as they week-long workshop, co-spon wandered through the desert. But Ma Nishtana Halayla sored by The JH Cat Elat Chayyim all it takes is a shift in tone, and in upstate New York, offers an Hazeh Mikol Haleilot? dayenu can become a cry of de opportunity to explore Jewish Why is this night different from spair, of pain, of rage. Please let me teachings, traditional liturgical all other nights? At the core of the remember the joy. texts associated with death and Passover seder is a question, and it loss, gratitude. and bleSSings as has often seemed to me that al -Maror and Haroset: The well as lesser known Jewish though the whole of the Haggadah Bitter and the Sweet prayers that nourish daily aware is devoted to answering that ques ness of mortality and the precari At every seder, the experience tion we each have to proVide our ousness oflife. Primary attention is different. Sometimes the sharp, own answers, and sometimes even will be given to the deepening of our own questions. almost painful, sting of the maror daily spiritual practice, offering At the same time, the daily blocks out completely the pleasur models for rich Jewish work on able taste of the struggle of living with illness may issues of finiteness and loss, grati haroset, and my make it hard even to ask the ma tude and blessing. For more in eyes fill with tears. nishtanah, for the pain and struggle formation call (800) 398-2630. But more often, the can impose a deadening sameness sweetness of the on both the days and the nights that haroset somehow often seems impossible to escape. Rabbinic Roundtable rises up to over And what do I do when I realize that Meets in New York City come the sharp the kinds of questions that I want to ness, and I know In the effort to plan an organized ask don't seem to have any an that there is also approach to developing training swers? much sweetness in initiatives in pastoral care andJew I find it a source of great com my life, even in the midst of afflic ish healing, a dozen rabbis and fort that the Talmud says that any tion. other Jewish professionals from question fulfills the purpose and around the country met over two makes the ma nishtanah unneces L'Shanah Haba'ah days in January to study and re sary. view many of the "state-of-the B'Yerushalayim: art" programs deSigned at the Bay ArbaBanim: Next Year in Jerusalem! Area Jewish Healing Center over The Four Children Next year can seem so long to the past four years. Led by Rabbis Amy Eilberg, Nancy Flam and I am the wise child and the wait, and Jerusalem seems so far Simkha Weintraub, along with wicked child; I am the simple child away. Will I make it there? Some Jewish Healing Center Board and and the child who does not know times I feel like the ancient Israel ites who complained so bitterly at staff members, the group shared how to ask. Is there any wisdom and discussed a variety of the every turn to Moses: "Where are that illness has brought me? I don't educational, pastoral, and spiri know. Does my rage in the face of you taking us? When will we get tual programs developed for indi pain isolate me from the commu there? But I am willing to set out, viduals and families dealing with nity and thus make me wicked? I learning to focus my attention on illness. From this roundtable a hope not. I am the simple child the journey. number of models for services, who wants to know if there is any Tamara M. Green training, publishing, and educa reason why this has happened to ]HC Board Member tional programs were developed. me. There is no answer to that 2 Introducing David Hirsch What A Difference career on Wall Street. Former Director of Government Affairs A Kimono Makes for the Jewish Board of Family Recently, I consulted a physi and Children's Services, he acted cian-acupuncturist for help with the as Assistant to the Chairman of lingering side effects of cancer treat the New York State Hospital Re ment. Instead of a hospital-style view and Planning Council and gown, I was offered a beautiful, full as Executive of the New York length, flowered kimono to wear State Residential Treatment Fa during the treatment. I felt dignified, cilities (RTF) Coalition. For the dressed, attractive. For nearly two years I had spent past six years he has served as the quite a lot of time hanging out in President of New York Cares, a those little blue and white striped volunteer clearinghouse in New gowns they hand you at the medical York City. Currently he is a mem center. Made of flimsy fabric, these ber of the UJA/Federation Public ugly gowns are about as unflattering David Hirsch, newly named Policy and Planning and Alloca as possible. Neither here nor there, Director of the NationalJewish Heal tions Committees, and sits on the they leave you wondering if you are ing Center, brings to his work an boards of many Jewish communal wearing a long shirt or a short dress understanding of the goals of the organizations.

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