Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook From Traditional and Contemporary Sources

Jewish Pastoral Care is the essential reference for rabbis, cantors, and laypeople who are called to spiritually accompany those encountering joy, sorrow, and change. 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 resource provides you with basic theory and skills for assisting the ill and those who care for them, the aging and dying, engaged couples, and others, and for responding to issues such as domestic violence, substance abuse, and trauma. A vital reference for Jewish and non-Jewish professionals and other caregivers, Jewish Pastoral Care is the definitive handbook for counseling with an understanding of Judaism and Jewish tradition.

Contributors
Barbara Eve Breitman, M.S.W., L.S.W.
Anne Brener, M.A.J.C.S., M.A., L.C.S.W.
Rabbi Zahara Davidowitz-Farkas, M.A.T.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg, M.S.W.
Rabbi Nancy Flam, M.A.
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, M.A.J.C.S., M.S.W.
Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Ph.D.
Paula Goldstein, L.S.W.
Gus Kaufman, Jr., Ph.D.
Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, M.A., M.Ed., A.C.P.E.
Rabbi Myriam Klotz, M.A.
Rabbi Yaacov Kravitz, Ed.D.
Rabbi Ellen Jay Lewis, N.C.Psy.A.
Wendy Lipshutz, L.M.S.W.
Rabbi Joseph S. Ozarowski, D.Min.
Simcha Paull Raphael, Ph.D.
Rabbi Drorah O'Donnell Setel, M.T.S.
Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, D.Min.
Marcia Cohn Spiegel, M.A.J.C.S.
Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, C.S.W.
Rabbi David J. Zucker, Ph.D.

Rabbi Friedman has enlisted compassionate, experienced pastoral caregivers who are experts in their particular areas of counseling and who effectively convey the intimate details of what they provide, teach, learn and encounter in dealing with people in need and transition. The contributors share their own wisdom, insecurities, sorrows, and joys as they accompany those whom they counsel. The reader comes to know alot about each of the writers-getting an inside look at how it actually feels to be confronted by unexpected awkward situations(i.e., an engaged couple who shows up for all of their premarital counseling sessions with the mother of the groom in tow!).

Rabbi Friedman's own compassion and dedication to healing shine throughout the book, giving much of the material the feeling of a prayer, a blessing. Regardless of the pain inherent in so many of the situations addressed, (terminal illness, aging, domestic violence, abuse, addiction, family rejection of same sex partners), the humanity of the pastoral counselor and richness of the Jewish tradition provide hope and comfort.

You don't have to be Jewish or a pastoral counselor to benefit from the book's wisdom. It is essentially a primer on confronting suffering, identifying and using Judaism's resources and tools, and being comforted and strengthened.