THE KALLAH EXPERIENCE: THE PARTICIPANTS’ VIEW

The Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care of HealthCare Chaplaincy has recently completed its fourth Kallah for congregational clergy, exploring end-of-life issues such as Jewish hospice care, pediatric patients and their families, and bringing kedushah – a sense of holiness – into the hospital room.

Eleven rabbis and cantors from all over the United States gathered at HealthCare Chaplaincy facility for six intense days of clinical site work and study. “While most of our participants have had considerable exposure to pastoral care within their synagogue context, many have had no formal training to prepare them for such work,” said JIPC Director, Rabbi Shira Stern. “We help them hone their skills and develop new additions for their spiritual ‘tool box’ so that they feel better able to cope with individuals experiencing end-of-life issues.” Each day the clergy met at either Lenox Hill Hospital or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, visiting patients and shadowing experienced chaplains.

“Seminaries provide their students with the tools to tackle Jewish texts, ritual, and liturgy. We concentrate upon teaching them to treat each person as a living Torah, which is not a skill necessarily ingrained at birth or acquired with ordination/investiture,” said Rabbi Bonita E. Taylor, ACPE Supervisor at the Jewish Institute. “We teach them what to say after they’ve said ‘hello' and how to offer spontaneous prayer at the bedside. Patients who feel connected to G-d are better able to engage their own healing process.”

The clergy developed listening skills which they brought back to their congregational life. “I will be a better listener,” remarked Cantor Stephen Dubov of Michigan. “I know my value to my congregation is greatly increased. I could not have imagined how much change a workshop could make in me.”

In addition to visiting at hospitals and learning in formal classes, the students shared papers they wrote about their week’s experiences. These papers “provided critical reflection of our visits through the analysis of the verbatims,” commented Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz of Short Hills, NJ. “I also found learning to explore writing our own laments to be helpful.”

Cantor Susan Caro, a participant in the last Kallah, believes that, “for me personally, it was a very significant week. The examination of the process of pastoral care has opened a door for me that places my intrinsic beliefs in a new context, and that provides me with a new channel for my talents and life’s work. For us as cantors, it is an awesome responsibility to come before G-d as a representative of the congregation. However, in a patient’s room, my role is reversed and I am representing G-d to the patient. I am charged with creating an entirely unique representation of G-d for each patient in each encounter. We can do this with our voices as we sing, with a touch, with a word, or through silence. The goal for me is to bring kedushah to the moment, and to ensure that somehow my presence makes a difference to the patient’s experience."

“I believe that my new rabbinic career as a full-time congregational rabbi will be greatly enhanced by this experience,” offered Rabbi Larry Raphael, who has just begun his journey as a pulpit rabbi after 30 years in the rabbinate.