NeshamaCast host Rabbi Ed Bernstein travels to Israel and interviews Jewish chaplains from Israel and across North America attending a rabbinic conference in Israel.
Chaplains interviewed in this episode are, in order of appearance:
Rabbi Mary Brett Koplen, BCC, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Rabbi Barbara Speyer, BCC, VA Medical Center, Los Angeles
Mati Halperin, CPE student, Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv, Kashouvot: The Center for Spiritual Care in Israel
Rabbi Beth Naditch, BCC, ACPE, Hebrew Senior Life, Boston
Rabbi Naomi Kalish, PhD, BCC, ACPE, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York
Rabbi Yonatan Rudnick, Community Chaplain, Jewish Family Services, Kansas City
Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz, BCC, Congregation Kol Haneshamah, Jerusalem, Co-founder of Kashouvot.
During the interview with Moti Halperin, listeners can occasionally hear the voice of Rabbi Ilana Garber, Director of Global Rabbinic Development of the Rabbinical Assembly. She and Rabbi Bernstein were matched with Moti for a tour of Ichilov Hospital.
Special acknowledgment to Rabbi Valerie Stessin, BCC, Director of Kashouvot and Rabbi Mira Rivera, BCC, JCC of Harlem. Rabbi Stessin planned the chaplain programming for the RA Convention, and Rabbi Rivera was a participant. See NeshamaCast feed for their full interviews with NeshamaCast.
Reference was made multiple times to Natal Global Resilience.
Rabbi Beth Naditch refers to the terror attack of February 25, 1996 in which JTS rabbinical student Matthew Eisenfeld and his girlfriend Sara Duker were murdered in a suicide bombing of the Number 18 Bus in Jerusalem. See the book edited by Rabbi Edward Bernstein: Love Finer Than Wine: The Writings of Matthew Eisenfeld and Sara Duker.
The Nova Exhibition that is touring the US, is currently in Miami. More information here.
This video discusses the agriculture crisis in the Gaza Envelope post-October 7 and the efforts of local kibbutzim to restore agriculture. Oren Barnea, who is featured in the video, spoke to the rabbinic group in December that included Rabbi Ed Bernstein and Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz.
About our host:
Rabbi Edward Bernstein, BCC, is the producer and host of NeshamaCast. He serves as Chaplain at Boca Raton Regional Hospital of Baptist Health South Florida. He is a member of the Board of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains. Prior to his chaplain career, he served as a pulpit rabbi in congregations in New Rochelle, NY; Beachwood, OH; and Boynton Beach, FL. He is also the host and producer of My Teacher Podcast: A Celebration of the People Who Shape Our Lives.
NeshamaCast contributor Rabbi Katja Vehlow was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and is Director of Jewish Life at Fordham University. She trained as a chaplain at Moses Maimonides Medical Center in New York. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Religious Studies at University of South Carolina. A native German speaker, she is planning a forthcoming German-language podcast on the weekly Torah portion with a focus on pastoral care.
NeshamaCast contributor Chaplain David Balto is a volunteer chaplain at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. and Western Correctional Insitution, Maryland’s maximum security prison. He coordinated the annual National Bikur Cholim Conference.
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Transcripts for this episode and other episodes of NeshamaCast are available at NeshamaCast.simplecast.com and are typically posted one week after an episode first airs.
Theme Music is “A Niggun For Ki Anu Amecha,” written and performed by Reb-Cantor Lisa Levine.
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