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Rabbi Address’ new book, Seekers of Meaning

Rabbi Richard Address has devoted his career to helping transform synagogues into caring communities. Now, in his most personal work to date, he explores how the notion of a caring community can be transformative for individuals, particularly baby boomers struggling with issues of aging and mortality.
To order this book, click here.
Author Archives: Rabbi Richard Address
The Community of Care
Just off the red-eye from Seattle, Washington. A beautiful city with wonderful people. I was in Seattle for some of my Union for Reform Judaism work on our project on aging and baby boomers and spent Sunday with the Jewish … Continue reading
Posted in Care-Giving Concerns, D'vrei Torah, Jewish Baby Boomers, Reflections on Aging
Tagged care-giving, community, dignity, quality of life
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Happy New Year?
As I wrote this, I am looking out of my study window at a gray sky. It is in the 30 degree range and drizzle is falling. Yet, there is a ray of hope that new life is at hand. … Continue reading
Posted in D'vrei Torah, Reflections on Aging
Tagged baseball, celebrate, easter, life, passover, Phillies, rebirth, renewal, spring
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Whistle a happy tune…
Remember The King and I? It was Anna’s song in which she gave us the psycho-spiritual insight that whenever we feel afraid the best thing to do is just whistle a happy tune. This was Broadway’s therapeutic analyses that preceded … Continue reading
Posted in D'vrei Torah, Reflections on Aging
Tagged aging, debunking, happiness, myths, new york times, usa today, whistle
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If you’re happy and you know it…
A recent article in the Los Angeles Times (Jan. 31, 2011: E-3) was concerned with the elusive quality of happiness. We are at the age when this concept may be up for serious re-evaluation. Dr Valerie Ulene, the author of … Continue reading
Posted in D'vrei Torah, Reflections on Aging
Tagged connections, d'var torah, happiness, relationships
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Happy New Year, Happy ‘Age of the Boomer’!
Start spreading the news….! Actually, the census has already done that. As of January 1, 2011 (that is like NOW), one Baby Boomer in the USA will turn 65 every 8 seconds! How is that for a way to welcome … Continue reading
Into the light of the future
The Torah cycle that we read this month deals a lot with Joseph and his sojourn in Egypt; his rise from prisoner to minister and his eventual reunion with his family. Indeed, one of the most powerful lines in the … Continue reading
Posted in D'vrei Torah, Jewish Baby Boomers
Tagged aging, baby boomers, creativity, experience, Joseph, light, meaningful aging
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Important New York Times article about long-term care planning
A hat-tip to Rabbi Jennifer Gertman for pointing out this New York Times article, “Ignore Long-Term Care Planning at Your Peril,” by Ron Lieber. The costs of long-term care can be frightening, and insurance bought early on can be a … Continue reading
Posted in Care-Giving Concerns, Resource Articles
Tagged financial planning, insurance, long-term care, medicare, money, new york times, nursing home, planning
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Changing Times: Mental Health Awareness in the Jewish Community
Editor’s Note: This article by Rabbi Address was originally published on NAMI.org, the website of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. A highlight of a recent conference on Judaism and mental health featured several members of the host synagogue telling … Continue reading
To “Life” and to the New Year!
Here is one of “those” questions. How do you find meaning in the aftermath of sorrow? How do you find reason when there is none? 5770 is ending. I, for one, will not be sorry to see it go: too … Continue reading
Posted in D'vrei Torah
Tagged aging, choose life, dallas, death, deuteronomy, life, new year, rabbi lawrence "jake" jackofsky, Rosh Hashana, yom kippur
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Transition and Change
As you read this, I hope you take note of the new format for jewishsacredaging.com. The time has come for us to amp-up the vision of the site and what we can do, and so this month represents the first … Continue reading
