A New Year’s Challenge … for God

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Rabbi Richard Address
Rabbi Richard Address

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D. Min.

I am in the middle of a fascinating new book by Eric Weiner entitled Man Seeks God (New York Times book review). I stumbled across Mr. Weiner as a result of  a New York Times op-ed piece that he wrote in December.

He is a card carrying agnostic who, as a result of a health scare, was motivated to search for a God and thus a religion that he could embrace. The question that a nurse posed to Weiner that set him off on his quest was a simple, yet profound one, “Have you found your God?” Not have you found God, but have you found your God? The book is an account of Weiner’s attempt to find a God, so to speak.; and it started me to to thinking about many of us at this stage in life who are also searching for our God.  Continue reading →




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Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine (Hardcover)

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Dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted on December 29, 2011 by David Friedman
David Friedman

David Friedman

I was totally unprepared when my father, Seymour Friedman, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2006. At first there was disbelief, because it did not seem that his memory loss went beyond what is normal for an 83 year old senior adult.

However, as the disease progressed, my disbelief finally turned into reality. In the past six years, I have watched my father change from a tall, robust individual into a shell that sits in a wheelchair every day, his head bowed with little or no recognition of his family or the rich, fulfilling life he had led.

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Rabbi Address’ newest book, ‘Seekers of Meaning,’ published by URJ Press

Posted on December 12, 2011 by PodcastSteve

Seekers of Meaning CoverRabbi Richard Address has devoted his career to helping transform synagogues into caring communities.

Now, in Seekers of Meaning, his newest and 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.

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Seekers of meaning (Perfect Paperback)

By (author) Richard Address
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Lighting the Lights of Our Souls

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Rabbi Richard Address
Rabbi Richard Address

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D. Min.

This month, as many of you know, brings Hannukah. It is a curious and problematic festival that, while minor in the grand scheme of Jewish calendar festivals, has become “major” here in the USA.

The annual excess of buying has begun. I often wonder what we are doing or what message we are sending with our Channukiot displayed on shopping center light posts or our public candle lightings.

Yet the festival, despite its current incarnations, does provide us with a reason to celebrate family and the light that we hope that brings. Continue reading →

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Rituals of Transition

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Rabbi Richard Address
Rabbi Richard Address

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D. Min.

The High Holidays are over and the year has begun–in earnest. The pace of life has returned and “routine” has ben re-established. Yet, for most of us the routine is that there is no routine. Continue reading →

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Dealing with Long Distance

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Toby Donner
Jet airplane in the clouds

Distance and travel complicate care-giving

Our lives today can make caring for aging parents so much more complicated. My elderly mother passed away a few years ago, after a 20 year struggle with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

She lived on a small island 4,500 miles away from Seattle and was determined to end her days there, even though both my brother and myself live in other countries. The trip from Seattle to see my mother took 28 hours door to door and included a 9 hour time difference.

This made it impossible to visit as often as I would have liked, since I still had teenagers at home. The huge distance between us, in her final months was, by far, the hardest and most heart-wrenching part. Even though we had lived in different countries for decades, I felt a deep physical need to be close by when she needed me and phone calls and emails just weren’t enough.

Fortunately, I was able to be with her to say goodbye in her final days. The thing I have learned is that I know when I am older, I’ll be sure to live closer to my children for their sakes and mine. I have decided that this will happen even if it means moving from a place that I love.

(Crossposted with permission from girlfriendswithagingparents.com.)

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God’s Eternal Question

Posted on October 7, 2011 by PodcastSteve
Rabbi Richard Address

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D. Min.

With the ending of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, the Jewish calendar focuses on the first of our three Festivals, Sukkot. The symbol of the fragile dwelling place, the sukkah, is increasingly popular. More and more people build their own and have a meal in them as is the custom. Also beginning at this time are the powerful readings from the Book of Genesis. Perhaps no chapter in the entire Torah is more relevant to baby boomers than Genesis 3. Here is the famous Adam and Eve – Garden of Eden myth. Central to the story is God’s question to Adam and Eve (really to us) of ayecha, or “where are you’? This one question really speaks to so many of us in our stage of life. So many of us are in transition. So many of us are care-givers, juggling family, work, loved ones. So many of us, in quiet moments of reflection also ask our own self, “where am I?”  The sukkah really does form a symbol of the fragility of life. We seem to be more aware of the fragility as we ourselves age. Continue reading →

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Longing to hear “I love you”

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Toby Donner

My parents are in their 80’s, in failing health and live in a retirement home. I make it a point to be there twice a week and am constantly running small errands for them in the interim. Their form of saying thank you is “we wouldn’t be alive without you.” What I am longing to hear them say are the words “I love you.” Their words seem to lay a further burden on me. What I long for is what I perceive as affection, caring and recognition for me as their child – their daughter, and not as a caregiver.

At one juncture a few months ago, I said to my mother that I crave to hear those words from her and her reply was that I knew she wasn’t the kind of person to verbally express her affection and that I should know that she loves me. However, when I am tired of running and worn out, it tears me apart not to have the comfort that those three words would give me. I have never left their apartment or hung up the phone without saying “I love you” to my parents.

It’s amazing how something so seemingly small can make such a difference. If nothing else, it has made me more conscience of saying those words to my husband and children. Maybe the value is in the lesson learned. What are your thoughts?

 submitted by Toby Donner, author of www.girlfriendswithagingparents.com

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The call of the month of Elul

Posted on September 1, 2011 by PodcastSteve

Shalom.

Rabbi Richard Address

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D. Min.

This month is a special one within the Jewish calendar. Elul begins. This is the last month of the Jewish year and in it, we are asked to slowly prepare our souls for the coming High Holidays. The pace of the month reflects the changes in the secular world. Our Jewish world picks up pace as our secular world does. Summer ends, schools begin, new program years begin. Day are noticeably shorter and with this, we are reminded of the passage of time. Soon Rosh Hoshonnah will be upon us and a new year. This is a time of reflection. Continue reading →

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Hope in the Midst of Illness

Posted on August 29, 2011 by PodcastSteve
Donald M. Friedman, MD

Donald M. Friedman, MD

Hope is a crucial part of facing and coping with a medical illness. It can not only help a patient survive; it can also promote healing. Hope paves the way toward resilience and supports the spirit as well as the body. Hope enables patients to endure arduous therapies in order to regain wholeness; hope encourages patients to keep going against adversity and odds that may not be in their favor. Hope can create a sense of peace amid the swirling turbulence of having a disease that threatens one’s well being, functionality, or even one’s very existence.

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The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness (Paperback)

By (author) Jerome Groopman
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Release date January 11, 2005.
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