Levin, Friedman and Raphael discuss new book on end-of-life care in a virtual world

Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman is a pioneer in the development of a Jewish spiritual vision for aging, spiritual care and healing. She was the founding director of Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which provided education, spiritual resources, and scholarship for elders and their caregivers.

Spiritual care professional: board certified by Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains; founding director, chaplaincy services, Philadelphia Geriatric Center; trainer and mentor of clergy from all streams of Judaism.

Rabbi: inspiring worship leader; innovative ritual facilitator; creative interpreter of classic Jewish wisdom in a contemporary context.

Teacher: faculty, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1989-2011), mentor to rabbis, chaplains and clergy from all streams of Judaism; consultant to professionals and organizations

Social innovator: founder, Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College; founding director of chaplaincy services, Philadelphia Geriatric Center; founding co-director, CONNECT, 92nd Street Y, NYC. Listed among 2008 Forward 50; and 2010 Sisterhood 50; winner, 2011 Religion, Spirituality and Aging Award, American Society on Aging

Spiritual guide: participant in think tank on spiritual direction and member of founding spiritual direction team, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College; spiritual director to individuals and families on the journey of later life and end- of-life medical decision-making. Adjunct faculty member, Morei Derekh Spiritual Direction Training Program

Writer: author, Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older: Finding Your Grit and Grace Beyond Midlife (Jewish Lights, 2015), Jewish Visions for Aging: A Professional Guide for Fostering Wholeness (Jewish Lights, 2008); editor, Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional and Contemporary Sources (Jewish Lights, 2nd edition, 2010). Published over 40 articles in journals and periodicals

Rabbi David Levin is a reform rabbi ordained from the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion (NY). David is the founder of the Jewish Relationships Initiative, formed to provide outreach focusing on the unaffiliated Jewish population of Greater Philadelphia.  We seek to create relationships through meaningful connection to Jewish wisdom, ritual, and community.  We do this through lifecycle events, study, and learning, conversation, and connection to others. David also devotes his time to special projects including Jewish Sacred Aging, teaching and free speech issues on the college campus. David worked with the Union for Reform Judaism in the Congregational Network as a Rabbinical Director serving the East Coast congregations. He also had the honor of working at Main Line Reform Temple in Wynnewood, PA. David Levin is a Fellow with Rabbis Without Borders, an interdenominational rabbinic group affiliated with CLAL. David Levin proudly claims to be one of Rabbi Louis Frishman’s (z”l) “Temple Kids”, from Temple Beth El in Spring Valley, NY. David attended the University of Chicago earning an AB in Economics. He went on to the New York University Graduate School of Business where he earned an MBA in Finance. Before becoming a rabbi, David enjoyed a career centered in banking and real estate finance, and he also worked in the family garment business.

Simcha Raphael, Ph.D., is the Founding Director of the DA’AT INSTITUTE. He has worked as a death awareness educator, bereavement counselor and hospice chaplain for over twenty-five years. Ordained as a Rabbinic Pastor by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he received a doctorate in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and has written extensively on the topics of death, bereavement and the afterlife.