History
From its origins in the early 1980s to its current, multifaceted offerings, Hiddur has continued to evolve, to lead the Jewish community in addressing the challenges and opportunities of aging.
How We Began
The First Academic Program
Establishing Hiddur
Professionals in the Community
How We Began
For more than two decades, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College has recognized the need to train rabbis to serve the aging Jewish community. In the early 1980s, while still a student, Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, '82, Ph.D., arranged for RRC student volunteers to lead Shabbat services at the York House Apartments, the independent living facility of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center. Inspired by the impact of this experience on both elders and students, RRC eventually required first-year students to participate. Individual students also volunteered to lead Shabbat celebrations in PGC’s Home for the Jewish Aged.
The arrival of Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman as the first director of chaplaincy services at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center brought expanded opportunities in aging training to RRC students. Created in 1987, PGC’s academic-year and summer rabbinic internship programs offered the first-ever clinically supervised training in aging for rabbis. In the PGC internship (now the Stern Rabbinic Internship program at the Abramson Center for Jewish Life, PGC's successor), students learned about aging and developed pastoral skills by serving elders and reflecting on their experiences in individual and group supervision.
The First Academic Program
Recognizing that academic instruction on aging could further deepen the perspective that future rabbis would bring to their work with elders, RRC and PGC piloted the Geriatric Chaplaincy Program in 1989. A few years later, with support from the Retirement Research Foundation and the Arronson Foundation, then-RRC President David A. Teutsch, Ph.D., and Friedman collaborated to create the first (and only) systematic academic training program on aging in a rabbinical seminary. The program included clinical internships with elders, academic courses on aging and clinical supervision at RRC for students serving elders.
The Geriatric Chaplaincy Program offered students the opportunity to specialize and receive a certificate at graduation, or to pursue its offerings as part of a generalist rabbinic education. Geriatric Chaplaincy Program graduates serve elders in Jewish chaplaincy and congregational positions across the U.S. and in Israel.
Establishing Hiddur
Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism was established in 2003 to expand and deepen RRC’s involvement in aging. The Rabbinic Education on Aging Program, began the same year, offers broadened training that addresses the entire spectrum of later life, from baby boomers to the oldest and frailest elders. In addition to the Benjamin (Bill) Mehlman Cycle of Academic Courses on Aging, education on aging at RRC includes an array of internships with elders; dynamic co-curricular programs for the entire RRC community; and Shades of Gray, a monthly seminar for rabbinic students, rabbis and chaplains exploring spiritual dimension of aging through Jewish literature.
The Rabbinic Education on Aging Program was expanded further through Embracing Aging, a three-year initiative that was funded by the Retirement Research Foundation. Embracing Aging helped RRC faculty to integrate content on aging throughout their text, thought and practical rabbinics courses. This model of curricular infusion will be disseminated through a forthcoming special clergy training issue of The Journal of Religion, Spirituality and Aging, edited by Hiddur director, Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, and due out in winter 2010-11.
In the past, Hiddur has:
- offered rabbinic education on aging for rabbis and other Jewish professionals
- produced scholarship that mines Jewish tradition to find meaning and dignity in aging
- created spiritual resources for elders and caregivers
- spearheaded national initiatives such as the report, Gearing Up for the Age Wave, to lead the Jewish community in its spiritual response to aging.
Currently, Hiddur’s efforts are focused exclusively on training rabbis in aging at RRC.
Professionals in the Community
From 2007 through 2010, Hiddur offered training to rabbis, chaplains, social workers and other Jewish professionals in the community through Training Professionals to Engage Jewish Elders, an initiative supported by the Helen Bader Foundation. Hiddur's team of respected professionals developed training curricula and methods for equipping rabbis, chaplains and human service professionals with the knowledge and skill to empower elders to lead vibrant spiritual lives.
The Hiddur training team presented workshops across the United States. In 2007-8, the team conducted workshops on spiritual caring for the family caregiver and on building multi-generational Jewish community in partnership with United Jewish Communities-Metrowest, NJ.
In May 2009,
Listen to Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman's keynote address from Midrash & Medicine.
In November 2009, Hiddur and UJA-Federation of New York co-sponsored a major conference, Addressing the Spiritual Journey of Jews Beyond Midlife. This groundbreaking event featured over 25 acclaimed presenters from across the Jewish spectrum. Professional and lay leaders from the realms of eldercare, synagogue life, Jewish education and spiritual care shared experiences and inspiration.
On this page, you can:
Listen to Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman's complete keynote address as well as audio clips from other presenters.
Download the toolkit (as a PDF) with resources, tools and links from each session.
Read an article about the conference and its diverse presenters.
