Only a few years ago, there was no field of spiritual care in Israel—not one professional chaplain working in a hospital, nursing home or mental health facility, says Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman. The idea that people experiencing crisis should have access to such care, now commonplace in North America, was virtually unknown in Israel, she adds. So organizing a “Dialogue on Spiritual Care in Israel” in December 2005 was a groundbreaking step for that country. And Friedman, a highly experienced geriatric chaplain and the editor of the standard-reference Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional Sources, was the perfect speaker to open the proceedings.

Friedman also is the founding director of Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism of RRC, and has been a mentor to scores of RRC students who want to bring Jewish connection to elders wherever they live. The discipline she brought with her to Israel uses traditional Jewish sources, but also draws on contemporary social science. “In spiritual care—or livui ruhani, spiritual accompaniment—caregivers develop relationships through the Jewish tools of text, prayer and ritual, as well as through the technical skills of listening and assessment,” Friedman notes.

She has learned through two decades of this work that it can transform lives at critical junctures—an experience she relived in her visit to Idan Ha Zahav, a “home for parents” in Jerusalem. There Friedman met one elderly woman who was very unhappy and complaining bitterly. Friedman gave her a simple but sometimes rare gift: she listened. “Without warning, the woman took my hand and began to bless me,” Friedman remembers. “Her entire demeanor was transformed. Instead of screaming and shaking her fist, this woman was now looking into my eyes, holding my hand and radiating love.”