Spotlight on CLAL
Welcome to Spotlight on CLAL. Here you will find stories about what is happening at CLAL and about the work that CLAL is doing across North America. Sometimes we will focus on a program, or a special event, or upon a CLAL faculty member's work and interests. Bookmark this page if you want to get to know us better.
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Hope, Healing And Renewal: The Jewish Community Provides A First-Ever
Workshop For Katrina Victims
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
When tragedy strikes, where do we seek hope, strength and support? How do
we cope when our sense of security has been severely shattered? How do our
traditions help us to confront adversity and start anew?
On December 12-14, 2005, a unique program will take place in Baton Rouge and
New Orleans to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Designed to help people
cope with loss and begin to mend, “Out of the Whirlwind: Jewish
Possibilities for Acceptance, Hope and Renewal” will offer guidance, solace
and insight in the face of despair.
Drawn from Jewish wisdom, the program will use stories, teachings and texts
to look at our relationship to God and suffering, how to rebuild on the
heels of destruction, and ways of strengthening hope and faith while
grappling with pain. Led by Rabbi Irwin Kula, President of CLALThe National
Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and host of public television’s
“Simple Wisdom,” and Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, CLAL’s Director of Organizational
Development and a Ph.D. psychologist well-known in the Jewish health and
healing movement, it is the first program in which the Jewish community has
come together so completely across the many denominations and constituencies
to address the difficult issues for victims post-Katrina.
“At some point we realized that the community needed to join together and
think about what happened to us and how to move on,” said Donna Sternberg,
one of the leaders of the Baton Rouge Jewish community who has helped to
organize local relief efforts. “We knew CLAL would be a wonderful resource
for this renewal and we recognized that everyone could benefit from its
involvement.”
Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Baton Rouge and the Jewish
Federation of Greater New Orleans, the free program will be held for
professionals, interfaith clergy, and lay people. Sessions will take place
in a variety of settings, from private homes to local organizations to
synagogues to community centers. Issues will include how we deal with
vulnerability and honesty as a roadmap to hope. Biblical texts from the Book
of Job, the Book of Ruth, and the rabbinic response to the destruction of
the temple will be explored as examples of realistically facing and
overcoming trauma and tragedy.
“This program was created to help ease the pain and begin the process of
renewal,” said Rabbi Kula. “It is never easy to move forward, but our
traditions can help us to take the first steps on that difficult road.”
Addressing CLAL’s participation, he continued, “CLAL is always where the
important questions are being asked and important events are happening. We
bring Jewish wisdom to key challenges, whether they are crises or
opportunities. And more often than not, they are the same thing.”
For more information on the program, please contact Rabbi Martha Bergadine
at 225-379-7393.
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