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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Palliative Care: A Seminar on Life and Death Issues for Jewish Professionals
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
In September, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, CLAL Vice President, and Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, CLAL’s Director of Organizational Development, presented a daylong seminar based on the principles of CLAL’s new book on palliative care for the Jewish Funeral Directors of America. The goal was to help these Jewish professionals think about their work in more meaningful and effective ways as they deal with clients and families.
Discussion ensued on how more people are turning to palliative care as they face end-of-life issues. In addition, due to technology, many can anticipate their own demise and want to prepare for it. “Palliative care now puts us on a frontier between life and death,” said Rabbi Hirschfield. “But there are ways of talking about death that are both honest and life-affirming. The challenge for these professionals is to see their role as more than transitional. They have the opportunity to help people shape their own end-of-life plans.”
Palliative care covers such topics as selecting a health care proxy and creating a living will. Issues of pain management, the life cycle of illness, advance care planning, and making peace are all part of the decision-making process patients must face.
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