Rabbi Susan Shankman has been teaching at the Washington Hebrew Congregation for more than 20 years. Like many spiritual leaders, she's had to navigate changing times, including an embrace of mental wellness.
"The idea of Pikuach Nefesh — which is saving a soul, keeping a life healthy — supersedes the fast itself," she explained."When there's a funeral with difficult issues surrounding it that have to do with mental health … not shying away from talking about it," Shankman said, explaining that she never does so without the blessings of the deceased's family.
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg recognized the need to wade into the intersection of spirituality and mental health too, a topic he confronts alongside co-host Moshe Yachnes and mental health professionals via his podcast,"Out of the Shadows." He also takes the message to the pulpit of his congregation in Boca Raton, Florida.
"The role of meditation, the role of breathing, the role of slowing down, the role of refocusing, the role of having mantras that we repeat. These are ancient ideas that go back to the very beginning of Judaism itself — the comfort in our own skin to disconnect from technology and to be able to be in conversation with ourselves and a relationship with ourselves and to regulate ourselves," said Goldberg.
Both leaders combine those ancient lessons with outside resources that can help congregants now and in the long run.
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