Journeys Through Grief, Meaning, and Mediation

Recently, in small claims court, my co-mediator and I mediated a case that on paper looked almost absurd: a claim for forty dollars. Cases involving that little money rarely make it to mediation, much less court. But as soon as the plaintiff walked in, we understood that this wasn’t about the money at all. It was about being heard. He spoke English haltingly, with a thick accent. both of us struggled to understand him, and we could see him struggle to be understood. He had fi

In my years as a rabbi, I’ve stepped into many homes to offer pastoral care. Some visits stay with me for a season. But this one has stayed with me for a lifetime. I remember climbing the three flights of stairs to her apartment — there was no elevator — and arriving at the top out of breath. And there she was, waiting just inside her doorway, a temple member I had known for years. She apologized for not coming down to greet me. She had taken a terrible fall, she explained, a

A deep silence followed the question — not confusion, but something older, heavier. I worried that I had touched a place shaped by years of fear and loss. As the quiet lingered, I felt the weight of what these survivors have carried. I was leading a High Holiday program for Café Hakalah through my work at JF&CS, where I support Holocaust survivors and walk with people through grief, loss, and life’s hardest transitions. Many in this group are Russian-speaking, shaped not only