The Midrash and Medicine conference highlighted leadership and innovation in the healthcare and Jewish healing fields. Presentations and interactive workshops drew from scholars of midrash, health and spiritual care providers, and artists who are creatively engaged in the landscapes of illness, wholeness, and spirit.
Presenters at the conference included musician and performer extraordinaire, Debbie Friedman; noted expert in the field of Judaism, Health, and Healing with respect to Aging, Rabbi Dayle Friedman, and renowned scholars of Midrash from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Drs. Norman Cohen and Lewis Barth.
Especially in these uncertain times, the conference represented an extraordinary opportunity to relax, connect with colleagues, and enjoy three days of stimulating and interdisciplinary learning.
Click here to view photos from the Conference
Tears and Joy; Mourning and Dancing: New Renderings of Tanach through Music and Contemporary Poetry
Reception and Teaching
Debbie Friedman and Rabbi William Cutter, PhD
This teaching explores the midrashic potential in Psalms and biblical stories through the poets of modern Israel and through Debbie’s own songs. It provides a unique opportunity to learn how Debbie creates, and to experience the rare treasures of modern Jewish life.
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Plenary #1: Self, Struggle and Change:
Healing Insights of the Stories of Our Tradition through the Prism of Midrash
Rabbi Norman Cohen, PhD
Midrash is the process of seeking contemporary meaning in the Biblical text. Through our reading and interpretation of select Biblical material, we will attempt not only to see ourselves in the text, but what we are capable of becoming. We will see Biblical characters at the crossroads of their lives which reflect our life situations, and as we engage with them, we will learn about ourselves and what it will take to bring us to greater wholeness in the process.
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Plenary #2: Making Peace in the High Places when Midrash and Art Collide
Rabbi Lewis Barth, PhD with Andrea Hodos and Elizheva Hurvich
The study of Jewish texts has become so central in contemporary Jewish life that we often forget that creative imagination not limited to the written word. This session focuses on what happens when creative artists use their talants to make Midrashic texts come alive in art, dance and music. There is a brief description of the history of the Artist-in-Residence program at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. The remainder of the time is devoted to hearing from the panelists about their own understanding of intersection of art and Jewish tradition and texts and to the brief study of one Midrashic text. We then break up into groups to engage in our own creative response to the text studied.
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Plenary #3: The Journey of Later Life: Moses as our Model
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC
This presentation will help us to map the territory of life’s second half through close examination of Moses, whose late life journey began with the revelation at the burning bush when he was 80 and culminated with his death at 120. We’ll explore Our Teacher’s paradoxical blend of mission, Torah, despair and loss, and see if we can find inspiration and guidance of our own paths.
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