Los Angeles Jewish Home

As we begin the New Year and consider how to boost our physical and mental health, we need to include another important component of wellbeing: our spiritual health. Just as there are steps we can take to boost the health of our bodies and our brains, there are ways to enhance our spiritual fitness, regardless of our age.

In fact, Rabbi Rita Hertzberg, the Los Angeles Jewish Home’s Campus Rabbi for Eisenberg Village, believes our spirituality has the potential to expand as the years go by.

"As the body ages and the mind ages, the spirit grows," she says. "It’s the only part of us that doesn’t decline."

Scientists disagree on how and whether spirituality and religion influence health. Some studies have concluded that religious faith increases our ability to cope with illness, disability, loss, and mortality. Others have reported lower blood pressure and depression levels and longer lifespans among individuals with a strong personal faith who regularly attend religious services.

At the same time, some researchers believe there is not enough scientific evidence to conclude that spirituality is associated with health.

But perhaps it doesn’t matter whether the scientific evidence is conclusive. Experiences of residents at the Los Angeles Jewish Home clearly demonstrate that spirituality affects emotional health and quality of life.

"If we can get [spirituality] to kick in and to grow brighter, this becomes a light that can ease the darkness we feel that is natural in the aging process," says Rabbi Hertzberg.

Working with residents, Rabbi Hertzberg and her colleague Rabbi Anthony Elman, the Home’s Jack H. Skirball Director of Spiritual Life and the Campus Rabbi for Grancell Village, have both seen tremendous changes in individuals who have discovered or enhanced their sense of spirituality.

Rabbi Elman recounted the story of one resident who had lost her eyesight quite abruptly. Despite her loss, he said, "She is full of thanks to God for God’s help and to the Home for giving her a place to thrive and for gifts such as having the ability to dress and do other things for herself."

Another resident who was 85 years old and declining rapidly went through the process of having a Bat Mitzvah. She learned verses of the Torah and read them in Hebrew. "It was very meaningful for her and for her family," says Rabbi Elman.

Rabbis Elman and Hertzberg say that there are multiple avenues to spirituality. Certainly religion can be one path. "There's a statement in the Talmud which says that when two or more people study Torah, God is present. I believe that," says Rabbi Elman. "I [also] believe that prayer and a feeling that somehow I'm not alone – that God is with me – can help."

At the same time, he stresses that religion is not the only path to spirituality. "I try to introduce a sense of awe – which I take to mean opening oneself to something greater," says Rabbi Elman. While that may take the form of thanking God for our blessings, says Rabbi Elman, it can also involve marking occasions, such as Veteran’s Day or Martin Luther King’s birthday, where "people can be lifted to feeling and recognizing something greater than themselves."

Music can also be a source of spiritual enhancement. Rabbi Hertzberg says she sings a lot with residents, and that songs can be "a spiritual connection to the past" for them. "I've found music to be an amazingly powerful and spiritual vehicle," she says.

In addition, she believes many residents feel spirituality in their sense of community and connectedness. They may not know anyone when they arrive at the Home, but they soon establish relationships with staff members and other residents.

Whether through prayer, study, music, community, meditation, or other means, humans have the ability to enhance their spirituality at any stage in life.

As Rabbi Hertzberg puts it, "We don’t stop being a spiritual being until we take our last breath."

Labels: Elman, For the Spirit, Hertzberg, Rabbi, Religion, Spirituality

This afternoon I was entering the Eisenberg Campus by way of The Heart Walk when I noticed that the late autumn winds had blown leaves into the candle holders of the bronze Chanukiah sculpture in front of the Newman Building. As I was removing the leaves I couldn’t help but think that in just a few, short weeks I would be gathering with the residents each evening of the eight nights of Chanukah to kindle the candles that would shine from this exquisite piece of ritual Judaic art. As has been our tradition in years past, we will make the blessings together and sing Chanukah songs—in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and English—before the Chanukiah’s flickering lights. I will remind the residents, as I always do, that the Chanukah candles may not be used for any practical purpose but should only grace our Jewish Home with their illumination and inherent beauty. The lights will be a link for all of us, not only to the miracles of our people’s shared history in days of old, but to memories of Chanukahs celebrated in each one of our uniquely individual pasts…long ago childhood twirls of dreidels, sharing latkes or sufganiyot with our children, watching the candlelight illuminate the faces of our grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. And I, as the Rabbi of Eisenberg Village, will watch the golden glow from the bronze Chanukiah dance on the beautiful, wrinkled cheeks of our beloved Jewish Home residents and marvel at the miracle of their long and fruitful years. When most of them were children, Chanukah was not a time for expensive gifts or commercial competition. Their memories are filled with gifts of the senses: the sight of a spinning dreidel; the scent of hot oil and the taste of delicious fried Chanukah treats; and, above all, the warmth that only love of family, community, and shared heritage can bring to the dark and bitter chill of winter. These were the children that would, indeed, become members of “The Greatest Generation.”

And so, as I take these moments to prepare the bronze sculpture that will soon spring to life and light, I am already filled to overflowing with the anticipation of sharing another Chanukah with the residents I am blessed to serve at the Jewish Home. They are, indeed, a collective light to the nations of the world, shining a warm glow of inspiration to everyone who is lucky enough to bask in their glow. Just by being themselves, they stand as a miraculous symbol of their people’s tenacity and longevity. For me, being able to share the Festival of Lights with these precious souls for yet another year, is the greatest gift of all.

Rabbi Rita Hertzberg leads synagogue services and provides spiritual guidance and pastoral care and counseling for the resident community of the Jewish Homes Eisenberg Village Campus. Among her well-attended spiritual education and outreach programs are her weekly Judaism class and the popular “Get Together with Rabbi Rita.”

Labels: Candles, Chanukah, Chanukiah, Dreidel, Eisenberg Village, Family, Hanukkah, Hebrew, Hertzberg, holiday, Jewish Holiday, Judaism, Ladino, Latkes, Rabbi, Staff, Sufganiyot, Yiddish

We have a remarkable legacy here at the Los Angeles Jewish Home: for nearly a century, we have been providing exceptional care for elderly men and women in Los Angeles. It began in 1912 when a small group of caring Angelenos gave shelter and hope to five homeless Jewish men at Passover.

In 2011, Passover continues to have special meaning for the Home. Last week, for the 99th year in a row, we celebrated Passover. On the second night, we opened our home to residents, families, and anyone around the community for our traditional Los Angeles Community Seder. Word of this special Seder spread far enough so that USC graduate student Benjamin Gottlieb decided to cover the event in the USC Annenberg School of Communications blog, Neon Tommy.

Check out the video report he made!


Also, take a look the photo album by Andy Holzman of our Community Seder on the Daily News website!

We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Benjamin for stopping by and producing some great footage, to the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism for including our tradition on their school's blog, and to Rabbi Rita Hertzberg for leading an amazing Seder.

Labels: Andy Holzman, Annenberg, Benjamin Gottlieb, Blog, Community, Cross Post, Daily News, Hertzberg, Media, Neon Tommy, Passover, Pesach, Photos, Report, Seder, Seniors, USC, Video, Vimeo

From the Spring 2011 edition of The Chai Journal


By Esther Berlin

The best part of the week for me is Friday evening at the Jewish Home. I shall never forget my first Sabbath here, six and a half years ago. I walked in for dinner and was unprepared for such a change in the dining room. It was obvious that something special was about to happen. Tables were set with white linens and each place had a glass of wine, a small challah, and flowers. Seeing this beautiful sight, tears of joy ran down my face. I realized how much I had missed celebrating Shabbos. It had been a long time since I made the same preparations at my home on Fridays. Once my two children went off to school and I was alone, I stopped our family's tradition of reciting the prayers and lighting the Shabbos candles.

Now, each Friday that I am able, I go to the Synagogue to say a special prayer for my friends and family who are ill. The Mi Sheberakh seeks physical cures as well as spiritual healing, asking for blessing for all human beings. Celebrating Shabbos with Rabbi Rita Hertzberg is very special for me. Her soft, lovely voice is very soothing and I find myself relaxed, peaceful, and calm. I particularly enjoy singing the Kiddush Motzi when everyone joins in. It seems that all who participate are filled with joy. In the dining room, Rabbit Rita always provides a helpful explanation about the various Sabbath rituals. And then to top it all off, we have that wonderful big bowl of delicious matzah ball and chicken noodle soup! I feel so blessed to be living at the Jewish Home where we observe the traditions of our faith each week.

Labels: Activities, Around the Home, Berlin, Chai Journal, Cross Post, Friday, Hertzberg, Judaism, Kiddush, matzah ball soup, Mi Sheberach, Mi Sheberakh, Prayer, Sabbath, Shabbat, Shabbos, traditions

In the Jewish tradition, life-cycle rituals such as becoming Bar or Bat Mitzvah serve as turnstiles, ushering us from youth to adulthood. It may also happen that ritual thrust us forward into the next stage of life, whether we are fully prepared or not.

There is, however, no specific time that ritual identifies to mark the passage from adult middle age into our elder years. Nor do we wake up one morning and say with certainty, “Today is the day I shall become old.” Instead, we recognize in gradual stages the process by which we come into our own as fully mature human beings.

For many of us, this time of life may be accompanied with physical or cognitive changes and challenges. Setbacks to the body can come at any time or age through accident or illness, whereas the full flowering of our awareness — our awakening to wisdom — is earned through years and years of experience and is never attained before its time.

The challenges of aging are not to be underestimated. The smoothly-running, well-trusted body that has been our companion faces an inevitable decline. It is not surprising that age-related depression is frequent among the elderly — we are not wrong to mourn our losses.

But what is truly the primary function of that beloved body? According to Jewish tradition, it is the vessel in which the soul dwells. The soul, or essence, of a human being is eternal. It lives on after the body's demise, not only in the memories and deeds of those it has left behind on the earthly plane, but in the great infinity that is its Creator.

Judaism teaches that ever since G-d breathed life into Adam, the original human being, it has taken three entities to create every person — the father, the mother, and G-d himself.

The divine spark that is the innermost essence of the human being's soul at birth cannot be extinguished by the years we record in this life. I suggest, rather, that our souls advance through the decades of life in a direction counter to the “age-related” decline of the human body.

Indeed, the eternal soul present at our births grows brighter as the years pass, gathering spiritual experience with every breath allotted to us in the course of our days.

If the soul ultimately returns to G-d, does it not make wonderful sense that its divine spark would be enlightened through worldly experience when it comes to dwell in its eternal home?

I sometimes picture our years of earthly life as a time in which the soul grows in brilliance until the physical self can no longer contain its radiance and it returns at last to the sheltering arms of the Divine Parent.

From this perspective, if we approach eldering as a time not of age-related physical decline but of age-related spiritual abundance we can find comfort, strength, and hope to assuage the assault of worldly years on the body.

With a creative outlook on the soul's advance through life, we shift our point of view from a focus on the body's decline to one of embracing the realization that we are all fueled by the ever-evolving power of the soul.

When we do so, we can all claim our elder years as a rich harvest and a comfort, partake of the bounty of the maturing spirit, and delight in the fruits that ripen for us even as our physical existence is challenged.

For, in the end, we all become pure spirit, sheltered under the wings of a wise and compassionate Creator, at rest in our true and everlasting home. And we, along with those whose lives we have touched, will be wiser for the journey.

Rabbi Rita Hertzberg leads synagogue services and provides spiritual guidance and pastoral care and counseling for the resident community of the Jewish Homes Eisenberg Village Campus. Among her well-attended spiritual education and outreach programs are her weekly Judaism class and the popular “Get Together with Rabbi Rita.”

Labels: Aging, Feature Articles, For the Spirit, Hertzberg, Judaism