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As I sat on the seventh floor of Northwestern University’s Kellogg building, looking out at the still blue of Lake Michigan, I received a text from a friend. “Why Divorce Mediation?” It was a fair question. I was in the middle of an intensive divorce mediation training, and it seemed to be a divergent path from the clinical and nonprofit work I find great satisfaction in. When...
The custom of the unveiling (the Jewish practice of unveiling the headstone at a gravesite, generally a year after the burial) comes from the burial of our matriarch Rachel, who was laid to rest on the side of the road to Bethlehem rather than in the family plot in Hebron. Why? Because a thousand years later, when the Jewish people were exiled from Israel, they would travel that very road. God...
In Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s profound exploration of spirituality (Studies in Spirituality, p. 205-206), he reflects, “It took me two years to recover from the death of my father, of blessed memory. To this day, almost twenty years later, I am not sure why. He did not die suddenly or young. He was well into his eighties. In his last years he had to undergo five operations, each of which sapped...
Following the recent horrendous Hamas attack in Israel last week, my initial disbelief was quickly overshadowed by the magnitude of the reports. In the subsequent week, I grappled with a complex mix of emotions, concerns for friends and family, and the responsibility of supporting friends and colleagues through their profound sorrow, anger, and, in some cases, a paralyzing search for a path...
Dear students, Today you had your last final, and unless you are doing a final on the make-up day, this is officially your last day of school. This is always a day filled with joy and excitement for the summer. This is a bittersweet day for me. While I am excited about the future, I am saddened this is my last day with all of you. The last two years that we shared were unique. I came in...
As individuals dedicated to the emotional well being of our clients, I am always surprised when I come across a mental health professional who has seemed to have lost the muscle strength to smile. Clearly, smiling is not appropriate all the time. I have learned this the hard way as I have often found myself smiling in situations where my colleagues have had to kick or elbow me under that table...
