Deathbed Wisdom of the Hasidic Masters: The Book of Departure
Join Shomer Collective for a special pre-high holiday teaching from Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow and Rabbi Joel Baron, translators of The Book of Departure (Sefer haHistalkut), first published in Hebrew in 1930. The book is a compilation of end of life stories of 42 holy teachers who died between 1760 an 1904; the stories shed light on Jewish wisdom about death, the afterlife, and how to care for people nearing death. As we prepare for Yom Kippur, the day on which we traditionally rehearse for our own death, come learn from contemporary translators of the Hasidic masters to help deepen your own knowledge and practice. 

This is session 2 of the 3-part series, Awakening to the New Jewish Year: Living Well in the Face of Mortality. The new Jewish year, 5782, begins in the evening of September 6. As we enter the season of reflection on the Jewish calendar, join us for a 3-part series on living well in the face of mortality. Starting with the work of taking a spiritual inventory, continuing with the deathbed stories of the Hasidic masters, and concluding with a look at how the pandemic has helped us to face our own inevitable end in new ways, we will explore the depths of Jewish wisdom to help us enter the new year open to the realities of our lives.

Taught by: Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow and Rabbi Joel Baron
Sara Paasche-Orlow is the Director of Spiritual Care at Hebrew SeniorLife. In this position, she established the nation's only Jewish geriatric clinical pastoral education (CPE) program accredited by ACPE, Inc. and has placed chaplains and CPE students throughout the HSL system. Rabbi Sara was ordained in the Conservative Movement at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and has focused her work on serving Jews of all backgrounds and denominations.

Rabbi Joel Baron is a hospice chaplain at Hebrew Senior Life (HSL) Hospice Care in Boston. A second career rabbi, his resume includes stints as publisher of two leading medical journals, the North American edition of The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.