Ep. 40 : A Final Act of Love: Honoring the Body in Death ft. Elissa Felder

Listen as we discuss Elissa's personal journey into grief, her brokenness, and the drive to learn as much about her deceased loved ones. Her subsequent passion and involvement in the Chevra Kadisha and her support of those who are grieving are truly inspiring. Elissa started and actively manages the only international community of practice for women engaged with traditional Chevra Kadisha (Burial Society). The community mission is to share experiences, give encouragement, network, learn together and help to develop and support each other. She is responsible for building the community and providing on-going professional development. The knowledge she has acquired motivated her to write a personal memoir of loss and grief weaving in Jewish teachings about life, death and afterlife. Her book, “From One Life to the Next Life: The Sacred Passage After Death,” was published by Mosaica Press. https://mosaicapress.com/product/from-one-life-to-the-next-life/ or purchase on Amazon https://amzn.to/3MRCKlu She is also the head of the women’s division of the Rhode Island Chevra Kadisha and is a sought-after speaker on topics of life, death, the work of the Chevra Kadisha and grief. She can be contacted at [e-mail] In addition, Elissa is the coordinator for all of Core’s Communities of Practice (www.CoreTorah.org). These communities offer training, resources and support for those who want to strengthen their communities on an intentional and ongoing basis. In her role, Elissa helps each of these many international communities grow and thrive. Locally, Elissa Founder and Director of Core Connects RI, a non-profit organization that aims to deepen women’s connections to one another, to Jewish wisdom and Jewish values, to empower each other to find greater meaning, purpose and possibility in life and to cultivate unity without uniformity. As director she is passionate about providing others with opportunities to grow and become. She runs programming both online and in person. Elissa works tirelessly to bring Jews together and celebrates the commonalities rather than the differences. Through all these experiences Elissa mentors and encourages others on their journeys and even finds time to teach a weekly Parsha class.