NeshamaCast

Rabbi Fredda Cohen recently retired after a distinguished tenure as Director of Pastoral Care & Education at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York. She managed a staff of six chaplains and numerous volunteers. She has rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and is a board certified chaplain under the auspices of NAJC. Rabbi Cohen received the prestigious Chaplain of the Year Award conferred by the New Yor...

Rabbi Mia Simring was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, in her native New York City. She also holds a certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling and has focused her rabbinic work on chaplaincy in hospitals, long term care facilities, and now, correctional facilities. She is currently serving as a Jewish Chaplain for the New York City Department of Correction, working with both pre- and post-trial detainees. Prior to her...

Rabbi Myrna Matsa, BCC, D. Min., was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and served as a congregational rabbi both as senior rabbi in a small southern congregation and as an assistant in a large mid-western synagogue.  She has earned a Doctor of Ministry degree which brings together psychology and theology, and she is also a Board Certified Chaplain.  She has worked in a variety of medical settings:  hospice, psychiatric ho...

NeshamaCast is off for the summer, gearing up for an engaging Season 3. But in the meantime, we’re pleased to bring you this special bonus episode featuring NAJC’s Vice President Rebecca Kamil, BCC. Rabbi Kamil serves as a chaplain for the CLL Society in the Minneapolis area. The CLL Society supports and advocates for cancer patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma. Rabbi Kamil recently appeared on ...

Rabbi Dr. Shira Stern, BCC, serves as Disaster Spiritual Care Manager for the American Red Cross and as ARC Division Advisor for the Northeast and Lead for Massachusetts and Northern New England.  Her ARC deployment to the 2025 LA Fires was featured in the Berkshire Eagle.  She previously appeared on NeshamaCast in Episode 2 . She served as Consulting Editor for Mishkan Refuah: Where Healing Resides. Rabbi Stern is a Past President...

Rabbi Gabe Kretzmer Seed serves as a Jewish chaplain in the New York City Department of Correction where he provides religious services and spiritual support primarily for Jewish inmates. He also teaches and tutors for children and adults in the community, and provides research support for a number of Jewish Studies scholars, including as a research assistant to Rabbi Irving Greenberg for his acclaimed book "The Triumph of Life: A ...

Rabbi Aaron Lever serves as Director of Spiritual Care at Menorah Life in St. Petersburg, FL. He received rabbinical ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary and became a Board-Certified Chaplain through NAJC. He is a Reiki Master Teacher, a musician and a puppeteer.

Rabbi Lever is a co-author, along with Rabbi Simcha Weintraub, of "Guide Me Along the Way: A Spiritual Guide to Surgery," Jewish Healing Center, 1998. 

He also wrot...

Rabbi Jack Riemer is a master story teller and preacher and one of the most frequently quoted rabbis in the U.S. who artfully describes the relevance of timeless Jewish wisdom in our modern world. He is often referred to as the “rabbi’s rabbi” among Jewish clergy, because he has taught and mentored so many of his colleagues.  The late Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel wrote: "Jack Riemer’s words are songs of hope and faith. Listen to them...

David Balto is a volunteer chaplain at Washington Hospital Center  in Washington, D.C., the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington and Western Correctional Insitution, Maryland's maximum security prison.  He and his wife Naomi are actively involved in bikur cholim (care for the sick) with Bikur Cholim of Greater Washington and are co-sponsors of the annual National Bikur Cholim Conference.  David is also a volunteer for Ruach and a stud...

Rabbi Ed Bernstein delivered the talk "Beyond Cleaning Our Room: Responsibilities and Opportunities in Honoring Our Parents As They Age" to Valley Beit Midrash on May 16, 2024. Special thanks to Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz and Alix Cramer of Valley Beit Midrash for allowing the rebroadcast of this talk on the NeshamaCast feed. 

ABOUT THE EVENT:

The Fifth of the Ten Commandments is “Honor your father and mother.” It is one of the few comm...

NeshamaCast host Rabbi Ed Bernstein travels to Israel and interviews Jewish chaplains from Israel and across North America  attending a rabbinic conference in Israel.  

Chaplains interviewed in this episode are, in order of appearance:  
Rabbi Mary Brett Koplen, BCC, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York

Rabbi Barbara Speyer, BCC, VA Medical Center, Los Angeles

Mati Halperin, CPE student, Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv, Kashouvo...

Boca Raton Regional Hospital of Baptist Health South Florida hosted a symposium, "Caring for Jewish Patients and Families at End of Life," on December 4, 2024. The keynote speaker was Dr. Barry Kinzbrunner, with responses from Dr. Claudio Kogan, Dr. Jessica Eichler and Rabbi Ed Bernstein. 

Dr. Barry Kinzbrunner, MD, FACP, is Former Chief Medical Officer, VITAS Healthcare. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology,...

NeshamaCast is pleased to rebroadcast this edition of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, hosted by Rabbi Richard Address. In this episode,  Chaplain Barry Pitegoff, BCC, of Neshama-The National Association of Jewish Chaplains, and Missy Stolfi from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention join Rabbi Address to discuss their upcoming virtual webinar, “Through a Jewish Lens,” for survivors of suicide victims. The webin...

NAJC, as the Jewish chaplaincy organization, takes seriously our role in advocating for and supporting our membership, as well as in educating those in our field on how to identify and respond to antisemitism, particularly in light of its rise since October 7, 2023. Recently, NAJC hosted a panel discussion on "Defining and Combating Antisemitism in the Chaplaincy Workplace"  that was held on September 17, 2024.  Rabbi Rebecca Kamil...

Rabbi Valerie Stessin is the Director of Kashouvot: The Center for Spiritual Care in Israel. A native of France, Valerie earned a BA from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, majoring in Special Education and Jewish Philosophy and received a teaching degree from the Kerem Institute. Valerie studied at the Schechter Institute, earned two M.A. degrees and had the honor to be the first woman ordained by the Masorti movement in Israel, ...

Rabbi Mychal B. Springer is the manager of Clinical Pastoral Education at NY-Presbyterian Hospital. She founded the Center for Pastoral Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in Manhattan in 2009. Over a ten-year period she oversaw an intensive hospice chaplaincy training program in collaboration with Metropolitan Jewish Health System’s Hospice. She began her career as a hospital chaplain in New York City, and in the 19...

Chaplain Hagar Ben-Eliezer, BCC, is a Chaplain and Wellness Therapist for Hillel at UC Berkeley. She previously worked in pediatric chaplaincy at both UCSF and Stanford hospitals. She teaches medical school students on Trauma Informed Care, Somatic Healing and has created workshops in veterinarian chaplaincy she leads for staff at animal hospitals. In  the summer of 2024 Hagar served as the Hillel Birthright International Grief and...

Rabbi Chaplain Stephen Roberts is a leading practitioner and teacher in the field of professional chaplaincy. He has written, edited and co-edited vital works that have become standard reading for CPE classes and chaplains in the field. These include his edited work Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain's Handbook, the first comprehensive resource for spiritual and pastoral care. He is also co-ed...

Rabbi Mira Rivera is the first Filipina-American woman to receive rabbinic ordination at The Jewish Theological Seminary. She is Rabbi-in-Residence nationally with The LUNAR Collective, a Gen-Z founded organization by and for Asian American Jews.  She also serves as Rabbi-In-Residence at JCC Harlem with a mission of growing an in-person Shabbat community of learners, daveners, and organizers that is truly welcoming to those who hav...