Jewish Responses to Trauma

A Daylong Symposium at JTS

Tuesday, March 13

Jews have been responding to trauma for centuries. Come and explore what Judaism offers to help us navigate the many traumas we face today. This multimodal conference draws on a range of disciplines as lenses through which to explore trauma, from history to theater to theology to psychology, and beyond. The symposium is geared toward pastoral care students and professionals, academics, educators, those in healthcare, psychology, social work, activists, and anyone else interested in ways to respond to trauma.

Highlights include:

• What Jewish Experience Can Teach Us about Response to Trauma
• Biblical Responses to Catastrophe and Tragedy
• Ritual as a Response to Trauma
• The Power of Witness Theater: Processing Trauma through Generational Bonds
• Moving from Trauma to Activism

The Center for Pastoral Education at JTS responds to the need for pastoral care with a unique combination of psychological principles and Jewish wisdom enriched by intensive multi-faith engagement. Join us in this mission. 

REGISTER

Cosponsored by the Millstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue, the Jewish Board, and UJA-Federation of New York.

Presenters

David Carr is a professor of Old Testament at the Union Theological Seminary. Professor Carr’s teaching and research interests include the formation and shape of the Bible, sexuality and gender in the Bible, the intersection of historical-critical and literary approaches to the Bible, the emergence of Scripture in the Jewish and Christian traditions, orality and memory, and trauma studies. Biblical books in which Carr has particular expertise include Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah and the Song of Songs. Dr. Carr also lectured at universities throughout the United States and Europe, and he has conducted numerous lectures and workshops for churches, synagogues, and other educational groups.

Mona Fishbane, PhD,  clinical psychologist in New Jersey, is past director of couple therapy training at the Chicago Center for Family Health. She lectures widely and publishes articles on intergenerational family relationships, couples, and interpersonal neurobiology. Mona’s book, Loving with the Brain in Mind: Neurobiology and Couple Therapy (2013), is part of the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology. Mona also focuses on integrating wisdom from the Jewish tradition with psychology and neuroscience. She consults annually with Conservative rabbis on retreat, teaches at synagogues and Limmud conferences, and publishes in Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas. Among her awards are a grant from the Templeton Foundation, and the 2017 Family Psychologist of the Year Award from the American Psychological Association.

Beth Faulk Glover is an Episcopal priest who serves as the corporate director of Pastoral Care and Education (CPE) at New York-Presbyterian. Dr. Glover has provided spiritual guidance to patients and families in several hospitals throughout New York City, and ministers in Northern New Jersey. She is canonically resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. She holds the degree of Master of Sacred Theology in Christian Spirituality (STM) from the General Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry in pastoral care and pastoral supervision from the New York Theological Seminary.

Adeena Horowitz, LMSW, is an administrative director of the Holocaust Survivor Program at Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.  She has worked in the field of aging for over 25 years and at Selfhelp Community Services since 2000, both in her current position and as the program director of the Holocaust Survivor Program in Washington Heights and the Penn South Program for Seniors Naturally Occurring Retirement Community.  Ms. Horowitz currently provides administrative oversight for the Washington Heights and Bronx Holocaust Survivor Programs and manages special projects for the division. She was instrumental in bringing Witness Theater to New York for Selfhelp Community Services in 2012.

Dove Kent has over 15 years of experience in grassroots organizing, political education, and movement building. As the former executive director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (2011 through 2016), Dove supported the organization to triple in size and win game-changing legislative victories for police accountability and worker’s rights through powerful local coalitions. Under Dove’s tenure, JFREJ grew into one of the strongest and most effective progressive Jewish organizations in the country, creating significant culture shifts within the Jewish community, New York and nationally. She has been published in What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump’s America (2017), Towards the “Other America”: Anti-racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter (2015), Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering To Our Movement (2017), and in the Guardian, Ha’aretz, Tikkun, and the Forward, among other media outlets. Dove teaches throughout the country on antisemitism and racism, generational trauma, and solidarity building. 

David Kraemer is the Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at JTS. Dr. Kraemer’s focus as a professor is on the literary analysis of rabbinic literature, rabbinic ritual, and the social and religious history of Jews in late antiquity. He accepted the position of librarian in 2004 and has since played a crucial role in forging policy and expanding the impact of The Library’s world-renowned collections and programs. Professor Kraemer is now working on a history of the Talmud from its origins to the present day.

David C. Lindy, MD, is a faculty member of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; associate clinical professor of Psychiatry, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University; and clinical director/chief psychiatrist of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York’s Community Mental Health Services. He remains on the attending staff of New York Presbyterian Hospital. He supervises Columbia residents, medical students, and trainees in psychology and social work, and teaches trauma to candidates at the center and multiple topics in the center’s Psychotherapy Course. He maintains a busy private practice in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy. He has written about community mental health and mental health dimensions of trauma and disasters.

David Senesh is an Israeli clinical psychologist and educator. He is a certified supervisor in psychotherapy and a certified clinical psychologist by the Ministry of Health of Israel. He graduated from the Educational Psychology program at the University of Calgary with a PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology in 1988. Dr. Senesh teaches and pursues research at the Department of Psychology, Levinsky College of Education. His research is in Health Psychology, Positive Psychology, and Clinical Psychology. In his work, he applies insights and conclusions from his study of restorative practices among First Nations in Canada to the practice of restorative justice and dialogue groups between Israelis and Palestinians. His research interests also include narrative psychology, discourse analysis, and restorative practices.

Sally Shatzkes is a registered drama therapist and licensed creative arts therapist. Ms. Shatzkes has over a decade of work in the drama therapy field, innovating creative arts based counseling programs at Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School and spearheading creative approaches in Jewish education at multiple other institutions. Ms. Shatzkes piloted the first Witness Theater program in New York in 2012 at Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School and continues to work as the lead drama therapist for the program, training other drama therapists to facilitate the program in different locations. Ms. Shatzkes is a noted lecturer and educator whose work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Daily News, and the Forward. In 2017 Ms. Shatzkes was recognized as one of the Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” for her work with Witness Theater.

Joy Solomon, Esq., is the director and managing attorney of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention, the nation’s first emergency shelter for elder abuse victims. Joy co-founded the Weinberg Center in 2004. She was previously director of elder abuse services at the Pace Women’s Justice Center, a non-profit legal advocacy and training center based at Pace University Law School. Prior to joining the Women’s Justice Center in 1999, Joy investigated and prosecuted a variety of crimes including child abuse, fraud, and elder abuse as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, where she served for eight years. Joy is a frequent speaker on the issue of elder abuse, including to the United States Senate, Special Commission on Aging.

Simkha Y. Weintraub serves as rabbinic director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, a mental health/social service agency that serves New Yorkers of all religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds through a network of community-based programs, residential facilities, and day-treatment centers. Weintraub is actively involved in Jewish and interfaith efforts related to strengthening intergroup relations and human rights, especially concerning anti-racism, Muslim-Jewish relations, and the fight against human trafficking; he also maintains a private practice in couples/family therapy. He is a founder of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. He conceived and edited Healing of Soul, Healing of Body (1994) and is the author of Guide Me Along the Way: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Surgery (2002). Weintraub, ordained as a rabbi by The Jewish Theological Seminary in 1982, received a master of social work degree from Columbia in 1983 and graduated from the Couples/Family Therapy Program of the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in 1988.