Midrash & Medicine: Healing Body and Soul in the Jewish Interpretive Tradition

by William Cutter PhD (Editor), Michele F. Prince LCSW, MAJCS (Preface by)

Overview

Midrash provides a revolutionary guide through the most difficult passages of our life stories.

This groundbreaking volume examines the spiritual shortfalls of our current healing environment and explores how midrash can help you see beyond the physical aspects of healing to tune in to your spiritual source.

Pushing the boundaries of Jewish knowledge, physicians, rabbis, social workers, psychologists and philosophers investigate the role of midrashic thinking in addressing seemingly intractable social and personal issues. Topics discussed include:

• How metaphors and parables can aid healing
• How Jewish tradition can inform and enrich health, hospice and nursing-home care
• New ways of reading Jewish texts in the discussion of medical ethics
• The role of community in addressing aging, loss and suffering.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683361961
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	12/01/2010
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rabbi William Cutter, PhD, is author of Midrash and Medicine: Healing Body and Soul in the Jewish Interpretive Tradition, and is editor of Healing and the Jewish Imagination: Spiritual Perspectives on Judaism and Health. He has published widely on health and healing. He is former director of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and professor of modern Hebrew literature and the Steinberg Professor of Human Relations at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion.

Michele F. Prince, LCSW, MAJCS, is executive director of OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center in Los Angeles. She is a steering committee member and former director of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health of Hebrew Union College. She is an oncology social worker affiliated with the Keck Medical Center of the Universityof Southern California.

Table of Contents

Preface
Michele F. Prince, LCSW, MAJCS
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1 METAPHORS AND SIDE EFFECTS
L'Mashal: Metaphor and Meaning in Illness
Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, LCSW
From Heaven to Hypochondria: Metaphors of Jewish Healing
Stuart Schoffman, MPhil

2 THE NARROW PLACE FROM WHICH HEALING COMES, AND THE EXPANSIVE EDGE OF THE CONTINENT
Surviving the Narrow Places: Judah and Joseph and the Journey to Wholeness
Rabbi Norman J. Cohen, PhD
Widening the Boundaries
Rabbi Eric Weiss

3 LYRIC AND COMMUNITY
The Midrashic Impulse in Poems, Our Dialogue with Ecclesiastes, and Other Lyrical Interpretations
Rabbi William Cutter, PhD
"Psalms, Songs & Stories": Midrash and Music at the Jewish Home of San Francisco
Rabbi Sheldon Marder

4 GOD IN THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE: SOME MIDRASHIC ELABORATIONS
Talking to Physicians about Talking about God: A Midrashic Invitation
Rabbi William Cutter, PhD
A Physician's Response to the Midrashic Invitation
Ronald M. Andiman, MD

5 CONTEXTS OF SUFFERING, CONTEXTS OF HOPE
Neither Suffering nor Its Rewards: A Story about Intimacy and Dealing with Suffering and with Death
Ruhama Weiss, PhD
The Experience of Suffering: A Response to Ruhama Weiss
Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, PhD

6 MIDRASHIC RENDERINGS OF AGE AND OBLIGATION
After the Life Cycle: The Moral Challenges of Later Life
Thomas R. Cole, PhD
The Journey of Later Life: Moses as Our Guide
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC

7 NARRATIVE AND LOSS
Words in the Dark: A Personal Journey
Eitan Fishbane, PhD
Reflections on the Dark
Linda Raphael, PhD

8 THE DILEMMAS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY; THE HEALING RESPONSE OF MIDRASH
The Danger of Cure, the Value of Healing: Toward a Midrashic Way of Being
Philip Cushman, PhD
Midrashic Thinking: An Appreciation and a Caution
Rabbi Lewis M. Barth, PhD

9 THE NARRATIVE TURN IN JEWISH BIOETHICS
Aggadah and Midrash: A New Direction for Bioethics?
Rabbi Leonard A. Sharzer, MD
Jewish Bioethics: Between Interpretation and Criticism
Jonathan Cohen, PhD

10 WHAT TAKES PLACE AND WHAT CAN BE CHANGED
A Midrash on the Mi Sheberakh: A Prayer for Persisting
Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler
The Human Body and the Body Politic
Rabbi Richard Address, DMin

Notes
Credits

Editorial Reviews

"A conversation among the giants of the Jewish healing movement. Jewish professionals and lay leaders alike, along with clinicians and all those who have had encounters with medicine will appreciate the depth and the humanity, the challenges articulated and the synergy engendered by this discourse on the science and art of healing."
—Rabbi Mari Chernow, senior rabbi, Temple Chai (Phoenix)

"A rigorous intellectual and emotional journey. Expands the field considerably, as midrash—Jewish lore—allows emphasis on empathy. An exploration of some of the finest minds (and hearts) into a new chapter of Jewish bioethics."
—Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler, author, Facing Illness, Finding God: How Judaism Can Help You and Caregivers Cope When Body or Spirit Fails

"A synergistic interplay of simultaneously personal and scholarly reflections from an international group of seasoned, intelligent, caring voices. Perusing this rich compilation of fresh source material and nuanced insights is like joining a leading-edge conversation—or at least like sitting within a couple of rows of the lively, collaborative roundtable."
—Rabbi Natan Fenner, BCC, founding editor, Bay Area Jewish Healing Center's Torah Reflections

“Explores a wide range of thought about how we use language, image and story to make meaning in the midst of illness, aging, healing and caregiving.”
—Rabbi Nancy Flam, codirector of programs, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

“Presents inspiring and beautifully crafted essays and stories on subjects that touch all realms of the human condition—the physical, the emotional, the mental and the spiritual. This powerful book provides the opportunity to engage in the extraordinary Jewish tradition of story making, interpreting and reframing to bring meaning and wholeness into our lives.”
—Sharona Silverman, MPH, director, Deutsch Family Shalom Center, Temple Chai (Phoenix)

From the Publisher