Spotlight on CLAL

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CLAL Helps Jewish Communal Professionals to Cope in the Troubled Times

In this rough economic climate, helping the professionals who help clients, their families, and even other colleagues to cope is critical to nurturing their capacity to provide the support and care to do their jobs. "Burn out," layoffs, and other stress factors take a heavy toll on their ability to work.

In March, Rabbi Rebecca W. Sirbu, Director of CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders program addressed these concerns at the New Jersey Association of Jewish Communal Service at their annual Bier Seminar. She looked at what Jewish tradition can teach to help communal service professionals during these troubled times.

Asking participants to share their own stories to create an atmosphere of openness and trust, she looked at examples from Jewish texts to show how throughout history, Jews have survived great difficulties, moving from the dark to the light. Forming small groups, she invited people to share what strengths they had drawn on from the past, and to think about their strong core values.

Using Jewish rituals and exercises, Rabbi Sirbu asked participants to think about what motivates them and to identify the "toolboxes" in their lives — family, friends, spiritual practice, hobbies, exercise, interests, etc. By creating a bigger vision, participants were able to reflect on their fears and dreams, and better define themselves beyond their jobs. Helping them to locate their inner strength and resiliency, she encouraged them to find their personal mission, and to remind them that they will get through this challenging period. .

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