Rabbi Aaron Lever shares his insights from providing spiritual care in a long-term care facility. He describes his many joys as well as challenges, including helping his residents and staff colleagues navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the hurricanes of 2024.
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 wrote this article in which he references the story about Itzhak Perlman playing on three strings.
Here is the same story as told by Rabbi Jack Riemer, who appears on the previous edition of NeshamaCast in this feed.
There is debate as to whether the story about Itzhak Perlman and the three strings is true or apocryphal, as discussed in Snopes.com.
For NAJC members and Jewish chaplains considering joining NAJC, registration is now open for the NAJC Conference, May 11-14, 2025, Skokie Illinois, at the Doubletree Hotel. Click here for more information or watch this video.