Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn began her term at President of NAJC on January 30, 2024. In this interview she discusses her career as a chaplain and rabbanit and her vision for NAJC.
About Our Guest:
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn recently began her term as President of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains. Rabbanit Alissa was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat and is a Board Certified Chaplain. She is a full-time staff chaplain at New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center where she specializes in end-of-life care, palliative care, and psychiatric care. She also serves on the clergy team at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ, where she resides with her family. Rabbanit Alissa is a prolific writer and speaker, and in 2017 was chosen as one of the Forward 50, the Forward's annual list of the 50 most influential, accomplished, and interesting American Jews.
Rabbanit Alissa is featured in the video “Are we ready for female spiritual leadership?” hosted by Mayim Bialik.
More about Rabbanit Alissa is found in Wikipedia.
During podcast interview, reference is made to article in New York Times Magazine, “Should patients be allowed to die from anorexia?”
About our host:
Rabbi Edward Bernstein, PBCC, is the producer and host of NeshamaCast. He serves as Chaplain at Boca Raton Regional Hospital of Baptist Health South Florida. He is a member of the Board of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains. Prior to his chaplain career, he served as a pulpit rabbi in congregations in New Rochelle, NY; Beachwood, OH; and Boynton Beach, FL. He is also the host and producer of My Teacher Podcast: A Celebration of the People Who Shape Our Lives.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Shalom and welcome to NeshamaCast, exploring Jewish spiritual care today, brought to you by Neshama, Association of Jewish Chaplains. I'm your host, Rabbi Ed Bernstein. I'm happy to share that the NeshamaCast team is growing and I wish to welcome Rabbi Katja Vehlow as a producer and contributor to the program. She is joining me in today's interview. Katja, welcome to NeshamaCast.
Rabbi Katja Vehlow: Thank you so much. I am delighted to be here today, and to join you now at the microphone as well.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Tell us a little bit about your background.
Rabbi Katja Vehlow: I currently train as a hospital chaplain at Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park, in Brooklyn, and I grew up in Germany, where I studied divinity and Islamic and Jewish studies as well as in the UK and in Israel. I originally came to the US for a Ph. D. In medieval Jewish history at New York University, and I ended up staying. After a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin and Madison I taught religious and Jewish studies at the University of South Carolina for many years. I was 10 years there, I was involved in all kinds of projects at the university and in the community, and I left to train as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and now as a chaplain. I live in New York with my family, and I really love holding stories of change for people from all walks of life, and I'm thrilled to be here with you today with this podcast and with Neshama.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Well, it's great to have you on the NeshamaCast team. So now, Katja, let's meet our guest. Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn recently began her term as President of Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains. Rabbanit Alissa was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat , and is a board-certified Chaplain. She is a full-time staff chaplain at New York, Presbyterian, Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, where she specializes in end of life care, palliative care and psychiatric care. She also serves on the clergy team at congregation Netivot Shalom, in Teaneck, New Jersey, where she resides with her family. Rabbanit Alissa is a prolific writer and speaker, and in 2017 was chosen as one of the Forward 50, the Forwards annual list of the 50 most influential, accomplished, and interesting American Jews. dI hasten to add that Rabbanit Alissa is the first guest on NeshamaCast, who has her very own entry on Wikipedia. Rabbanit Alissa, welcome to NeshamaCast!
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: thank you so much for having me, Katja. I'm so grateful that you have created this space in Neshama, and I'm so excited to be here with you.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Rabbanit Alissa, as with other chaplain colleagues who have appeared on NeshamaCast, I'd like to ask you to take us into your spiritual and religious origins story. I believe your mother is a rabbi in the Reform Movement, and you are serving within Orthodoxy. So please share a bit of your spiritual journey. What was your spiritual life like growing up. And what was the path that led you to Jewish spiritual leadership?
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: Thanks for asking. Yes, my mom is a Reform rabbi and cantor. She has her own congregation Temple Emet that she started in the South Bay, in the Los Angeles area in California. I grew up in the Reform community. My parents raised me with a lot of spirituality and deep connection to Judaism and to tradition, and my parents got divorced when I was little. While I still had a strong relationship with my dad, I was primarily living with my mom, and she raised me with very traditional beliefs and practice. So in terms of beliefs, I grew up with Torah miSinai and I with a strong belief that everything in the Torah happened exactly as it is described in history, and also in terms of practice. I grew up with strict kashrut, strict kosher eating but at the same time there was the pick and choose element of traditional Reform where there were other areas of our practice that weren't as you know, stereotypical Jewish Orthodox in terms of how I practice now. So yes, I grew up in the Reform world.
And when I found myself in the college setting at Brandeis, I had the great gift of being able to explore all the different denominations, and really find where my home was, and I found that in both in terms of how I was raised by my family and in my own soul's purpose and calling, that the Orthodox community was the right fit for me. I've spent time in Reform, Conservative and Orthodox, and for that reason I have a deep appreciation for all of the denominations, not just those 3, but I know that there's many more. and that there's post denominational groups as well.
And my family is a tapestry of a variety of different kinds of Jews. And one of the things that I love about chaplaincy is that that diversity in my soul and in my history, and my background is something that I can use in connecting more with people. It's not something that is a limitation, but it's something that actually helps me step into a room and connect soul to soul with whatever Jew I'm encountering.
In terms of my journey to become a rabbanit, as I mentioned, I'm from Los Angeles. I studied at Brandeis University. I spent time at in Israel as well as at Pardes, I actually went to Jewish Theological Seminary JTS for a year in the rabbinical program to see if the Conservative nomination was the right thing for me, and ultimately found that my real spiritual home was at Yeshivat Maharat . I was very lucky, blessed that Yeshivat Maharat existed. I was in the third/fourth graduating class and when I graduated, even when I when I first started we didn't know what the title would be. We didn't know if we would be able to get positions. But it was very clear, as I mentioned in my own journey, that the path of being Orthodox and being at yeshiva was the right fit for me, and I had explored and discovered my home there.
When I was 15, I was in a community where unfortunately, very tragically, a peer in my high school died from suicide, and at the same time another peer's father died suddenly and my own father, alav hashalom, at the time had to have open heart surgery and he had a stroke, and so I found myself in the hospital setting in funerals, and this was all over the course of a month.
And it was that month that I found myself watching Rabbis provide comfort and presence, and a space for heartbreak and holiness in some of the absolute, darkest, and scariest moments of life. And that's really when I felt my personal call to do this work, I was 15, and I was looking at these rabbis who stepped into the darkness and did the they gave their hand. They sat with someone else. They sat with me. And that's really when I felt that this was the work I needed to do what that looked like, I was interested in pulpit. I was interested in chaplaincy, and I've honestly continued to do both because I love them so much, and they each inform the other, and, as you can imagine, given that that was my starting point felt called to do this work and the chaplaincy piece us integral.
Rabbi Katja Vehlow: Thank you so much for really sharing so generously not just your spiritual journey, but also what brought you into chaplaincy and to Orthodoxy as well as Yeshivat Maharat so rich? Thank you. Could you share a little bit about the history of Yeshivat Maharat as well, and maybe a little more on how you found your way there.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: Well, when I started at Yeshivat Maharat, I think it was in 2012, and at that time Yeshivat Mahara was the first school to ordain Orthodox women. So when I was looking for the space where I could serve as a spiritual leader, be able to do that with the education I was looking for, and the ability to work in in the pulpit setting and have options and opportunities was a real blessing. It existed. It was new, and, as I mentioned it was a place where II felt like I found my home.
I remember feeling that you know that sigh of relief of ah, this is the right place for me. And Rabba Sara Horowitz was the first woman to be ordained. She's the head of Yeshivat Maharat, and has been a big part of my life. The teachers there, and the education has an a strong emphasis, of course, on Halakha, and on learning how to serve in a Rabbinic position. Pastoral Torah is a very integral part of the education there as well. So in terms of my own spiritual growth. That was also a big draw.
Rabbi Katja Vehlow: Yeah, thank you so much. although could you maybe add a little bit just about the history of Mahat, and how Maharat Yeshivat came about.
s: Yeshivat Maharat started initially. Rabba Sara Horwitz was privately doing her smicha, her ordination studies with Rabbi Avi Weiss, and completed that ordination process with her. They then co-founded and created Yeshivat Maharat , and it has since become a thriving institution. I think they're approaching almost a hundred graduates. There's a lot of Orthodox women across America and Israel and the world who have been ordained by Yeshivat Maharat , and who are working, whether in pulpit or in educational settings.
We had a kollel track, which means that there were women who are already working with. Maybe they had a doctorate in Talmud, gemara. They were already serving in positions around the world, and were seeking to get that higher additional education from Yeshivat Maharat , and continue their work and studies. And now go by the titles of Rabbah, Rabbanit, Rabbi. There's a lot of different titles that people use, Maharat , of course. But, as I mentioned for me in the beginning, as one of the first graduates, we still weren't sure what the title would be. So in my own personal journey when I first started at when I first graduated first I was the kehillah intern at the synagogue in LA I worked at Beney David, Judea. So it was the Kehila intern, and then I became moratenu, which means our teacher, and after moratenu, I chose Rabbanit and Rabbanit has been the title that I've been using ever since.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Rabbanit Alissa, you've mentioned your twin calls both to chaplaincy and to the pulpit, and you've been doing both, and you're still doing both. Can you speak a bit more about chaplaincy. What is it you find compelling about chaplaincy, and what are some meaningful moments you've had in the chaplaincy experience.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: Chaplaincy is at the core of my work as a rabbanit. I don't know what kind of clergy person I would be without my chaplaincy training, and I don't want to know, I think, that the CPE training is central to who I am, and the way that I approach my Torah teaching and learning, as well as certainly my pastoral care.
I did my first unit of CPE clinical pastoral education at Bellevue Hospital in New York, and then I did my other units at New York, Presbyterian, Columbia, where I'm working now, and at Cedar Sinai, in Los Angeles. And with every CPE Supervisor II found that I learned how to see myself fully my strengths and my growing edges to tell my story and learn where I am situated in the Jewish story and how I can best be present and supportive to those who are facing some of the worst days of their lives, and also who are facing some of the best days of their lives, bH, God willing.
So I think that the role of chaplaincy for me goes hand in hand with what it is for me to be a revenue. I remember saying this when I started at Yeshivat Maharat. They now require, as do most seminaries CPE as part of the education, and I at the time when I first did my first unit, I didn't know that I was going to love Chaplaincy, as most chaplains. But once I got a taste including the hard part, right? Like that first unit of CPE is kind of painful but just first having that that taste of seeing yourself and the people around you through that lens. I don't think you can unsee that. I don't think I can unsee that, or want to unsee it. So chaplaincy is, I guess a part of me is who I was.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Rabbanit Alissa, you spoke at the last Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains Conference about your work in palliative care chaplaincy for psychiatric patients based on your clinical work. Can you share one of the many gripping stories that you have from this experience, and how you have tapped and continue to tap into your chaplaincy skills to provide ministry of presence for your patients and families.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: So yes. As you mentioned, I presented on palliative care for patients with chronic or long term psychiatric diagnoses as well, and sometimes they're co occurring where, understandably, someone who is in palliative care or even end of life care or hospice is experiencing certain psychiatric symptoms, and also when someone may be have a lifelong psychiatric diagnosis that goes hand in hand. Then eventually, with an additional diagnosis, they get like, you know, they whole lives, they have bipolar disorder, and then eventually they are diagnosed with cancer. So I did share some stories about patient care in that context as well as patients with eating disorders.
And I think that one of the areas that I didn't seek out as a specialty but that I have found myself really dwelling in and appreciating and learning more about is care for patients, palliative care patients who are grappling with eating disorders and other additional illnesses that come with that. So some of the patients that I've cared for with eating disorders my role, especially if the patient is Jewish, is often to provide support to the family, to the staff, because it's a particularly painful at experience to navigate for the for the Jewish families. I think some of the support is also translating for the staff what the values are, as is with any case, palliative care or not. But one of the cases I'm thinking of that I just continue to hold in my heart.
It's a conversation with someone where we were looking at one of the spiritual care interventions that I found to be particularly meaningful with patients with eating disorders is to look at a Russian doll to look at a doll that has, you know, the different pieces that come apart, and on the inside right you fremove each layer and you get to this very small doll within, and to have that visual where we we sort of peel back the layers of self, of identity. There's the outside layer that maybe is protective or provides control. There's the eating disorder layer that has been a coping mechanism. There's the the person who has been a victim and who has experienced tremendous trauma. There's the person who's feeling guilt and wishes that they could self-differentiate from the eating disorders, but is struggling so much with that, and peeling back those layers also, seeing the really beautiful parts of the person, because self-love is a huge obstacle when facing an eating disorder. And then really looking at that child within that little tiny self, that spark of light within. And I've encountered people say things like you know, they look at their child self and ask, you know, how, how did I once see that child when I was that child? And how do I look at that child differently now? And sometimes there's tremendous sadness and sorrow and mourning, and that's the chaplain's role to create that space for grief and for support unconditionally.
And also there's sometimes restore and repair of expressing love to that child that is both still there, but also fields removed. And I think that that's an example of work that yes, it's in the context of someone who's been through tremendous obstacles in their eating, disorder, treatment, and care but finding their spiritual meaning in who they are and who they were, and what hope exists now, especially when they're in thecontext of palliative care is particularly meaningful to me.
And I think that that's a message that extends far beyond the context of a specific illness, or even within the context of palliative care. Who are each of us. When we think about the layers, we pull back, what helps us, what hurts us what coping techniques used to help us, but aren't helping us anymore. And who do we want to be when we imagine ourselves in our future and the hope, both looking back and looking forward.
So this is one example, I think, of some of the really meaningful kinds of conversations as a chaplain, I've been able to have. I think that when I when I provide spiritual care, I think of 3 primary aspects that I'm working on. If you think of, you know, there's spiritual aim, and there's different spiritual assessment models for me personally what I've resonated most with is to identify the opportunity to tell the story of suffering, the opportunity to access spiritual resources. Sometimes that's helping someone access them, whether it's prayer or it's a ritual. Sometimes it's meditation, sometimes it's art, and then providing that supportive presence, without any sort of judgment, telling the story of suffering, accessing spiritual resources, and providing a supportive presence. Sometimes that supportive presence also includes advocacy for ritual needs or religious needs, psychosocial spiritual needs. But in general, I think that being able to be that spiritual presence represents spirituality is a tremendous that gift, and bracha, blessing, each of us is given as chaplains, and that, thank God, our training helps us step into.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: As you were speaking, Rabbani Delisa, my mind took me to a recent New York Times magazine feature about palliative care and eating disorders. I am curious if you read that article, and what that raised for you how that might have resonated for you in terms of your own personal experience.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: Yes, I read that article, and I think it was a huge step forward in shedding light onto that experience for patients and families, and also the larger conversation happening within the palliative care field as well as in the psychiatry field because there's a lot of discussion on how to provide care and treatment for these patients and families, and I presented as part of the Consult Liaison Psychiatry Conference this past year, together with a psychiatrist and a dietician. On one of the cases that we had, we did a Poster Board presentation, and I am very, very invested, as you mentioned before, in this specific topic. In terms of the article specifically, I think that, and a lot of people from NAJC have actually reached out to me about the article, because they know that I've been doing this work.
I think that one of the pieces that was missing from it, and that I think, probably as chaplains we resonate with is that voice of spirituality meaning making hope and also loss. There's grief, there's guilt. There's tremendous pain in terms of the family dynamic, and what the person the patient is living and the trauma that they've gone through, and I think that the article did a wonderful job of presenting the medical side of the reality, and also there was room for more around the psychosocial spiritual side.
So I appreciate you raising it because I think it was a really important piece. And I also had that reaction of you know, the voice of the chaplain here, I think, could be much, much more elaborated on, and there was a chaplain mentioned at the very, very end of that article. But I've been working on trying to see if I should write something in response. And I also know that there's this is a really complicated topic, the field of eating disorders and of palliative care. I guess I’ll add one more thing on that. I think the intersection of psychiatry and palliative care around eating disorders is particularly open for spiritual care to provide support around, and I would encourage my NAJC colleagues to explore this as well, because in that space there is a real question of what the role of hope is, what the role of staff support is, and especially when we when we think about how far treatment goes, and what ethics come up, when patients and families are asking for certain things, and I think it's an area where there is a lot of ambiguous loss and room for spiritual care to step in.
Rabbi Katja Vehlow: How has Neshama, the Association of Jewish Chaplains played a role in your own growth and development as a chaplain?
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: I love NAJC and it’s been a part o chaplaincy education since the beginning. When I did my units of CPE with Rabbi Naomi Kalish at NY Presbyterian, Columbia and the Children's Hospital as well. She was at the time the president of NAJC. And just learning from her, and I specifically sought her out because I wanted to do CPE with a Jewish supervisor where I could understand and learn about chaplaincy in the context through a Jewish lens. And so I think it was very obvious that I would connect with NAJC. Because it's the Jewish space for chaplains who are Jewish to come together and provide support to each other, and also learn and get ongoing education in our training. There isn't a space like NAJC anywhere else. And so I think that my devotion to NAJC since the very beginning has been a reflection of the fact that I also really need this space. We know that historically, chaplaincy has often been in a Christian context or in a non-Jewish context, and that even when we step into a space, cross the threshold, that when people hear chaplain, they often think not, certainly not Jewish, they may think of another faith, and so to be able to identify who we are as chaplains and what we do when we ourselves are Jewish, or providing specifically Jewish care.
NAJC is critical to that development. I think to answer your question. I love NAJC. I've been involved in it since the beginning of my personal work, and I'm very honored to continue to be a part of it now.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Rabbanit Alissa, you've just begun your term as president of NAJC. What are your goals for the organization as you take as you have taken on as you begin this leadership role.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: When I, what I mentioned at the annual meeting was placing our vision. I mentioned at our annual meeting that as incoming President, my vision is very much so rooted both in masora and our tradition of what NAJC has always offered, and continues to offer, as well as thinking about innovation and what we want to be and expand upon going forward. So Masorah and innovation are constantly in dialogue at NAJC, and that's what I have seen as part of my role as president is currently to continue to flourish.
In terms of the specific parts of my vision. I thought of Bereshit (Genesis) yud bet, chapter 12 at the beginning, where we read about Avram's call to lekh lekha to go forth. And the language there, there's really 3 portions of what God calls Avram to do. The first is going to aretz asher hereka, going to the land that I will show you, which is, of course, referring to Israel. And I think that now more than ever, Israel is constantly on our horizon and in our hearts. And NAJC has to make Israel and the work in terms of our support of our chaplains who are in Israel, as well as those in America who are providing support ongoing support to those in Israel a central part of our work. So this means creating opportunities for our membership to come together in support of Israel and exploring ways for chaplains to be a unique voice of spiritual care in the wider Jewish community, especially around Israel. So I think, going into that Lekh Lekha model, the idea of Israel being central to who we are in our Jewish identity, the NAJC again, more than any other chaplaincy organization, is situated to be that that light, that light of support around Israel.
The next piece of what is mentioned at the beginning of chapter 12 is that we're going to be a Goi gadol biat bracha, that Avram is going to become this great nation and be a source of blessing. And that's my hope in terms of our NAJC membership. What we can do for each other, that we can expand in our membership and get larger and larger, that those who belong with us at NAJC. And it should be their home find us, and we find them. And that we’re a source of blessing to each other. And again I mentioned the constant dialogue between mesora and innovation that we are always, I think, at NAJC holding the tradition of who we have been, and also what we can be.
And then the third part of what I presented at the annual meeting was nibekhu bekha kol mishpachot ha-adamah, that we become a blessing to all of the families of the earth, and this is really the outreach into the Jewish community and beyond. So, as we know, there's certainly been a tremendous rise in anti-semitism, and there's been work that NAJC has been doing around addressing anti-semitism. And also finding our voice in the wider Jewish community. I think also now, more than ever, the need for spiritual care providers from the Jewish community has become more and more apparent. Many of us have been providing safe spaces for not only chaplains but also hospital staff members expanding far beyond the hospital, Jewish community leaders, congregants to come together and provide support to each other. The chaplains are able to step into those liminal spaces and hold those spaces in a way that I think those without chaplaincy training aren't necessarily able to do so. Those are the 3 things that I've really had on my mind: our role in connection with Israel as NAJC. Our membership expanding and being a source of bracha (blessing) to each other. And what does that look like? And then our outreach, both within the Jewish community, so let's say, the Federations communal chaplaincy congregations, as well as the wider non-Jewish community in addressing anti-semitism and in addressing our, I think, experience of what it is to be Jewish right now.
Rabbi Katja Vehlow: Rabbanit Alissa. You've been involved with some of our colleagues to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to also strengthen the ties between NAJC and other religious chaplain organizations. Can you talk about what you have achieved already, and what you hope to achieve?
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: So I'm really grateful to Rabbi Rebecca Camel and her DEI committee that came together before October seventh to build research and statistics around what the experience has been for minority chaplains, especially as we know, of course, Jewish chaplains, Muslim chaplains and so DEI has been a part of NAJC, and through her leadership and her committee's leadership has been, really making strides in the wider chaplaincy world. In terms of what my involvement personally has been at October seventh, immediately following, in partnership with Rebecca, and with our executive board, I reached out to our strategic partners to, and our strategic partners are the NACC, The Catholic Chaplains, ACPE, the educational chaplaincy organization, CASK, Canada organization, APC which you know, is the Chaplaincy organization, that is, think interdenominational or encompasses many different kinds of faiths. And then we brought in AMC, the Association of Muslim Chaplains to come together with us as well.
We know as Jews that this has been an excruciating time, and I think that the role of silence, whether that silence is because someone doesn't know what to say or they're trying to figure out what to say, or they don't want to upset anyone. The role of silence can be extremely powerful. And so, too, the role of us coming together, even when it's very, very hard to come together is extremely important. So my involvement in in terms of our DEI work has been in supporting in working with our strategic partners to come together with AMC as well. To create a task force that is combating anti-semitism and anti Muslim bias. And that task force has been a unique and meaningful space. Because I think at this time there's been very few spaces where people at different faiths come together, certainly Jews and Muslims coming together, but our shared work and combating hatred, and the fact that we had that work already happening between our organizations before October seventh has proven to be very important. And there's also been some really hard conversations to have in that space. So my hope is that as this task force continues that we'd be able to within our task force do have some hard conversations, be the laboratory for some of the work that needs to be done, and then use that to share with our separate membership organizations which then can be a resource that's replicated. And II think that in my, both in my hospital work and in my pulpit work, I've seen significant isolation, and I've experienced it myself. And whenever I've been able to mention that this task force exists or that we're striving to have certain conversations or recognizing certain conversations can't happen. But what can we do that that's given people a lot of comfort and hope at times, where, of course we're in the middle of war we are experiencing. There's such trauma, and that's that trauma is going need to be addressed for a long time to come, and how we see ourselves as Jews in America has forever changed as well. NAJC is able to, and I think, has a chiyyuv, has an obligation to share what it is that Jewish chaplains and Jewish people are feeling right now, and advocate for increased understanding around what anti-semitism is, combating hatred in all forms, and being the voice of Jewish chaplaincy. So I mentioned this at the annual meeting but I I'm so grateful that I get to be in this role right now. because I think it's never been more clear that we need a Jewish chaplaincy organization that we need to have a Jewish voice that's strong and represents and advocates for not only our patients and families, but also for ourselves in the field. And that's something that NAJC is here to do for our members.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Yeah, that's really inspiring that you've ow NAJC is, is there not just for our chaplains internally, but is also leading the way to build bridges to our colleagues from other religious denominations. To follow up on the terror attack of October seventh, I mean, we're going to be talking about the fallout from this for years and years to come. The attacks, the hostage crisis, the war, the anti-Semitic fallout in this country all of this has shaken us and our community to the core. How have you been managing personally? And how have you developed your own chaplaincy practice as a result. You've already spoken about our organization. If there's anything else to add on that, please do. But I'm interested in in you as a person and as a chaplain during this tumultuous time.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: Thank you for being my chaplain. I think, just like anyone else in our organization and Jews around the world, it's been a really painful time, and especially in the beginning. II have a pulpit that I'm privileged to work in Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, New Jersey, where I work together with Rabbi Natty Helfgott as the clergy team, and I was supposed to speak on Simchat Torah, and we heard from our security guards what was happening, and reports were coming in. But it was unclear, and I pivoted and said something completely different on that day, and Rabbi Helfgott and I work together to change what the hakafot would look like. and ever since that moment I think that moment, the intersection of my chaplaincy and my pulpit work has certainly been central, as I've mentioned before. But as a person I think that what my understanding was of being a Jew in America has changed too.
So I grew up in Los Angeles, but for 8 years I lived in Dallas, Texas and when I was a kid I encountered anti-semitism, I think, more frequently than most people my age in America. We put a Menorah, and we put a hanukkiah in our window, and someone shot a gun at the window and shattered it when I was little. I remember being in a Soccer League where friends weren't able to carpool with me because non-Jewish parents were saying that there was a stereotype that Jews couldn't drive, and so they couldn't be with my mom or asking like where our horns were when we were on field trips. So even though I am of the millennial generation, I think that I encountered anti-semitism as a as a young child. So it's not something that I was, you know, under the illusion did not exist, but I do think that the extent to which anti-semitism was present in my work and in my home community, it's never been stronger than it is now. So you know, looking at staff members, questioning if they can trust other people, and how you know, as the chaplain, and especially the Jewish chaplain, I've been uniquely situated to create safe spaces, whether for Jewish chaplains or for hospital staff, to feel like they can just be a Jewish person without questioning anything. And the fact that that's even on their minds, whether or not there's, you know, overt anti-semitism happening which you know, God forbid that should not be the case. I will say that our hospital really stepped up in an amazing way, and you know, put out statements against anti-semitism. Which were incredibly powerful. And I'm very grateful for but I think that the fact that that's something that I'm addressing on a regular basis you know, is different from when I was a kid. This is now a part of the conversations I'm having every day in work, and also, I think, in my personal life. So I live in Teaneck, New Jersey, which is, whether you may know or not, has been on the news a lot. Where there's been many, many protests in our community where pro-Palestinian protests have been happening here, and some of them have become violent, or one of them that I was at, people were chanting “gas the Jews” and the fact that that's something that's literally in my neighborhood has been you know, a like for all of us a tremendous shock, a source of trauma, a source of pain and loss. So yeah, I think that that's it's everywhere we turn. And at the same time I'm also very much aware of how positively the Jewish community has come together. Certainly in my neighborhood, you know Bergenfield like sent everything to Israel. People really stepped up to support. The ways that that Jews have come together and in support of Israel has been together has been amazing, and also, as I mentioned before, I think that you know, seeing our allies step up against anti-semitism has also been extremely comforting.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: So, as we near our conclusion of our time together. Rabbanit Alissa, I'm wondering if you have any additional messages you might wish to add about the role of Jewish spiritual care managing our challenging times or anything else that's on your mind.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: I would like to thank each and every one of our NAJC members for being a part of our organization, for being a source of light and beracha in the work that you each do. And to anyone who's listening to know that Neshama, as an organization is here to support our Jewish chaplains. And also, if there's a need for a Jewish chaplain in your community that you can reach out to us as well.
We want to make sure that the chaplain voice is present and providing the much needed I think chizzuk, physic resilience as well as space to mourn that we're all yearning for. The trauma informed care that we all need and chaplains occupy a space that is unparalleled and also greatly needed. So if you are part of a community that's in need of chaplaincy support, you're working at institution that needs a Jewish chaplain, please reach out to Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains.
And if you are one of our members, I just want to give you a hug through my voice, thanking you for being a part of this chevrah, for being a part of this group of friends and peers and colleagues and family. and we are looking forward to, God willing, a bright future for NAJC, for chaplaincy, and of course for am Israel and for medinat Israel not yesterday for all of the Jewish people, for the State of Israel and for all people. So thank you for having me, and thank you for listening.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn, thank you for joining us on. NeshamaCast. Chizki veimtzi-may you be blessed with strength and courage in your holy service to the community and in your leadership of NAJC.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn: Thank you.
Rabbi Ed Bernstein: NeshamaCast is a production of Neshama, the National Association of Jewish Chaplains. Thank you to our guest, Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn.
Check out of show notes for more information on her and items referenced in our show.
Special thanks for Rabbi Katja Vehlow, for participating in today’s interview and for her technical and logistical support, along with Allison Atterbury, NAJC acting executive director, and Rabbi Drew Kaplan and the NAJC Social Media Committee.
Transcripts for this episode and other episodes off NeshamaCast are available at Neshamcast.simplecast.com. Our theme music is a niggun for Ki anu amekha, written and performed by Reb Cantor Lisa Levine. Please help others find this show by rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcast. We welcome reactions and suggestions for future programing at NeshamaCast@gmail.com. And be sure to follow NAJC on Facebook and to learn more about spiritual care happening in our communities.
May we all work together to heal our world.