Professionals learn how to meet spiritual needs of patients, mourners

Many of the seriously and terminally ill and family members who have lost loved ones may not be getting the spiritual and emotional support they need.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Hospital generic 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Hospital generic 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Most of the seriously and terminally ill and family members who have lost loved ones are not getting the spiritual and emotional support they need, according to Dvora Corn, a family therapist who co-founded Tishkofet, a voluntary organization that trains nurses, social workers, rabbis, chaplains and others to provide this service. The organization's two-day conference for professionals on "Spiritual Care Throughout Life" - which began Monday at Kibbutz Ma'aleh Hahamisha - attracted 140 participants on its first day. It is sponsored by the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, the US National Association of Jewish Chaplains and Joint-ESHEL. Spiritual care - which does not necessarily have anything to do with formal religion - uses text, music, photographs, conversation and other means to helps mourners and the seriously ill explore methods of regaining purpose and control. Corn, who founded Tishkofet with her husband, oncology Prof. Ben Corn of Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center, said that most Israeli rabbis and healthcare professionals received little or no training in tending to people's emotional and spiritual needs during a crises. "I receive a few calls a month from rabbis who want to learn what to say to those who lost loved ones in tragic circumstances and how to support them," Dvora Corn said. A feature on the Tishkofet conference will appear in Sunday's Health Page. Rabbi Meir Nehorai, spiritual leader of Gush Etzion's Kibbutz Masuot Yitzhak, said he turned to Tishkofet when he realized his yeshiva education hadn't equipped him to console seriously ill community members or those who had lost loved ones in road accidents, terror attacks or other circumstances. One of the main pieces of advice he now gives community members in difficult circumstances is to allow themselves to cry and not hold back during initial mourning, and to later restart their lives in a meaningful way by commemorating the dead with a project. (More material is available from the organization's Web sites, www.lifesdoor.org in English and www.tishkofet.co.il in Hebrew)