One in four Americans will experience mental illness in their lifetime. Many of the figures in the Hebrew Bible experienced severe emotional distress. And yet, due to stigma, most of us feel isolated when we are personally impacted. The Northern California Board of Rabbis believes that mental illness is often a profound spiritual experience which …
Save me, God, for the waters are flooding me. I have sunk in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, overcome by flood. I have grown weary crying out; from pining for God my throat dried out, my eyes exhausted. —Psalms 69:1–4 1 It is my job to be …
The first time I walked into a psychiatric unit as a chaplain, I was terrified of being mistaken for a patient. The click of the locked door behind me made me worry that maybe “craziness” is contagious. And yet I soon learned that I feel liberated in psychiatric units. I am a second-generation Holocaust survivor, …