Seekers of Meaning
The Seekers of Meaning podcast features news and interviews on the subject of Jewish sacred aging.
About the host: Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min., is the founder of JewishSacredAging.com and the host of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast.
A nationally recognized speaker and seminar leader, he is the author of several books on Judaism and aging, including his most recent work, Seekers of Meaning: Baby Boomers, Judaism, and the Pursuit of Healthy Aging (2011: URJ Books).
Rabbi Address has devoted his career to helping transform synagogues into caring communities that recognize the unique spiritual challenges facing older members and their families. His work has been based on the belief that a congregation, to be a true “caring community,” must be founded on a theology of sacred relationships.
Before serving for several years as senior rabbi at Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ, he previously was the specialist and congregation consultant for the North American Reform movement in the program areas of Caring Community and Family Concerns.
A major part of Address’s work has been in the development and implementation of the project on Sacred Aging, which is embodied in his popular web resource for Baby Boomers seeking spiritual help with issues of aging and eldercare, www.JewishSacredAging.com. This project has been responsible for creating awareness and resources for congregations on the implication of the emerging longevity revolution with growing emphasis on the aging of the baby boom generation. This aging revolution is affecting all aspects of Jewish communal and congregational life. Rabbi Address was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati (1972) and served congregations in California before joining the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) in 1978. He directed the Union’s Pennsylvania Council from 1978 through 2000. In 1997, he founded the Department of Jewish Family Concerns.
He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Hebrew Union College, New York, and the Wurtzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. He is co-chair of the Interfaith and Diversity Group for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), and chairs the Sukkat Shalom Jewish Advisory Group for Samaritan Healthcare and Hospice in Voorhees, NJ.
Rabbi Address holds a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health and a Doctor of Ministry from HUC-JIR. He also received an honorary Doctorate from HUC-JIR in 1997.
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SOM 1/27/2023: Hesh Zinman, LGBTQ+ Aging Issues
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Hesh Zinman, Commissioner, Pennsylvania Governor's Commission on LGBTQ+ Affairs, co-chair of the Aging Workgroup and founder and former chair of the LGBT Elder Initiative, discusses issues of interest to the aging LGBTQ+ commun...
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SOM 1/20/2023: Merle Feld Discusses Her New Book, Longing: Poems of a Life
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, author Merle Feld discusses her new book, Longing: Poems of a Life.
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Seekers of Meaning 1/13/2023: Hanan Harchol, Jewish educator and animator
On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Address chats with Hanan Harchol, a New York-based filmmaker, animator, artist, classical guitarist, and teacher.
Harchol’s animated series Jewish Food For Thought, which is generously funded by The Covenant Foundation, ...
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SOM 1/6/2023: Rabbi Aryeh Goldman
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Aryeh Goldman discusses his new book, Love Peace and Pursue It: Developing Respect, Compassion, and Connection in Our Relationships from a Torah Perspective.
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Seekers of Meaning 12/16/2022: Rabbi Seymour Rossel
This week, Rabbi Address chats with Rabbi Seymour Rossel, the author of The Wise Folk of Chelm and more than thirty other books, including The Torah: Portion-by-Portion, Bible Dreams: The Spiritual Quest, The Essential Jewish Stories, and Managing the Jewish Classroom. In addition, he has edited ...
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Seekers of Meaning 12/09/2022: Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren
This week, former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren discusses his new novel, "Swann's War," set in World War II.
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SOM 12/2/2022: Faith Community Disability & Mental Health Inclusion
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Shelly Christensen, the Senior Director of Faith Inclusion and Belonging at RespectAbility, discusses her pioneering work in the faith community disability and mental health inclusion movement.
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SOM 11/25/2023: David and Melissa Bernstein
This week's Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast features David and Melissa Bernstein, who have founded PowerOf5Life.com to provide books, courses, and recipes for better health outcomes for baby boomers.
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SOM 11/18/2022: A Discussion of Samaritan's Palliative and Hospice Services
Dr. Stephen Goldfine, chief medical officer, and Joanne Rosen, chief marketing and public affairs officer of Samaritan, discuss palliative and hospice care options.
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SOM 11/4/2022: Rabbi Stephen Fuchs
Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, rabbi at Bat Yam Temple of the Islands in Sanibel Island, Florida, discusses his experience guiding the congregation’s response to the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which devastated the island community in October 2022.
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SOM 11/11/2022: Rabbi Dr. Steven Moss
This week, Rabbi Dr. Steven Moss discusses his new book, "Jewish Wisdom for Living and Dying: A Spiritual Journey Through the Prayers and Rituals of Maavor Yabok and Sefer HaHayiim."
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SOM 10/28/2022: Matt Goldberg, Author
This week, Matt Goldberg discusses his forthcoming book, "Ring of Kindness," a collection of stories about compassion and empathy.
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Seekers of Meaning 10/21/2022: Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz
Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, former head of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, discusses his new book, "Where Are You? A Beginner's Guide to Advanced Spirituality"
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SOM20221007: Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner, Spiritual Coach
In this episode, Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner discusses his New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC, a spiritual life coaching practice based in NJ.
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Seekers of Meaning 9/30/2022: Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz
On this episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz discusses his new social justice commentary on the Book of Proverbs
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Seekers of Meaning 9/16/2022: Rabbi Toba Spitzer
On this episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Toba Spitzer discusses her book, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine. In God Is Here, Spitzer argues that whether we believe in God or fervently disbelieve, what we are actually disagreeing about is not God at all, but a metapho...
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SOM 9/9/2022: Rabbi Larry Kotok and Rev. Rick McCall
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Larry Kotok and Rev. Rick McCall discuss the relevance of theology in challenging times.
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SOM 8/26/2022: Amy Seigel, Founder and CEO, Advocare Geriatric Care Management
Amy Seigel, the CEO of Advocare Care Management, discusses the impact of the pandemic on the work that her company does. She explains that most of their clients are seniors, and that they have seen an increase in the need for their services since the pandemic began.
Seigel describes how Advocar...
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SOM20220902: Hollis Citron and Susan Gross
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Hollis Citron and her mother, Susan Gross, discuss their experience creating a widows' support group for Susan's community and the importance of Jewish communities like synagogues creating and nurturing such groups.
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Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast 8/19/2022: Rabbi Elana Zaiman
On this week's episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Rabbi Elana Zaiman discusses her book, The Forever Letter: Writing What We Believe For Those We Love
Inspired by the centuries-old Jewish tradition of the ethical will, a forever letter is a perfect way to share your most prec...
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Reb Carl Viniar, Rabbinic Pastor and Marital Counselor
Joining Rabbi Address on this week's Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast is Reb Carl Viniar, a rabbinic pastor and retired attorney who is an expert in marital counseling and mediation.
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Dr. Sara Zeff Geber, Solo Aging Expert
On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, the guest is Sara Zeff Geber, Ph.D., author of the book Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers.
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SOM 7/29/2022: Rabbi Mendel Moskovitz, Jewish Relief Network Ukraine
Rabbi Mendel Moskovitz, rabbi of the Karkhiv Choral Synagogue, and ambassador for the Jewish Relief Network Ukraine (jrnu.org) describes his family's exodus from Ukraine to Israel, and efforts to provide relief aid to Jews and other residents remaining in Ukraine.
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Keren Etkin, founder of TheGerontechnologist.com
This week's guest on the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast is Keren Etkin, founder of TheGerontechnologist.com and author of the new book, The AgeTech Revolution.
