25th Annual “Ministering to the Elderly” Conference on Monday, June 7th, 2021
The Tapestry of Aging: Weaving Threads of Life
The approach in our older years must be aimed at developing both known and yet unknown abilities that perhaps had not flourished in our younger years, abilities that must be geared to provide us with a sense of self-satisfaction in the present and the near future. One can picture the essence of such an approach as learning to combine threads from our previous years and threads from our new learning as we grow older, and to weave them together. Thus, life during older age becomes like a tapestry. Every older person has the ability to weave a tapestry of life. Every older person’s tapestry will be different. Every older person’s tapestry will reflect their inner life as well as the world around them. Most importantly, every tapestry can have its own individual, special, personal beauty.
Our conference will be led by three experts on active and powerful aging. Rabbi Laura Geller, Rabbi Emerita of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, is the author of the book Getting Good at Getting Older, together with her husband Richard Siegel of blessed memory. Rabbi Geller was named by PBS Next Avenue as one of the fifty 2017 Influencers in Aging and by Newsweek as one of the fifty Most Influential Rabbis in America. Rabbi Geller will be joined by Dr. David M. Elcott and Stuart Himmelfarb. Dr. Elcott is the Henry and Marilyn Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service and Leadership at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. He has become the expert in the Jewish community on the baby Boomer cohort, encore careers, and public service. Stuart Himmelfarb is Senior Fellow at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. He is the CEO of B3/The Jewish Boomers Platform, a non-profit initiative dedicated to engaging – or reengaging – Baby Boomers in Jewish Life.
The conference, held remotely, will begin with a keynote presentation by Rabbi Laura Geller and Dr. Elcott. The keynote presentation will be followed by three sessions covering some of the different threads of life that are combined to weave the tapestry of aging. These sessions will be led by each of the three experts and will be followed by breakout groups for each of us to process what these threads can mean to us and those we serve.
Continuing education credits will be available for mental health care professionals, guardians and nursing professionals. The registration price includes a copy of Rabbi Geller’s book Getting Good at Getting Older.
The Program
Click here for the schedule
Continuing education credits will be available for mental health care professionals, guardians and nursing home administrators.
June 7, 2021, 9 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
$36 per person includes the book Getting Good at Getting Older by Richard Siegel and Rabbi L. Geller.
Click here to register.
Jewish Community Services of South Florida (JCS) has been approved by the Florida Board of Psychology and the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling to sponsor 3.5 continuing education credits for mental health professionals. Also, The South Florida Guardianship Association has been approved by the Florida Statewide Public Guardianship for 4 CEUs for guardians. Continuing education credit will also be available for nurses.
