JFS Community Chaplain Teaches the Value of Our Stories
The 19th annual Mental Health Conference was held in October. More than 400 people attended. Keynote speaker and jazz musician Sam Miltich told the crowd about his personal journey through mental illness. Through his music and personal stories, Sam provided encouragement that recovery is possible.
The conference featured 22 workshops. JFS Community Chaplain Rabbi Lynn Liberman presented “The Wholeness of Being: Caring for Our Spiritual Self” intended for those of faith, little faith or no faith who were looking for ways to care for their spiritual well-being, whether for themselves or their loved ones.
During the workshop, Rabbi Liberman asked participants to turn to their neighbor. One would act as the listener, and the other, the speaker. For one minute, each shared the story of their name. “This is holy work,” said Rabbi Liberman. “You have each taken a great leap to open yourself up just a bit to another while you have also become a sacred vessel by holding the other’s story.”
“Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”
Michelle Obama from her book “Becoming.”