Shabbat Dinner & Guest Speaker – Rabbi Richard Address

April 8, 2022 - 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Joseph I. and Sylvia Spector Scholar in Residence:  Rabbi Richard Address, D.Min, Founder and Director of JewishSacredAging.com

“Before the Parade Passes By…Living Longer and Better:  A Contemporary Jewish Approach to Life’s 3^rd and 4^th Stages” 

Friday April 8 and Saturday, April 9

Over the course of his Shabbat with us, Rabbi Address will discuss the ways that our texts and traditions can provide us with a spiritual foundation for navigating what many experience as the “harvest” of life experience:

Friday, April 8:  Rabbi Address will speak during our Shabbat service on key texts that inform his approach to Sacred Aging. Following services, he will join us for an in-person Shabbat dinner discussion, delving deeper into concepts relating to aging and spirituality. (To RSVP for dinner, please email Chris at crocha@cbibpt.org; for those wishing to join via Zoom, our discussion will begin at approximately 8:00 p.m.)

Saturday, April 9:  Rabbi Address will speak during our 8:00 a.m. Shabbat morning service on rituals for new life stages, and will serve as our guest teacher and leader for Torah study that morning, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. A major part of Address’s work has been in the development and implementation of the project on Sacred Aging. 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 has begun to impact 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. Rabbi Address received a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in 1998 and his Doctor of Ministry from HUC-JIR in 1999. He also received his honorary Doctorate from HUC-JIR in 1997. In January of 2007 he was awarded the “Sherut L’Am” award by the Kalsman Institute for Judaism and Health. He teaches classes in Jewish Family issues and Sacred Aging at the New York campus of HUC-JIR. In March 2010, Rabbi Address was awarded a Best Practices in Older Adult Programs: First Place by the National Council on Aging-Interfaith Coalition on Aging.

Rabbi Address contributes articles for web sites on issues related to spirituality and aging. He co-chairs the Committee on Spirituality and Diversity for C-TAC (Coalition to Transform Advanced Care), and serves as Rabbinic Advisor to Men of Reform Judaism. For four years, he hosted a weekly radio show in Philadelphia called “Boomer Generation Radio,” which is archived in podcast form on this website. Beginning in winter 2018, Rabbi Address began hosting a weekly podcast, Seekers of Meaning, dedicated to discussing issues related to aging, spirituality and the impact on families, and congregations. Rabbi Address has authored numerous articles, book chapters and books related to the issue of aging.