Last year, while completing a unit of CPE at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, I wrote an essay in which I tried to sort out the meaning of bikur holim. I wondered what it means to visit the sick, especially in the context of chaplaincy.
With the help of Reb Nachman of Bratslav's story about the Turkey Prince, I formulated a coherent theology of what Jewish chaplaincy is and why we do it.
The essay was published this week in PlainViews, the online journal published by the Healthcare Chaplaincy in New York. It will also appear in the the forthcoming issue of the Journal for Pastoral Care and Counseling.
It can be found by clicking here.
mazal tov!
Posted by: David A.M. Wilensky | Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 03:27 AM