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JFCS and JFGP Will Walk Beside You

BY JENN DIRECTOR KNUDSEN
Grief affects every part of our lives and GRIEF PROCESSING GROUP
can be a lonely road to travel. Due to the WALKING BESIDE YOU
ongoing pandemic, coping with grief has
been more isolating than at any time in re- WHEN: 3-4 pm, Oct, 7, 14, 21 & 28,
cent memory. and Nov. 4 & 11
To address individuals’ grief and shore WHERE: Zoom
up their ability to cope, Jewish Family &
Child Service created a grief-processing COST: JFCS requests a donation
group for adults over the course of six ses- for participation, however no one
sions (see box for dates, registration). Missy Fry Rabbi Barry Cohen will be turned away thanks to a
Walking Beside You is co-facilitated grant from the Jewish Federation of
by Missy Fry, LCSW, a JFCS behavior- as being with loved ones or participating in Greater Portland.
al health social worker and certified ad- traditional rituals.” INFORMATION: jfcs-portland.org/
vanced grief counseling specialist, and Walking Beside You provides a path walking-beside-you
Rabbi Barry Cohen, Jewish community through grief. For example, while the
chaplain of the greater Portland area. grieving process is individualized, a group REGISTRATION: Missy Fry, LCSW,
The sessions will take place online; group helps foster community and allows one to 503-226-7079, ext. 133 or
members will have the opportunity to share build connections – both antidotes to isola- MissyFry@jfcs-portland.org
their own experiences with grief, connect tion, Missy explains.
with others, learn about the grieving pro- She says the group’s name – Walking Be-
cess and explore strategies for moving side You – is very purposeful. tion that publishes studies and articles by
through loss. “We’re not going to cure grief, but we’re academic experts in numerous fields, to
In summer 2020, both Rabbi Cohen and going to accompany you so you are not underline the need for the grief-processing
Missy recognized the need for Walking alone during this experience,” she says. group, now.
Beside You, a debut program that could be Rabbi Cohen acknowledges that while an “Social distancing is different from so-
offered again as the need continues to grow. in-person group would be ideal, Zoom is a cial isolation, which leads to a sense of
Shortly after the start of the pandemic, necessary tool and has its advantages. disconnection from the community. …
Rabbi Cohen began noticing people feeling “It still amazes me how strong a connec- Socially isolated people have higher rates
increasingly emotionally untethered. tion one can make over Zoom, and that of not only dementia, but heart disease,
“Something is going on here that we need connection can be so powerful, even if only high blood pressure, depression, cognitive
to address,” says Rabbi Cohen, reflecting in 2-D,” he says. Plus the co-facilitators are decline and death,” writes a University of
on spring 2020 visits with the dying and aware that many people feel safer in an Virginia associate professor of medicine.
their loved ones, both within and outside online rather than a shared physical space, Missy believes Walking Beside You is
the Jewish community, in retirement facili- and meeting via a Zoom link mitigates bar- one of the only nonprofits offering a gen-
ties, in hospitals, in their homes. riers to traffic, transportation and parking. eralized grief-processing group, and it is
“The toll of isolation, concern about the Ultimately, Missy says, she and the rabbi not exclusive to members of the Jewish
unknown, pain over lost expectations and agreed the time for their grief-processing community.
plans left unfulfilled” have contributed to group is now. “We said, ‘Let’s not wait a The co-facilitators consider their role a
a number of challenges, including coping moment longer.’” privilege. “We get to be part of these really
skills when death enters the picture, he says. Statistics shore up their observations, both delicate moments,” Missy says.
Missy adds: “COVID-19 has impacted so real and anecdotal. For more about Walking Beside You and
much in our lives, including grief, which is Rabbi Cohen cites an article from the “The JFCS’ other programs and services, follow
a natural response to any kind of loss such Conversation,” a nonprofit news organiza- JFCS on Instagram and on Facebook.
History scholars, practitioners invited to apply for prize by Nov. 1

Early- and mid-career scholars and prac- can include researchers from a wide range in contemporary discourse at a time when
titioners who study the human past are in- of fields, including history, archaeology, political transformations underscore the
vited to apply for a $300,000 Dan David anthropology and art history, and also prac- importance of studying and remembering
Prize. Beginning in May 2022, the Prize titioners such as archivists, curators, public the past. The decision to shift the full Prize
will award up to nine $300,000 prizes each historians and documentary filmmakers. purse of $3 million to scholars of the past
year to early- and mid-career scholars and “We live in a world in which investment in comes at a challenging moment for the
practitioners around the world to recognize the humanities, particularly in the historical humanities. In addition to the nine prizes
outstanding achievements in the study of disciplines, is declining, even though we of $300,000 for individuals, the remaining
the human past and to support the winners’ know how important studying the past is $300,000 will go to establish a new inter-
future endeavors. for understanding the present and building national program for postdoctoral fellows
First established in 2001 by the late en- the future,” says Ariel David, board mem- who study the historical disciplines at Tel
trepreneur and philanthropist Dan David to ber of the Dan David Foundation and son Aviv University, where the foundation is
recognize achievements in the sciences and of the Prize founder. “For these reasons, we headquartered.
the humanities, the Prize will now cham- have decided to focus our resources on this Nominations for the new Prize are due
pion a spectrum of emerging and more field and help catalyze the next generation Nov. 1, 2021. Winners will be announced
established scholars of the past, active of scholars.” in early 2022. For the nomination process
within and beyond the academy. Winners The Prize aims to advance history’s place visit dandavidprize.org.
8 Jewish Review Sept. 15, 2021