Make Connections and Find Support
Living with a chronic health condition or illness can be difficult. Even caring family, friends, and co-workers can struggle to understand the experience. Finding a community that will support and understand you is critical to your overall well-being—and it’s where our JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates Chronic Health Conditions Support Group can help.
For those of the Jewish faith who are experiencing chronic health conditions, pain, and disability, the JDA Chronic Health Conditions Support Group is a safe forum where you can find emotional support, share personal experiences and feelings, learn coping strategies, and experience a sense of connection and community.
The group began in October 2022, and participants are welcome to join monthly or as their schedule permits. Meetings are held virtually over Zoom and facilitated by lay leader Max Weiner and Rabbi Bobbie Rosenberg. The sessions last 1.5 hours.
With a focus on Jewish spirituality, previous session topics covered:
COVID-19 and how our lifestyles have changed, including being more isolated and then more at risk once things started to open up.
Coping strategies to manage crises, conditions, and struggles.
Rabbi Naomi Levy’s, “A Prayer When One is Undergoing a Long and Draining Treatment” from her book “Talking to God: Personal Prayers for Times of Joy, Sadness, Struggle, and Celebration.”
Emotional healing around chronic illness
Examining Moses’s story through the lens of disability and a discussion of Rabbi Julia Watts Belser’s book, “Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole.”
“I enjoy getting to know community members and offering a welcoming space where people with chronic health conditions and disability feel supported,” said Max. “I also welcome input from community members about potential topics for future meetings.”
If you experience misunderstanding, isolation, or loneliness related to a chronic condition, you may find it beneficial to engage with others going through similar challenges. If you’re interested in joining the Chronic Health Conditions Support Group, contact Max Weiner at maxweiner126@yahoo.com or 720.244.9292. (This phone line does not receive texts.)
Throughout 2024, JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates and our JDA Partner Organizations will focus on Circles of Support. For more information about Jewish Disabilities Advocates, resources, and community events, visit the JDA page throughout the year.