The Counselor Within: A Study of Rabbinical Counseling Training and Practice in the Conservative...

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The Counselor Within: A Study of RabbinicalCounseling Training and Practice in the ConservativeMovementLeora R. Trub; Maurice J. Elias

Online Publication Date: 01 September 2007To cite this Article: Trub, Leora R. and Elias, Maurice J. (2007) 'The CounselorWithin: A Study of Rabbinical Counseling Training and Practice in the ConservativeMovement', Journal of Jewish Education, 73:3, 163 - 190To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/15244110701669930URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15244110701669930

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Journal of Jewish Education, 73:163–190, 2007Copyright © Network for Research in Jewish EducationISSN: 1524-4113 print / 1554-611X onlineDOI: 10.1080/15244110701669930

UJJE1524-41131554-611XJournal of Jewish Education, Vol. 73, No. 3, Sep 2007: pp. 0–0Journal of Jewish Education

The Counselor Within: A Study of Rabbinical Counseling Training and Practice in the

Conservative Movement

The Counselor WithinJournal of Jewish Education LEORA R. TRUB AND MAURICE J. ELIAS

Members of the clergy provide a great deal of counseling. How didthis come about? How are they prepared for this role? In whatcapacity is this role played by rabbis? Do rabbis feel their trainingis adequate for what they are called upon to do? What are theimplications of this for both education and professional develop-ment of rabbis? This article addresses these questions historicallyand through presentation of an empirical study of Conservativerabbis who studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and arecurrently in the pulpit.

Mental health professionals are expected to accomplish a significant amountof training in the theory and techniques of counseling before going on topractice what they have gleaned upon the greater population. A socialworker or a family therapist must obtain a master’s degree; a psychologistmust obtain a doctoral degree; and a psychiatrist must obtain a medicaldegree, requiring six additional years of training. Then, in each case, thereis an additional hurdle of certification and licensure, with its requirements ofsupervised training, passing an examination, and other demonstrations ofproficiency.

Mental health professionals are not the only ones, however, providingcounseling on a regular basis. In 1960, a national survey found that 42% ofthe American public had either sought counseling from a clergy member orclaimed they would first approach a clergy member if they needed counseling(Charry, 1981, p. 14). Another survey found that nearly one in four adultAmericans has sought counseling at least once, and that 42% of that number

Leora R. Trub is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the City University of New York andhas had extensive experience in informal Jewish education settings. (E-mail: [email protected])

Maurice J. Elias is a professor of psychology and Jewish studies at Rutgers University and is vice-chair of the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning. (E-mail: [email protected])

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164 Journal of Jewish Education

has approached a member of the clergy. Those statistics yielded a crudeestimate of 235,000 clergy in the United States counseling 6,500,000 peopleper year (Tessler, 1991, p. 78).

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PASTORAL AND RABBINICAL COUNSELING IN AMERICA

This realization provoked the introduction of pastoral counseling as a formaland distinctive area within the vocation of the congregational minister, mostspecifically the Christian clergyman. Over the second half of the twentiethcentury, American clergy was presented with an assortment of availableresources and techniques for engaging their congregants and fulfilling theirrole as pastoral counselors. By the mid 1960s, in fact, there were enoughtechniques available in Christian literature for the first basic textbook to bewritten by Howard Clinebell (1966) on various methods of pastoral counseling;namely, supportive counseling, crisis counseling, and educative counseling(Capps, 1990, p. 2). Many authors followed his lead, focusing their writingon aspects of counseling, including methodology, limitations of counseling,how to integrate psychotherapy into spiritual counseling, and the introduc-tion of new models such as systematic family pastoral counseling into thepastoral counseling realm (see Charry, 1981; Heasman, 1969; Hiltner, 1952;Lester & Oates, 1969; Wise, 1983).

Indeed, by the late 1980s, guides to pastoral counseling were beingpublished as small, illustrated paperback books. Roy Oswald (1989; 1991)published a number of these guides in a how-to fashion of counseling, fullof charts and graphs, designed to help rabbis develop boundaries, organizetheir own necessary support networks, lessen tensions and pressures, andprioritize. In one such booklet, there was even a form to write one’s ownobituary, encouraging clergy to take a step back and reflect on their lives.

Beginning in the 1960s, the American rabbinate was in the process oftransforming from a vocation based on scholarship and rabbinic authority toa profession, with a new emphasis on pastoral duties and administration.Various rabbis and historians over the last 40 years wrote about this topic,resulting in prolific writings on the changing role of American rabbis in thelast century, the new paradoxical elements that came to define their jobs,and the increasing difficulty in reaching the high expectations of their con-gregants and of themselves (cf. Bloom, 1976; Herring, 1991; Marcus & Peck,1985; Neusner, 1993; Zucker, 1998).

The process of identifying the diverse roles of the modern rabbi, coupledwith the professionalization of pastoral counseling in American Christianliterature, spurred rabbinic scholars and writers to question the need for asimilar process of professionalization in the area of rabbinical pastoral coun-seling. It was in 1956 that Rabbi Jeshaia Schnitzer first challenged the

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The Counselor Within 165

modern rabbinical world to evaluate itself in this area, when the field of rab-binical pastoral counseling was still a nonentity. He fashioned his argumentaround a discussion of how the ancient rabbi was a counselor to his com-munity members, and that there was, therefore, no reason for current-dayrabbis to feel that they were scorning the Jewish tradition by functioning ascounselors. He cautioned that they could no longer counsel just by intu-ition, as was the practice of rabbis who came before them (Schnitzer, 1956).

A decade later, Earl Grollman complied and edited Rabbinical Counseling,the first comprehensive piece of literature on effective rabbinical counsel-ing. His goal was to impress upon rabbis the need for competence in thisarea, while cautioning them not to lose their traditional values within themore liberal domain of counseling and psychology. Rabbinical Counselingcovered a range of issues—marriage, family and parental issues, teenageanxieties about sexual ethics, depression, elderly concerns, and questions ofethics and faith.

The publishing of Rabbinical Counseling opened up new possibilitiesfor rabbis to take an active role in the counseling of their congregants, asexplanations of and practical approaches to pastoral counseling began topop up in Jewish literature. New motifs were emphasized and new argu-ments were presented to guide the difficult task of pastoral counseling,which grew out of the evolving mental health field in American society.Rabbis were cautioned to treat the “whole person,” keeping mental,emotional, psychological and sociological factors in mind (Rothstein, 1986).

The literature following Rabbinical Counseling emphasized counselingin specific situations, such as birth, death, illness, marriage and adolescence.Coping with grief, anger, and other strong emotions relating to the Holo-caust was emerging as a high priority issue, and intermarriage was alsobecoming paramount to the role of rabbis, provoking authors to attempt toroot out causes of intermarriage and suggest strategies for coping with itsrising numbers (Bubis, 1977). Changing trends in Jewish families werebeing identified and drawn upon to create pragmatic interventions for inter-faith couples considering marriage (Goldberg, 1977; Levine, 1977).

Rabbis were generally advised to use nondirective approaches to coun-seling, such as rephrasing, repeating, and suggesting. They were instructedto be patient, understanding, and nonjudgmental, while being acutelyaware of transference and countertransference, referring to the displace-ment onto the rabbi of emotions previously felt toward an important figure.Finally, the literature urged rabbis to be empathic. As Rabbi Tzvi Schurwrote, “As a counselor, a rabbi should listen more than he speaks andempathize more than he judges” (Schur, 1987, p. 21). Along with thisapproach came the urge not to use Jewish law in a heavy handed way,echoing Grollman’s (1966) position from a decade earlier, as is demonstrablein his discussion of suicide: “Judaism is committed to the sanctity of life. . . .Who then would further degrade the family of a man who chose death by

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his own hand? Who would, by an act of not burying the suicide in thecemetery proper, bring added anguish to those already sorely lacerated byunbearable grief?” (p. 148).

Books published in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s contained cautionary mes-sages about the dangers of overzealousness, the need for objectivity whilemaintaining a Jewish value system, and the importance of being able toidentify those who need mental help. Rabbis were cautioned not to gobeyond their level of expertise, to utilize the mental health field as aresource for referral, and to put limits on their appointment times and establishboundaries, just as mental health professionals do (Rothstein, 1986, p. 7).

A maturation of the literature on rabbinical counseling was evident bythe 1980s, emanating from skepticism towards rabbis’ effectiveness in theirrole as counselor. “Until recently rabbis have failed to confront the chal-lenge of dynamic psychology. In our counseling, we have taken our cuefrom the helping professions, adopting their methods and at times assumingtheir identities. Even when people call us ‘Rabbi,’ we have often listened tothem as if we saw ourselves as therapists. . . . We often deprive our peopleof patient and searching dialogue about religious values in critical life situa-tions” (Katz, 1985, p. 107).

In essence, literature of the 1980s raised the question of whether theultimate evaluation of the competence of a rabbi depended on the sound-ness of his counseling attitudes and strategies. “You may be a mediocrepreacher, but if you’re a good pastor, a good shepherd of your flock, thenyou are going to be a successful rabbi. [But], No matter how brilliant yoursermons, unless people can turn to you in their time of need, you fall shortas a spiritual mentor,” challenged Rothstein (1986, p. 2).

In Rabbi Basil Herring’s book on the various rabbinic roles, an entirechapter was devoted to the rabbi’s role as counselor. Therein, Rabbi JoelTessler warned rabbis that congregants view them in the fullness of theirroles as rabbis, which afforded them obligations, rights, and responsibilitiesoutside the domain of a counselor. People would come to rabbis with dif-ferent expectations, he said, knowing that the answer they would receivewould represent a specific value system and religious point of view. Hismessage was that it was acceptable to have an agenda, as opposed to asocial worker or other mental health professional (Tessler, 1991).

He entreated the pastoral counselor to realize that his primary role ofdelivering Judaism is not only legitimate, but also righteous. Furthermore, a“conscious sense of self,” is imperative in order for the rabbi always to beemotionally and physically prepared for crises. A rabbi must know hisdomain as well as his limitations, at which point he must refer. The rabbimust be prepared that while his advice is requested, it will not always betaken to heart, reminding him that he is not “omni-competent” in meetinghuman needs. He must use all of his skills to give different types of counsel-ing appropriate to various populations (Tessler, 1991).

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A summary of the literature suggests that authors have gone to greatlengths detailing how counseling is not a role that a rabbi can choose toperform or not to perform. Rather, it is an integral part of his or her role inteaching and empowering other Jews to carry on the traditions.

There is something wrong with the person who derives satisfaction fromsticking his finger into other people’s affairs, or—as the phrase goes—counsels and is a pastor to them; [he] is, in the first place, likely to becompensating for his own private failures and frustrations, in the secondplace, precisely because he does not do his job reluctantly and againststrong inner protest, is likely to have much too little “distance,” objectiv-ity, to be able to do his job well, and, in the last place, he clearly putsmuch too much confidence in his own powers, in the presumption ofthe solubility of human problems, and realizes the power of giant factorsbeyond his own and his clients’ control much too little. (Schwarzschild,1962, p. 6)

Rabbi Schwarzschild’s words are harshly written, but his point is clear.Counseling is an activity that must be enacted with humility.

Research Studies on Rabbinical Counseling Practice and Behavior

These writings revealed that rabbis were, indeed, engaged with a largerange of issues in counseling. Nonetheless, those who conducted researchon Jewish communal life have spent surprisingly little time or energyengaged in exploring how rabbis are actually doing counseling. Indeed,between 1958 and 2000, there were eight research studies published regardingthese questions. Five of them were cross-denominational, and three focusedon Orthodox rabbis only. Limited as they are, these studies of rabbinicalcounseling have contributed much to the literature on pastoral counselingby investigating what it is that rabbis are actually doing within that role.Moreover, they confirmed that rabbis in all denominations are routinelyapproached by their congregants for pastoral counseling on a large range ofissues, and are thus engaged in counseling on a regular basis. (See Ingram& Lowe, 1989; Schnitzer, 1956; and Slanger, 1994.) Cross-denominationalstudies showed that Reform rabbis were doing more counseling than rabbisof other denominations, and were closely followed by their Conservativecounterparts (Weiss, 2000).

While there remains an unarguable dearth of research on rabbinicalcounseling, the results of a more comprehensive study executed in 2000 bythe Jewish Theological Seminary, the main rabbinical school of the Conser-vative movement, is of particular interest to the current study. This studybegan with the distribution of surveys to all members of the RabbinicalAssembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis. The purposewas to ask the rabbis to assess the importance of a list of 22 rabbinic roles

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and 23 activities; estimate how much time and effort they devoted to thoseactivities; and make suggestions as to how much time they should devote tothem. The survey was sent to approximately 1,200 rabbis and elicitedresponses from 465 rabbis, 320 of whom served in congregations.

In addition, a leaders’ survey went to board members and synagoguepresidents to allow them to make evaluations of their rabbis, using the samelist of roles and activities presented in the rabbi survey. The analysis indi-cated that the two groups basically agreed on the ranking of the roles listed.The highest ratings went to the roles of pastor, educator, model of religiosity,spiritual guide, and halachik authority, and low ratings were assigned to theroles of staff supervisor, manager and administrator (Cohen, 2002).

The survey revealed a discrepancy in the estimation of time spent onvarious activities by rabbis versus lay leaders. Not surprisingly, the laitytended to overestimate the time a rabbi devotes to his or her visible work,and underestimated the time a rabbi devotes to behind-the-scenes activities.Rabbis and their laity also expressed differing opinions on what they wishedto be doing. While the rabbis expressed a desire to spend less time onadministrative tasks such as board and committee meetings, and more timeon most other activities listed, congregants desired rabbis to spend moretime fundraising, attending board and committee meetings, and managingconflict (Cohen, 2002). Ironically, this ran contrary to the laity’s low ratingsof those same roles in terms of importance. These findings signify that rab-bis are not receiving the support they need for many of their rabbinicduties, including that of counseling, and are meanwhile expected to devotemore time to highly administrative tasks, even as their congregants professto care more about the former set of responsibilities.

Most rabbis expressed distress over their isolation and loneliness, theinadequate Jewish commitment of their congregations, instability due topower struggles with congregational leadership and personal marital con-cerns; 81% said they were frustrated with the people with whom theyworked, and more than half expressed frustration in failing to achieve tasksthat are important to them (Cohen, 2002).

Cohen concluded his findings by emphasizing the dichotomy the rabbifaces in his various roles:

Rabbis must embody stability, familiarity, eternal truths, and connectionswith an authentic past even as they instigate and manage personal andcommunal growth, enrichment and development. In a word, they standfor tradition and stability, as well as change and relevance. Rabbis mustsensitively tend to the very idiosyncratic and personal needs of individu-als (during life cycle transitions, moments of crisis and of joy). At thesame time they need the skills of accomplished managers and politiciansto guide complex and diversified communities. Rabbis must retain a mea-sure of dignified aloofness from their congregants; yet, they also need toeffect personal connections with people seeking spiritual growth and

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renewal. They must tend to the internal needs of the congregation (orcommunal agency), and at the same time manage relations with diversi-fied outsiders. And through all this, they must maintain the knowledgeand persona of scholars, models of piety, teachers, administrators, vision-aries, counselors, and community builders—certainly a highly variegatedcollection of roles and expectations.” (Cohen, 2002, p. 2)

A history of formal training in pastoral counseling at JTS is helpful infurther understanding the evolution of this rabbinical role in the Conversa-tion movement, especially as the significance and extent of counselingbecomes increasingly greater for the contemporary rabbi. The Departmentof Pastoral Psychiatry at JTS was founded in 1953, under the direction ofMortimer Ostow—a Freudian who decried deviant behavior such as promis-cuity, perversion, homosexuality, dependency and drug use as pathological(Praglin, 1998, p. 204). The department offered lectures on basic dynamicpsychology, an overview of the nature and treatment of mental illness, andprovided strict guidelines concerning the rabbi’s role in helping congregantsand in preventing mental illness, by performing limited counseling—“onlyin the course of normal congregational service and when appropriate”(Praglin, 1998, p. 202).

In her 1998 dissertation entitled, The Rabbinate After Freud, Praglinobserved that “Ostow’s curriculum and philosophy of counseling was highlyauthoritarian, paternalistic, and directive.” Ostow advocated counseling witha combination of Jewish values and traditional Freudian drive theory, wherethe rabbi must decide for his clients the “optimal outcome from the point ofview of the Jewish value system,” (Praglin, 1998, p. 203) and focus onchanging the behavior of the client, rather than emphasizing the feelingsand concerns of the client.

In 1973, Sam Klagsbrun was introduced to the department. For manyyears, all rabbinical students took classes with both men, as the Freudianapproach of Ostow was tempered by the more mainstream approach ofKlagsbrun, who focused on the need for creating boundaries and makingreferrals. Klagsbrun still teaches classes in pastoral psychiatry at theSeminary.

In his 1995 dissertation, The Transformation of the Rabbi’s Role, LeeBycel pointed out that although the Jewish Theological Seminary conducteda curricular review and introduced curricular changes in the mid to late1980s, the majority of the program was still devoted to Jewish texts, and notto the professional or pastoral aspects of the rabbinate. He expressed hisskepticism that the knowledge of clinical texts was enough for professionalrabbinic leadership, and the culmination of his study was the proposal of anew rabbinical school curriculum, with a stronger emphasis on personalexploration and professionalism, including the area of counseling (Bycel,1995).

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Today, the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary is afive-year program, which culminates with rabbinical ordination into theConservative movement. A close examination of the current academic bulletin(2002–2004) shows that there are a number of opportunities available tostudents in pastoral counseling through the Department of Professional andPastoral Skills.

In the fourth year, each student is required to participate in a series ofsix- to seven-week rotations in four general areas, one of which is hospitalchaplaincy or work at a communal agency. Each rotation is approximately40 hours, and the students are supervised by a rabbinic mentor. In addition,all rabbinical students must also complete a 400-hour internship in theirfourth year of study, which may be done in a congregation, hospital, col-lege campus, Federation agency, or school.

There are six courses with a focus on pastoral counseling described inthe current bulletin. They are: Advanced Seminar in Pastoral CounselingSkills; Out of the Depths: Jewish Healing and the Spiritual Caregiver; TheField of Pastoral Counseling; Tragedy, Death and the Clergy; Issues inPastoral Care; and Rabbinic Pastoral Identity. As none of these courses arerequired, whether or not they are offered depends on if enough people signup for them. An assessment of all courses offered between the fall semesterof 2002 and the spring semester of 2004 reveals that between one and threeof these courses was offered each semester. In addition to these courses,students are offered opportunities to be become certified in Clinical PastoralEducation (CPE) through the HealthCare Chaplaincy, a multi-faith commu-nity of professionals committed to the advancement of pastoral care, educa-tion, and research. According to Mychal Springer, associate dean of therabbinical school, the HealthCare Chaplaincy, which has been the leadingtraining program for clergy in the Christian world for the last 60 years, hasrecently begun to attract Jewish seminary students. At the time of this study,two out of the twelve supervisors of the CPE program were rabbis.

CPE training is offered to the students during the academic year, for 16hours a week, or during the summer for an intensive 11-week session. Also,students have the option of a yearlong residency after they complete rabbini-cal ordination. CPE training includes offering pastoral care to patients andtheir loved ones; clinical seminars in which students present their pastoralwork for peer supervision; lecture/discussion seminars with medical cliniciansand community leaders; peer group sessions to reinforce interpersonal skills;participation on an interdisciplinary healthcare team to foster collaborationwith professionals from a variety of disciplines; and individual supervision.

The findings of the JTS study complicate matters further, by bringing tothe fore questions about how rabbis and congregants differ in their expecta-tions of the rabbi as counselor, and how the manner in which rabbis per-form their counseling duties affects their own satisfaction and that of theircongregants.

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These questions raise important issues about the counseling practicesof rabbis and how they are prepared for this role, which guided the devel-opment of the present study. Given the large amount of writing whichexists on the topic of rabbinical counseling, are our rabbis employing thesemethods espoused by the literature? Are they even aware of the literatureout there? Finally, and most relevant to the current study, are the followingquestions: In a movement which struggles to keep tradition and modernityat the forefront of every decision, does JTS prepare rabbis for the issues andchallenges they will face in counseling congregants? Does it adequatelyteach counseling methods that utilize and complement the evolving natureof Conservative Jewish law?

THE CURRENT STUDY

The current study was launched to reveal more about the attitudes andbehaviors of rabbis towards counseling, with a focus on rabbis within theConservative movement. To date, the only research done on rabbinicalcounseling within this movement has been cross-denominational, with thepurpose of comparing between the movements. There has been no attemptto study pastoral counseling of Conservative rabbis with the same measureof attention that has been paid to their Orthodox counterparts. Against thebackdrop of the complex evolution of pastoral care training at JTS andrecent innovations in the curriculum to further emphasize this area, theConservative rabbinate is at a crucial developmental point, faced with thechallenge of offering counseling that is both relevant to the prevailing con-cerns of its consumers, while staying true to Jewish law. It is, therefore,important to understand what specific challenges Conservative rabbis facein pastoral counseling and their feelings of competency in this role, espe-cially as it relates to attitudes about the training they received in rabbinicalschool. Attention was paid to how rabbis balance their attachment to Jewishlaw with the need for counseling in their congregations.

Research Methodology

This study included an extensive review of the literature, as well as a caseanalysis of structured conversations with 17 Conservative pulpit rabbis inthe state of New Jersey. The study targeted egalitarian rabbis who officiatein nonrural areas where there are other mental health resources available tocongregants, and rabbis were chosen based on geographic location and sizeof congregation. The synagogues spanned about 75 miles from north tosouth. Of the 18 rabbis, one represented a synagogue with less than 200members; 8 represented synagogues with 200–399 members; 7 representedsynagogues with 400–749 members; and 2 represented synagogues with

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750–1000 members. The rabbis were ages 33–64, and ordained between1964 and 1997. All but one of the rabbis were male.

At the beginning of each interview, the rabbi was asked to providesome basic demographic information to help place each rabbi in a personaland social context:

• age;• highest academic secular degree;• major area of undergraduate study;• whether the respondent had any degree in a mental health related area,

such as psychiatry, psychology, social work, or counseling; and• whether the respondent had any postdegree continued education in the

aforementioned areas, in the form of seminars, courses, or other.

The interviews took approximately one to one-and-a-half hours, andincluded questions aimed to pinpoint: (a) whether or not rabbis considerthemselves to be pastoral counselors and how they define this role; (b)specific counseling and referral practices; (c) feelings about preparedness forcounseling and other mental health training pursued; and (d) views abouthow Jewish law and the other roles of the rabbi affect the ability to providecounseling. To provide a contextual, qualitative assessment of the applicationof learned principles and the rabbi’s overall decision-making process, theywere asked to consider hypothetical case studies, aimed to elucidate furtherthe particular ways in which rabbis approach particularly problematic or com-plex areas of Jewish law in the context of counseling. They were the following:

1. A congregant comes to you and explains that her grandson is dying ofAIDS in the hospital. He has chosen to be cremated, and the parentshave agreed to that request. Your congregant wants you to officiate at hisfuneral. She has been a dedicated lifelong member of the synagogue.What would you do?

Rationale: This particular case was chosen for its halachik complexityas well as its emotional intensity. As the Conservative movementprofesses to be committed to tradition while open to modifying traditionto fit specific manifestations of modernity, the issue of cremation hasbeen debated in the Conservative movement. While the movement issteadfast in its theological commitment against performing cremations,there are a variety of opinions on the role that the rabbi can play in thefuneral ceremony and the period following.

2. A family applies for membership at your synagogue, and the child is nothalachikally Jewish, according to the laws of matrilineal descent. Thefather, who is Jewish, wants to enroll the child into your religious school.How do you approach this issue, and issues that will come up in thefuture?

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Rationale: Conservative Jewish law is particular on the laws of conver-sion, requiring every convert to go through a period of study, immerse inthe mikvah and undergo a brit milah (ritual circumcision). If a person hasalready had a circumcision for nonritual purposes, then it is acceptable forthem to have a hatafat dam brit, which is a prick of the circumcised area.Because of the rigidity of the law, there was no variation in the expecta-tions of the rabbis in this study regarding the completion of those require-ments. (Note: The second time this vignette was presented, one rabbipointed out that this issue is becoming more widespread because of thelaw of patrilineal descent, written by the Reform movement in 1983,which makes children Jewish as long as one parent is Jewish and the childis raised as a Jew. This countered the accepted law of matrilineal descent,which had prevailed in all sects of Judaism for thousands of years. As aresult, the case was modified for the next 15 rabbis, to involve a familythat had affiliated with the Reform movement and raised its child asJewish, and now wanted to join a Conservative synagogue.)

Finally, the rabbis were asked to give specific examples of counselingsituations, if they were comfortable doing so. The purpose of these exam-ples was to examine the actual implementation of many of the counselingattitudes professed by the rabbis during the interviews, and to supplementthe theoretical/hypothetical nature of the case studies. The rabbis wereurged to use no identifiers in their examples and were additionally assuredof confidentiality on any specific details they happened to share.

After the conversations were completed, they were transcribed into auniform format. During analysis, each question was assessed separatelythrough a comprehensive evaluation of all of the responses received. Fol-lowing data collection, a conversation was held with Mychal Springer, deanof Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Jewish Theological Seminary, inorder to obtain the most updated information about the rabbinical trainingprogram.

RESULTS

Rabbis’ Views of the Role and Scope of Pastoral Counselor

Findings revealed that all but one of the rabbis considered themselves to bepastoral counselors among their various roles, but many were uncomfort-able giving a steadfast “yes” when directly asked this question. Further dis-cussion suggested that this uneasiness was likely related to the feeling ofbeing limited in their ability to counsel due to lack of training.

In defining the role of pastoral counselor, rabbis offered a rangeof definitions, the most broad being “advice given to congregants and

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non-congregants who are seeking assistance in a particular area of concernand may or may not be looking for a Jewish perspective.” The assertion thatpastoral counseling involves issues that are both inclusive and exclusive ofJudaic content was echoed by most of the rabbis.

Other rabbis answered the question in more specific terms. One rabbibroke his definition down into five components: (a) being accessible; (b)having a safe spot for someone to vent; (c) being able to ask the right ques-tions; (d) having a general resource network of professional counselors forreferrals; and (e) remaining accessible for any continued dialogue someonemight need or want to have. As the conversations continued to other linesof discussion, it became apparent that all of the rabbis who consider them-selves to be pastoral counselors hold the five principles espoused by thatparticular rabbi as part of their duty. Another commonly accepted point wasthat pastoral counseling is usually short-term or emergency intervention, asopposed to ongoing, long-term treatment.

In comparing pastoral and non-pastoral counseling, some rabbispointed out that in certain cases, the combination of both disciplines can bebeneficial, and that one does not supercede the other. “What I do comple-ments and supplements regular counseling,” said one rabbi, who assertedthat while a therapist may concentrate on issues of guilt and abandonment,his job is to handle Jewish or spiritual concerns which often accompany orstem from these other issues. Another rabbi said that for “serious issues,” heis only comfortable seeing congregants if he knows they are also seeing amental health professional to resolve their problems.

No matter how rabbis defined the realm of pastoral counseling duties,most respondents expressed the ultimate goal of pastoral counseling asempowering people to help themselves through the use of varying degreesof Jewish tradition and thought to make their lives more meaningful,depending on the situation. As one rabbi said, “pastoral counseling is likeregular counseling, only with God in the picture.” Only one rabbi did notsee pastoral counseling as being among his roles, asserting it is not a necessarypart of the rabbinate.

Of course, much of what rabbis do is influenced by the situations theyare asked to address. Findings from the current study revealed that rabbiscounsel their congregants about an extensive range of issues—a third ormore of the rabbis cited marriage and divorce, grief and bereavement, fam-ily, spiritual and religious, health and illness, job and financial, interfaithmarriage and interfaith dating, adolescence, and clinical depression. Otherless common issues included homosexuality, abuse, sexual concerns, con-cern over world events, adultery, fertility issues, and care of elderly parents.This study found that there are a range of reasons that Conservative rabbis,in particular, are approached for counseling. The rabbis interviewed in thestudy cited the fact that they do not charge money as the number one rea-son for this phenomena, followed by personal relationship and familiarity

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with the rabbi, respect for the rabbi’s wisdom, searching for advice oranswers (sometimes, but not always, theological in nature), and reluctanceto seek mental health services, usually due to personal stigma.

The rabbis also provide formal multi-session pre-marriage counselingto all couples whom they marry, usually between three and eight sessions.Additionally, rabbis are constantly faced with the need for crisis counseling,most significantly in cases of untimely death and chronic illness of childrenor young adults. One rabbi mentioned being called upon to do crisis inter-vention for someone who was involved in a shooting, and two rabbisrevealed that they had been approached at least once by a person threaten-ing to commit suicide.

In terms of the time demands of this role, the responses from this studysuggest that most rabbis spend between one and five hours a week doingcounseling; however, it can be argued that rabbis are constantly engaged inactivities that entail some aspect of counseling. As one rabbi stated, “Infor-mally, counseling is going on all the time. The rabbi always has to keep inhis mind not just what’s written in his calendar, but who he is saying helloto, and in what tone, and realize the way a person in the congregation mayreact to a specific sermon because of something that is going on in their life.”

Three quarters of the rabbis understood their role to entail a directiveapproach, including giving advice. As one rabbi stated, “Rabbis have amoral context from which they operate. Most people need boundaries, anda rabbi can provide them. . . . A rabbi can look at a brother and sister whoaren’t speaking and tell them that if they don’t communicate before a familywedding, they will live to regret it. A rabbi can and ought to say, ‘What youare doing is morally and ethically wrong. You have to do restitution for itnow.’” The other quarter of the rabbis advocated a non-directive approach.

Interestingly, five out of nine rabbis said they use prayer with someregularity, with one mentioning that he used it more than he ever wouldhave expected. (The question of prayer was not among the original topicsof conversation until it was alluded to on a few occasions, at which point itwas added to the list of questions and it was asked of the last nine rabbisinterviewed.) Half of the rabbis regularly employ Jewish teachings and sto-ries in their counseling sessions for the purpose of helping congregants feelless isolated, and comforting them with the authority of ancient Jewish tradi-tion. The other half of the rabbis do not engage in this practice.

Formal Preparation for the Pastoral Counseling Role

When the rabbis in this study were asked for their views regarding how pre-pared they felt for the counseling aspect of their job, 53% said they felt JTSdid not prepare them adequately for the role of counseling as a pulpit rabbi;30% said they did feel sufficiently prepared, and the remaining 17%expressed that while they weren’t necessarily well-prepared, nothing in the

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academic setting could realistically prepare a rabbi for the professional andsomewhat disparate roles of a pulpit rabbi.

Further analysis revealed that rabbis who were ordained in the lastdecade were more likely to say they were well-prepared or excuse the lackof training to the inherent inability of JTS to realistically prepare them for arole which is particularly difficult to define, and one in which unexpectedsituations are the norm. Six out of the eight rabbis who offered either ofthese two responses were ordained since 1993, and only one rabbi whowas ordained during that time indicated otherwise. On the other hand,100% of the rabbis ordained before 1981 said they were not adequatelyprepared.

Most of the rabbis who were ordained earlier expressed discontent withthe counseling-related classes offered to them. They complained that theclasses were limited and theoretical, and therefore “not useful,” and a fewinsisted they could not remember a single thing they learned. One rabbidescribed his education as such: “[The professor] said that most times, youwill not be of great help to people who come for advice. I think it’s ego fora rabbi to think he’s really helping.” There was only one rabbi who stood inexception to this, expressing that the classes in pastoral psychiatry “abso-lutely prepared” him and “were among the most valuable courses” he took.

Of those rabbis who were ordained later, responses to the classes var-ied. Some rabbis said they did not remember what they had learned inthose courses, and others criticized them as “superficial” and “impractical.”On the other hand, four rabbis claimed that one particular professor’s classin pastoral psychiatry gave a helpful overview of the problems which rabbisface and taught the students to understand their own limitations. As onerabbi said of the professor, “he taught us that the purpose of counseling isto validate and listen, to rephrase, amplify and acknowledge feelings. Afterthat, a rabbi may help [congregants] get beyond their problems, but that’snot our purview.”

One rabbi sat on the committee that introduced the curricular changesin 1989–1990 because he felt that the previous training “was clearly inade-quate because, as rabbis in the field know perfectly well, you spend moretime counseling than teaching Talmud in the field.”

Two rabbis completed a unit of clinical pastoral education (CPE) inhospital chaplaincy, one of whom expressed that in retrospect, CPE was“the very best thing I did in rabbinical school to prepare myself to be apulpit rabbi.” Also, about a quarter (23.5%) of the rabbis mentioned thatthey did internships at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York City,where they accompanied hospital chaplains on their rounds.

One rabbi expressed frustration that the seminary does not offer classesin application and misapplication of midrash. This rabbi illustrated his pointthrough the telling of the Talmudic story of Rabbi Meir, who accepted thedeath of his children as God taking back a gift which He had bestowed

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upon the rabbi and his wife. “I’ve seen rabbis use this story in their eulogiesto mothers who just lost a child. . . . The story is great when it stands on itsown, but there is a way to grossly misapply it. We need more classes inhow to use the traditions effectively to help people through very difficulttimes.” A second rabbi echoed this sentiment, admitting that while heunderstands the value of incorporating Jewish and biblical stories into thecounseling context, but he does not feel comfortable in his ability to appro-priately apply them in various situations.

Other rabbis expressed frustration that there are no required courses inpastoral counseling and in mental health. As one rabbi said, “We don’t needto be psychologists, but we do need to know enough to know if the [mentalhealth] doctors out there are any good, and if we should be using them forreferrals.” Another rabbi suggested the possibility of enacting a program thatwould offer rabbinical students the opportunity to sit in on actual pastoralcounseling sessions, with consent from the rabbi and congregant.

Attitudes Toward Additional Mental Health Training

The rabbis with degrees in mental health asserted that their styles of coun-seling developed out of a combination of their rabbinical and mental healthtraining. One of the two rabbis who fit this criterion stated,

One of the skills I acquired [in my social work studies] was to serve as amirror, so that a person can look at you and accurately see him- or her-self and the issues. I employ that skill, while also taking a more activerole in telling people what to do than I might as a regular counselor. Itry to identify the crisis, because I have to help them within a certainamount of time to come up with a solution. I am really active in sayingthat I have no agenda, and that this process is about them enactingchange in their own life. It’s a style that I’ve evolved over the yearswhich I find [to be] most effective.

Notably, results suggest that these rabbis did not differ from other rabbis inthe frequency or characterization of their role as a pastoral counselor; infact, they were just as likely to make referrals to mental health professionals,maintaining that the reason they are sought out for counseling is notbecause of their mental health degrees, but simply because they are rabbis.Said one rabbi, “Even with a counseling degree, I am still not ready to dealwith most issues, because I don’t keep up on the literature, and I don’t haveanyone supervising me, as I might have if I had my own practice. It justwouldn’t be responsible.”

The rabbis were also asked if they ever pursued, have considered, orwould consider extra training in mental health related fields. Two rabbishad completed master’s degrees in social work; 35% of the rabbis declared

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that they had never considered, and would never consider, going for addi-tional training, and 23.5% said that they would consider getting training inthe future, such as a CPE supervisor certification and a doctorate in ministry(D-Min).

The rabbis who obtained their MSWs emphasized that their degree wasessential in training them for pastoral counseling, and was a huge factor inpreparing them for the entirety of the pulpit. As one rabbi said, “The MSWwas absolutely critical. I might have arrived at the point I am at now any-way, but I got there much sooner because of it.” These rabbis were readilywilling to admit their limitations as counselors, and were among the fewrabbis to express the importance of establishing emotional and psychologi-cal boundaries in counseling relationships.

Sixty percent of the remaining rabbis (without MSWs) said that theydidn’t wish they had gone for mental health training, as compared to 40%who said they did regret not getting additional training. Further investiga-tion indicated that rabbis who were ordained more recently were much lesslikely to express regrets about their lack of mental health training.

It was determined in this study that rabbis who were ordained inthe last 10 years were found to express more positive opinions aboutthe sufficiency of pastoral training at JTS. It is, therefore, unsurprising tofind that those same rabbis are also less likely to regret not acquiringtraining in mental health, for it would follow that rabbis who feel ade-quately trained have little reason to regret not going for additional train-ing. Another possibility is that rabbis who were ordained more recentlyhave experienced fewer years in the rabbinate, and have perhaps notcome across as many crises where they feel inadequate in their pastoralcounseling training. Another potential explanation is that younger pro-fessionals are less likely to regret or admit to regretting not going forextra training if they have no intention to do so. One rabbi did allowthat future experiences might lead to a change of opinion on thismatter.

Almost half of the remaining rabbis reported to have attended seminarsrelated to mental health; one rabbi had been certified in critical stress man-agement and another in clinical dependence. Of those rabbis who do attendseminars, one has also attended courses, and two participate in programsdesigned for rabbis to meet and discuss issues of their rabbinate, whichinclude counseling. Some rabbis mentioned that they actively work on theirpastoral counseling by conferring with friends who are mental health pro-fessionals for advice and guidance.

Also, some rabbis mentioned that they informally work on their coun-seling techniques and skills in other ways. Two rabbis said they seek advicefrom therapists when they are unsure of how to proceed with a congregant.One rabbi pointed out that he is close with local ministers in the area, andthey meet to discuss common problems that they face.

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Limitations in Preparation and Boundaries on the Counseling Role

One rabbi attended a program that was sponsored by a county-basedJewish Family and Vocational Service agency in New Jersey, which isgeared toward having open dialogue with Orthodox, Conservative andReform rabbis about these issues. The facilitator of this group for thepast 8 years observed that the rabbis were most significantly lacking intheir establishment of boundaries due to the multifaceted regularity oftheir interactions with congregants. “Rabbis bear everyone’s burdens ontheir shoulders. When they have 500 families, even if they only counsel10 percent, that’s a lot of people to balance without the ability to nottake [their congregants’ problems] home and stay up at night thinkingabout them.”

She added that rabbis often don’t know how to balance their ownneeds and the needs of their families with the needs of their congregants,pointing out that they often bring their wives in to help in an adverse situa-tion, or take on a neglected child. “When a rabbi does this, he doesn’tunderstand that he is doing it partly to fill his own needs, and that it’s nothelpful or therapeutic on a long-term basis.”

She also pointed out that many rabbis are under the incorrect impres-sion that Jews are not gamblers, pedophiles, or alcoholics, and that they areshocked when they realize that those things do exist in their congregations.She commented that rabbis make a lot of referrals to private practitioners,who often lack a sense of the Jewish community. She also pointed out thatrabbis too often do not know enough about the specific techniques andmethodology of those to whom they refer, and that they often refer to thesame few mental health professionals, even though the needs of differentindividuals are not necessarily the same.

Another reflection of limitations was obtained by asking the rabbis totalk about cases they would not feel comfortable treating. The rabbisthemselves all agreed about the necessity of referring out for anythingsomatic and for depression or suicidal thoughts or gestures. Most, but notall, said they would refer for marriage counseling which was “out of theirleague.” Others mentioned addiction, excessive grief, sexual issues andchildhood behavioral problems, such as those caused by attention deficithyperactivity disorder, as necessitating referral. One rabbi said he wouldrefer individuals “if it seemed like they were trying to use me for freecounseling.”

Nearly half (47%) of the rabbis stated that they would refer for anythingthat was out of the spiritual realm, for which they would enter into a long-term—but not regular—relationship. Half of those rabbis added that wouldbe willing to see congregants who were already seeing a mental health pro-fessional for their difficulties. Overall, however, the rabbis did not seem tohave definite strategies and well-articulated referral parameters that would

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apply to the complexity shown in actual cases, versus relatively focused sit-uations (e.g., suicidal thinking, sexual issues).

Rabbis limit the number of times they will see a congregant to no morethan three sessions before making a referral, if necessary; 88% of the rabbisindicated that they have a list of people to whom they make referrals, orthat they are in the process of developing one; only a third of those rabbis,however, have lists that are comprised of professionals in the various disci-plines within mental health—psychologists, psychiatrists, and social work-ers—from whom they pick and choose as appropriate. Almost half of therabbis (41%) included Jewish communal agencies (specifically, Jewish Fam-ily Service (JFS) and Jewish Family and Vocational Services (JFVS)) on theirlists. Notably, this was the only source of referral for a number of the rabbis.It is thus likely that most rabbis do not know the nature of the counselingapproach used by their referral sources and may not have great insight inmatching their congregants to the optimal referral source. At the same time,having a Jewish agency as the only referral source may reflect positivelyupon rabbis’ acknowledgement of their own lack of expertise in this area,as knowledgeable pastoral rabbis may feel they are not well trained enoughto know if someone requires a specific kind of specialist or if someonewould fare better with a therapist with one kind of training or another.Given this, it may make professional sense to refer them to an agency likeJFS, where a more focused and professional assessment and referral canthen be made.

The estimates offered by the rabbis regarding frequency of referralswere varied, ranging from “once or twice in the past ten years” to “aboutfour per month.” Further analysis suggested that rabbis with the most com-prehensive list of mental health referrals also reported the highest frequencyof referrals.

Relational and Halachic Challenges Encountered in the Courseof Counseling

Rabbis openly discussed the challenges they face in their role as counselor.Some alluded to the way in which the counseling relationship—in all of itsintimacy and confidentiality—affects the relationship outside of that setting.Forty-four percent could identify at least one occasion whereby a con-gregant left the synagogue after engaging in counseling. Specific examplesincluded infidelity within the congregation, divorce situations, miscommuni-cation, trauma, and embarrassment due to a public outburst of a congregantwith a diagnosed emotional disorder.

A second challenge in this area included the rabbis’ inability to com-partmentalize; this was particularly relevant in situations where rabbis feltoverwhelmed by their congregant’s problems, and were unable to leavethem at work. It was also relevant in their inability to ignore certain actions,

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especially those which were found to be “morally reprehensible” such asinfidelity. On this note, one rabbi said the biggest challenge is how to relateto someone after they don’t take your advice, especially when it comes to“gross moral offenses. . . . When you give people opinions that they don’twant to hear, you still have to relate to them afterward. I’m only human,and I have resentments too.”

Two rabbis pointed out that the ambiguity of their relationship with con-gregants became an issue when they lost congregants to the terrorist attacksof September 11, 2001. Said one rabbi, “I was the person who had to pro-nounce the [spouse] officially dead, after the body had not been found for [afew] days. I’m sure there was transference, and it profoundly affected me.”

Some rabbis expressed feeling more competent in establishing bound-aries, which is rooted in their ability to accept the actions of a congregantwithout giving approval. Some rabbis have devised plans aimed at prevent-ing any potential problems. One, for example, explained, “I make it clear atthe very beginning that everything is confidential. Then I tell them that nomatter what they think they’ve done, I may judge the act, but I will neverjudge them as a person. Thirdly, I tell them that they should always feelcomfortable in the synagogue, and that they will always be treated the sameas anyone else.” Another rabbi said that if he feels congregants are “sharingtoo much too soon,” he asks them if they are sure they are comfortablegoing ahead with what they are saying.

The most common response to the issue of challenges (over half) wasa sense of frustration which stemmed from the knowledge that they “can’tjust make the pain go away” and that they are always “wondering if [theyare] actually helping at all.” This was particularly relevant in dealing withissues in which they have little or no control, such as terminal illness.

One rabbi said he simply did not have enough time for this aspect ofhis job, and felt guilty for not doing more work in this area. Two rabbisexpressed their biggest challenge as the frustration at not being able to saywhat they were thinking in certain situations. One example was dealingwith a congregant who admitted to certain issues related to sexual behavior.The rabbi wanted to ask the congregant about the possibility of a history ofabuse, but felt that to do so would overstep the boundaries of a rabbi. “It’shard to have a strong feeling about something and not be able to conveyyour thoughts without being blunt and scaring them away. Unfortunately, Idon’t have the tools to know the right things to say which will make themrealize certain things.”

Two rabbis identified their lack of training as their biggest chal-lenge. One said he is not comfortable in his ability to ask the right ques-tions, and the other expressed his wish that there was some sort ofsupervision or extra training, or even just a way to engage in dialogueabout such issues with other rabbis and professionals. Another cited his(young) age as his biggest challenge, acknowledging the difficulty for a

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middle-age woman about to be divorced to come to a young profes-sional for counseling.

Two rabbis brought up the difficulty of dealing with couples that get“out of control.” One rabbi expressed that he gets very embarrassed whencouples are screaming at each other in his office. Other rabbis brought uphow hard it is to observe a situation that they find to be unhealthy, and nothave any ability to help change it, specifically mentioning occasions whenparents pit their children against each other.

To the contrary, two rabbis revealed a desire to do more counseling incertain areas, expressing disappointment and confusion as to why they aren’tapproached more often, despite having taken initiatives to encourage con-gregants to use the rabbi as a resource for intermarriage. Said one rabbi: “Ithink I could really be of help in issues of interfaith marriages, but people areso reluctant and self-defensive. I think they assume that just because I won’tofficiate at an intermarriage, that I wouldn’t be open to them as people.”

One particular set of challenges related to the interplay betweenHalacha and counseling. Much attention was paid to rabbis’ attitudestowards the way their counseling is affected by the evolving nature of Con-servative Jewish law, an element which is somewhat unique to this denom-ination. Notably, most rabbis expressed the feeling that Jewish law allowsthem flexibility in counseling, and is not an impediment to their ability tocounsel effectively. However, this finding was complicated by the responsesto the hypothetical case studies, which suggested that they may indeed findthemselves in situations where they might feel that Jewish law does impedetheir role as pastoral counselors.

The case studies were introduced in order to examine the role ofhalacha in the counseling context, and to ascertain some of the practicalcomponents of the theoretical attitudes espoused by the rabbis. In thehypothetical case study regarding cremation, 70% of the rabbis first dis-cussed the need to empathize with the grandmother about her situation.Some rabbis discussed the importance of helping the grandmother under-stand her own lack of control in the situation. Others focused on the needto understand the real reason for the grandmother’s objections to the crema-tion, and encourage her to share her feelings with her family “in a calm andrational manner” if she hadn’t done so already.

A quarter of the rabbis said they would use this opportunity to teachthe grandmother about cremation and the reasons Jewish law is opposed toit, citing mutilation of the body and the explicit connection of burning fleshto the Holocaust. Over half of the rabbis said they would be willing to inter-vene with the family on behalf of the grandmother, and make them awareof the Jewish perspective toward cremation and the reasons behind it. (Onerabbi boasted of his 50% success rate at convincing people not to performcremations at his previous congregation.) On the other hand, 35% said thatas long as the grandmother’s children and grandchildren were not members

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of the synagogue, they would not be willing to intervene, either due to timeconstraints or respect for the family’s decision.

Finally, rabbis were split on the final decision regarding their role dur-ing the period of the funeral and cremation; 35% of the rabbis said theywould officiate at the funeral with the body present, but have no part of thecremation process. One rabbi explained that he only started doing funeralceremonies with families who were having cremations about halfway intohis career. “These people need a rabbi in their time of need. To turn myback on them is not going to help. . . . I’ve found that the guilt people have[for going through with a cremation] is pretty big to begin with, but there isalso a lot of guilt in not honoring the last wishes of the dead, and I respectthat.” In this case, the rabbi’s former, more stringent stance on halacha tooka backseat to psychological implications for his congregants.

Only 12% of the rabbis said they would have no part in the processuntil after the burial was done. About half (53%) of the rabbis said theywould do a memorial service to appease the grandmother, with no bodythere. A majority of the rabbis who were unwilling to do a funeral servicesaid they would explain their position by “blaming the movement,” andassert that their decision was unrelated to their personal desire to help her.These rabbis emphasized the importance of convincing the grandmotherthat they would support her during her mourning and grieving processes,even though they could not officiate at her grandson’s funeral.

Despite the position of Jewish law against sitting shiva for a personwhose body has been cremated, 71% of the rabbis said that they would fol-low normative shiva regulations and customs after the cremation tookplace. Another 12% of the rabbis said that while they could not obligate thecommunity to sit shiva after a cremation, they would announce that therewould be “gatherings” at the house of the mourner, and basically follow thetraditional shiva, while calling it by another name.

In the hypothetical case study regarding conversion, almost half of therabbis emphasized the importance of validating the child’s Jewish identityand refraining from using the word conversion. The rabbis instead utilizedphrases such as “affirming your Jewishness,” “just completing a formality,”“doing an act of completion,” or “notching your Jewishness up to the nextlevel.”

About one third of the rabbis were more direct in their approach,asserting that the issue is too important to be taken lightly. As one rabbisaid, “I can acknowledge that they may accept patrilineal descent, but it’s astandard that flies in the face of 2000 years of Jewish history, and that issomething I cannot accept.”

Rabbis also differed in their opinions on when the conversion musttake place; 29% insisted it be right away. “If they were hesitant about doingit right away, I would question their choice of the Conservative movement,

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and suggest they give this some thought before they enter the child into anew social environment.”

Some 12% of the rabbis said they would not do the conversion for achild unless the mother was also willing to convert, and another 12% saidthey would insist on the conversion taking place within the year, or soonafter entering the Hebrew school. Yet another 12% said they would allowthe family to wait until the 5th grade because “it’s the age of dating and wewant to promote Jewish socializing and Jewish marriage.” Finally, 12% indi-cated that they would allow the family to wait until preparing for the bar orbat mitzvah ceremony to make the decision to go ahead with the conver-sion process.

In conclusion, rabbis who advocated a more stringent interpretation ofhalacha in the first case study, by refusing to officiate at a ceremony, werefound to be less likely to emphasize the need for empathy and validation ofthe child in the second case study, which has more clear-cut halachik regu-lations. Some of those rabbis even pointed out that the halacha is tooimportant to be indirect about it, or hold off on the conversion process.Curiously, there was no correlation between rabbis advocating the use ofnon-directive counseling and emphasizing the need for empathy in either ofthe case studies.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND CHANGESIN RABBINIC EDUCATION

The current study is enlightening in its contribution to the presentunderstanding of the behaviors and attitudes of Conservative rabbistowards the role of pastoral counseling. The comments and experienced-based knowledge and practice of these rabbis add much to what is con-veyed in the literature, as well as providing guidelines for future direc-tions in this field.

This study confirmed earlier findings that rabbis engage in a signifi-cant amount of counseling on a range of issues, and identify themselvesas a rabbinical counselor among the various hats they wear as rabbi. Theysee themselves as distinct from mental health counselors, though theirdescription of what this means remain somewhat variable. They all viewcounseling as a non-passive process that entails giving specific advice orguidance on issues both within and outside the Jewish realm. The use ofJewish teachings, stories and prayer aids the rabbis in determiningresponses to their congregants. Notably, the finding about prayer was notdiscovered in previous studies, which claimed that anywhere betweenzero and 9.6% of rabbis use prayer in counseling. This may indicate anincrease in techniques used by rabbis as counseling becomes even more

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integrated into the larger rabbinic role, at least within the Conservativemovement.

These findings also upheld Weiss’s (2000) findings that consumers ofrabbinical counseling go to rabbis for counseling rather than mental healthprofessionals because it is free, familiar, comfortable and less stigmatized. Inthe analysis of Conservative responses in Weiss’ study, “two reasons weresuggested. The first was that they were intimidated by mental health profes-sionals. The second was their enormous confidence in and affection for therabbis of the temple” (p. 73). These answers greatly differed from theOrthodox respondents, who stayed away from mental health providersbecause of their value incongruence with Judaism, and Reform respondents,who cited the stigma of therapy as the only reason (Weiss, 2000). Also,given the ever-increasing practice of seeking mental health professionals, itis possible that rabbis may continue to infer that cost is the main reasonthey are sought out, while actual motivations may link up with a need for aJewishly or religiously informed perspective.

Rabbis’ referral practices were found to be highly variable in this study,which echoed earlier studies. At least two of the eight studies published onrabbinical counseling (cf. Weiss, 2000; Slanger, 1994) suggested that theinteraction between rabbis and mental health professionals is the mostimportant factor in a rabbi’s willingness to refer congregants to mentalhealth professionals. Slanger’s 1994 study indicated that rabbis who madelarger numbers of referrals were younger, had postgraduate mental healthtraining, had more positive attitudes towards the mental health professionsand were employed by larger and more affluent congregations. The mostimportant predictor of referral behaviors, however, was the frequency ofinteraction that rabbis actually had with mental health professionals(Slanger, 1994, pp.107–108).

The study illuminated various aspects of the mechanics of counselingpractices among Conservative rabbis. A wide range of issues emerge in therabbi’s counseling relationships and these require rabbis to make significantdecisions about length and duration of sessions, when and to whom to refer,and even where to carry out their counseling. These are fateful decisions forwhich most rabbis have very little preparation or guidance and few system-atic ways of knowing if their decisions have been the correct ones.

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Future Research

This study opened up many opportunities for further research on rabbinicalattitudes towards pastoral counseling. The methodology relied on extensiveconversation with the rabbis, and as different issues were raised, these were

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sometimes added to the probes used in subsequent interviews. Further,there were many open-ended questions that allowed rabbis to giveresponses that might not have been anticipated. Therefore, future researchcan use the varied issues and questions described in the methods andresults sections as a new starting point to design other systematicapproaches to studying this topic and adding to our knowledge about coun-seling within the Conservative rabbinate. In addition, the methodologycould be modified and used to assess rabbis from different traditions withinthe Conservative movement (e.g., traditional and egalitarian) as well as rab-bis from other denominations. The latter would require careful changes inmethodology; in that while the structure of the interviews would still be rel-evant, particular options and probes would be tailored to be within therange of appropriate responses.

The case studies, chosen for their relevance and potential controversywithin the Conservative movement, would have to be replaced byequivalent but different issues for different denominations. Some topics ofpertinence to the Orthodox movement might include conflicts aroundhomosexuality and the establishment of women’s prayer groups and otherinitiatives taken by women in the arena of study and prayer. For Reformrabbis, pressures to increase involvement in some aspects of traditionalJudaism could be explored in terms of issues like the regularity of minya-nim and the general obligation to participate, boundaries for keeping thekosher dietary laws, or the importance of daily prayer. Also, future researchmust continue to attempt to more clearly identify and label the duties ofpastoral counseling and distinguish them from those that fall outside itsrealm. This is in many ways a continuing legacy of the inherent ambiguityof the term, pastoral counseling, and the disparity of opinions about it thatare possessed by various rabbis.

Another question that could benefit from further research is an identifi-cation of the characteristics of the people who seek rabbinical counseling.As one rabbi said, “I know I’m about to be approached for counseling whensomeone I never see comes to shul one Friday night.” Do these people tendto be active members of congregations with a strong Jewish identity,peripheral members who spend little time in the congregational setting, ornonmembers, and in what proportions? What are the implications of coun-seling these congregants, versus those who are a more visible and activepart of congregational life? Issues of gender match of rabbi to congregantare also important; what unique difficulties arise when female rabbis coun-sel men or when male rabbis counsel females?

Furthermore, there is a lack of research on the consumers of rabbinicalcounseling. Much could be ascertained about the field with some insightinto the opinions of those who have sought counsel with a rabbi, such asthe effectiveness of the rabbi as a counselor, the rabbi’s willingness to referthe congregant to another professional, and the adequacy of the referral

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process and the referral itself. More could be learned about people’s moti-vations for seeking counseling from a rabbi, and if the desire for a Jewishperspective is indeed on the rise.

Little attention has been paid to the overall satisfaction that rabbis feelwithin their counseling role. Some rabbis in this study mentioned theirdesire to engage in more counseling, while others already feel constrainedby the time and energy they devote to counseling. It would be enlighteningto investigate how much satisfaction rabbis take in their counseling andhow this affects their broader role performance. This exploration can gomore deeply, to examine the extent to which success in the counseling roleserves to improve effectiveness in other aspects of rabbinic performance(along with the concomitant risks from unsuccessful counseling).

Education of Rabbis for Counseling Roles

Important changes have been made to the JTS curriculum in the area ofpastoral counseling since the time of this study. In an interview with theauthor in 2006, Mychal Springer provided information about a significantshift in the focus of rabbinical training at JTS initiated in 2006 and 2007,which was largely triggered by Chancellor Arnold Eisen’s effort to canvasrabbis about their feelings of preparedness for different aspects of the rab-binate, initiated in 2006 and 2007: “For years, people kept saying the trainingin counseling was inadequate,” she stated. “Rabbis regularly said they feltunder-prepared.” As a result, the new curriculum includes training in pasto-ral care and counseling throughout schooling. Students engage in a 40-hourchaplaincy with a clinical focus after their first year, and then are required totake the course, Basics of Pastoral Care and Counseling in their second year.They have the option of doing a 400 hour internship after their second orfourth year, which 40% of the student body elected to do in the 2006–2007school year. This surge in enrollment has necessitated the hiring of anotherCPE-trained rabbi to teach pastoral care and counseling starting in 2007,reports Springer. Students are then required to do a four-day intensive pasto-ral care training in the fourth or fifth year, which focuses on crisis interven-tion, trauma, illness, and relationship issues. Elective courses are offered toadvanced students by Springer and a clinical social worker, one of whichincludes a new clinical training component at the Jewish Family and Voca-tional Services, where students receive onsite clinical training. About five stu-dents elected to take this course in 2006–2007—a drop from about 15 due tothe increase of course requirements produced by the clinical component.Springer says that students are “deeply appreciative” of these changes, asthey offer tools to better equip them to deal with some situations, whileincreasing their competence in making referrals.

This new emphasis on pastoral counseling in the rabbinical school cur-riculum is a major step in increasing the preparedness of rabbis being

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trained currently for this role. For these rabbis, and more importantly forrabbis who have studied under the old curriculum, there are seminarsdesigned for rabbis to hear from mental health professionals, as well asopportunities for rabbis to come together with each other and other clergymembers to build a support network. Currently practicing rabbis couldsignificantly benefit from more programs in this area, which could bearranged by Jewish agencies or consortia of synagogues. Such an approachreflects the latest information in the training literature, such that ongoingsupport and contact is viewed as at least as important as formal trainingsessions (Blankstein, 2004). This implies that what happens in rabbinicalschools may be expressed as necessary but not sufficient. Rabbis are likelyto benefit from ongoing supports in their counseling role (with futureresearch helping to establish the nature of the support that is most useful).Indeed, Springer pointed out her conviction that the increased access tomental health training would actually increase the rabbis’ desire to do fur-ther training in this area during their tenure as rabbis, as they are now beingprovided with a genuine entrée into this aspect of their rabbinical role.

Congregational lay leadership and those engaged in Jewish educationwithin the synagogue have reason to become invested in this process; theymay want to encourage or even require rabbis who enact a counseling roleto improve their skills and obtain support for this vital activity. This mightbe viewed similarly to Charry’s conceptualization in her 1981 book, MentalHealth for Clergy, in which she compared the Christian clergyman to a“gatekeeper” standing at the entrance to the mental health care system, whomust be able “to recognize those who will need to be referred, to graspquickly the nature of their problems, to deal with their immediate crises,and to help them move on to the more specialized help which they need”(Charry, 1981, p. 15).

In sum, replications and variations on the current study could open upmany possibilities for further research, initiate a necessary deepening of ourunderstanding of the counseling role of rabbis, and inform the leaders ofJewish community and those who are in charge of training our rabbis aboutnecessary changes in this area. There is little doubt that the pace and com-plexity of modern life will lead to an increasing number of evermore com-plicated problems to find their way into the rabbi’s study. Rabbiniceducation for the counseling role must evolve to keep pace with this reality.Already, the literature and information from the present study suggest thatneither classwork nor simple field experiences are likely to sufficiently pre-pare Conservative rabbis, at least, for their counseling role. This calls forfuture research on the actual affects of the JTS curriculum changes on thehandling of counseling by Conservative rabbis as these rabbis are ordained,and innovative attempts to carry out rabbinic preparation in a longitudinalway, to complement the changes currently being introduced at the level ofrabbinical study.

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The Counselor Within: A Study of Rabbinical Counseling Training and Practice in the Conservative...

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