As director of Beth Tzedec’s Centre for Spiritual Wellbeing, Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin has experience working with community members who are feeling detached, alienated, or distressed about the challenges of the past number of years. Yet since October 7, the volume of outreach she has experienced has surpassed even the difficulties posed by the pandemic and the crisis of inflation. According to Rabbi Fryer Bodzin, almost everyone is, “dealing with this from their own perspective and situation.”
“This” refers to the fallout from the Hamas-led assaults on Israel — in which thousands of terrorists viciously murdered 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 253 more to the Gaza Strip — and the ensuing war in Gaza that has led to a sharp increase in global antisemitism, including here in the GTA.
Rabbi Fryer Bodzin has unique insights into the discomfort and apprehensions many in our community are suddenly experiencing. The rabbi, who is also a trained social worker, says she the number of congregants who have reached out for guidance since Hamas’s deadly attacks on October 7 has increased exponentially.
“It’s affecting people across our congregation which is not surprising,” says Rabbi Fryer Bodzin. “Just this morning, I was talking with a member who is a university professor and is feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by the degree of hate they are seeing on campus. I am in frequent communication with grandparents who have Israeli grandchildren, serving in Gaza. Israelis who have found respite in Toronto for the duration of the war have a unique set of needs. All these people are rightfully anxious and uncertain.”
While the challenges members are facing may be unprecedented in our times, Rabbi Fryer Bodzin points out that the Centre for Spiritual Wellbeing, supported by Beth Tzedec donors, including the Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohn Endowment Fund, was established to help congregants face just these sorts of challenges. As such, in trying to help members navigate the new fears posed by the war and the rise of antisemitism, the Centre has relied on existing programs and practices, while providing some new offerings that are specific to the current crisis.
“While the nature of the concerns may vary, the solutions we offer have shown themselves to be beneficial in helping people take a break from their worries, have a pause, and hopefully find new ways to connect with themselves, their emotions, and of course, with other congregants.
Each week, the Centre offers a number of program which aim to increase spirituality and help participants develop new pathways to their inner selves. Popular programs include Torah and Tree Pose, Torah Through a Mindfulness Lens as well as the recently launched Song Circles initiative. The common thread for all of these activities that they bring people together to connect and relate on a non-superficial level.
“Beth Tzedec is hosting a half-day mindfulness retreat, scheduled for February 10,” says Rabbi Fryer Bodzin. “Those that are registered are really looking forward to it. So many of us are so stressed out and tightly wound. I know I walk around squeezing a Jaffa orange-shaped stress ball all day. A half-day retreat allows us to take a pause, go inward, and breathe."
