See all of our Jewish Holiday Resources here.

View mental health resources by holiday:

• High Holy Days
• Hanukkah
• Passover
• Purim
• Shabbat
• Shavuot
• Sukkot
• Tisha B’av
• Tu B’av
• Tu B’Shvat
• Shemini Atzerat/Simchat Torah

Jewish Prayers and Healing

• Prayers
  • Birkat HaGomel – a prayer commonly said after one has recovered from serious illness and can also be recited in gratitude for finishing a dangerous journey.
  • A Prayer for Wellness* – created by Hillels of Georgia
  • Mental Health Mi Sheberachs – several different variations including mental health and for those in recovery
• Mikveh
  • Mikveh Immersion for Healing Toward Mental Health 
  • Mikveh Immersion Healing for Those Supporting Loved Ones with Mental Illness
  • Mikveh Immersion for Recovery – email us for a version of this immersion ceremony that was created in partnership with the Metro Atlanta Community Mikveh.
    • This immersion is a wonderful way to celebrate a yearly recovery anniversary.
• Mindful Eating – tips and tricks to eat your meal with mindfulness
• Gratitude E-card – sending notes of love and gratitude help boost mental health and overall well-being for the sender and receiver.
• Healthy Mind Pursuits by the Foundation for Jewish Camps – developed originally for camp professionals

Shame and Stigma

• Turn the Tables Dinner Guide: QuietingTheSilence on Shame and Stigma – Created in Partnership with Repair the World Atlanta
  • Optional inserts to add to dinner – Shabbat, COVID-19, Jewish Connection to Mental Health and more
• Mental Health Shabbat 

Suicide

• Suicide Awareness in the Jewish Community, a blog post resource of the JCFS Chicago for Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month in September 2020
• Visiting a Shiva after a Suicide
• You Are Not Alone, Support for Those in the Jewish Community and Beyond Grieving Death by Suicide 

Spirituality 

• Modeh Ani – 12 Steps of Spiritual Awakening by Chabad Intown 
• The Mental Health Benefits of Religion & Spirituality from Nami.org 
  
  

Suicide

• The Suicidal Parent’s Guide for Raising a Child
• The One Thing Getting Me Through My Suicidal Thoughts & Depression
  
  

Mental Health

• Coping under Corona: A Review of Halakhic Approaches to Mental Health and Covid-19
• Rabbi Akiva the Psychologist: Using Traditional Jewish Teachings to Conquer Anxiety
• Watch one Rabbi’s mental health story and connecting mental health and Judaism.
• Torah & Mental Health – by Rabbi Joseph S. Ozarowski, D. Min., BCC from JCFS Chicago
• Opinion: We Need to Be Trained in Responding to Mental Illness
• ROARING DRUG EPIDEMIC IN OUR COMMUNITY: 3 Weeks, 32 Overdoses And Endless Tears
• 13 Reasons Why and What We Should Do About It
• What About the Jewish Prayer for Those with Mental Illness?
• Judaism and Mental Illness
• How Judaism Saved Me From My Anxiety 
  
  

Substance Abuse and Addiction

• Videos
  • Mental Health as a Jewish Accessibility Issue by Matan
  • Jewish Spiritual and Addiction Recovery
•  Articles
  • Eating Disorders
    • A Young Jewish Woman’s Struggle with Anorexia
    • Fasting on Tisha B’Av
  • Gambling
    • One Rabbi’s Struggle with Gambling
  • Substance Abuse
    • Spirituality, Prayer, the Twelve Steps and Judaism
    • Loving and Losing an Addict
    • Treating Addiction With Jewish Values 
    • How To Help Addicted Jewish Youth 
    • Leaving Shame Behind: Sharing my Story as a Recovering Alcoholic
    • Jewish Prayers & Practices for your 12-Step Journey
      
      

Trauma

• Healing Amidst Trauma: Caring for the Soul Through a Jewish Lens

Personal Stories 

• #QuietingTheSilence: Personal Stories
  • Share your own personal story, click to learn more.
• Releasing the Bounds of Shame: Recovery from Mental Illness and Cybersex Addiction
• Don’t Tell Me To Relax – One teen’s story to survive anxiety (and how you can too)
• The Jots of Becoming: a journey of hope and recovery – The Jots of Becomings captures the story of Lucie’s recovery from my Eating Disorder using journal entries and narratives I wrote that contain insights and messages of hope.

Mental Health 

• Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs – Braided chronicles a journey of a thousand challahs and one woman’s quest for wellness and peace.
• Invisible as Air – A provocative and timely new novel by the author of Inheriting Edith, one that will haunt you long after the final page is turned…
• Overcoming Overthinking – 36 ways to tame anxiety for school, work and life

Healing

• Bite Size Torah For Your Shabbat Table – Bereshit: Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Shalom Rosner – Leslie Selevan has been compiling notes from Rabbi Shalom Rosner’s Torah classes for over a decade, and she refers to his lessons as “her therapy”, helping her get through any difficult situation.
• Mishkan R’fuah: Where Healing Resides – This beautiful compilation contains contemplative readings and prayers for many different moments of spiritual need, including illness, surgery, treatment, chronic illness, hearing good news, transitions, addiction, infertility, end-of-life, and more.
• Mishkan Aveilut: Where Grief Resides – This beautiful companion to Mishkan R’fuah: Where Healing Resides offers readings, poems, and meditations to support the emotional and spiritual needs that naturally arise at a time of loss.

 Recovery

• And God Created Recovery: Jewish Wisdom to Help You Break Free From Your Addiction, Heal Your Wounds, and Unleash Your Inner Freedom – Rabbi Ilan Glazer has felt the pain of addiction personally. In And God Created Recovery he shares insights and highlights of his recovery path, and helps you find experience, strength, hope, faith, joy, and a better life, one day at a time.
• Recovery―The Sacred Art: The Twelve Steps as Spiritual Practice (The Art of Spiritual Living) – In this hope-filled approach to spiritual and personal growth, the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are uniquely interpreted to speak to everyone seeking a freer and more God-centered life.
• Recovery, the 12 Steps and Jewish Spirituality Paperback – This easy-to-read exploration from a Jewish perspective is the first comprehensive approach to successfully integrate classic Jewish spirituality with the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other recovery resources.
• God of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction – a frank and penetrating look at the underlying spiritual dynamics of addiction and its treatment through Twelve-Step programs.
• Handbook of Torah and Mental Health 

• Jewish and General Teen Mental Health Resources
• Parenting in a Pandemic Guide
• Back to School in Unconventional Times – Teen Mental Health by the Wellness Institute
• Gratitude Gardening – a facilitator guide to walk a group of elementary children through several gratitude exercises.
  • A short video about Gratitude Gardening for PJ Library Atlanta 
• Jewish Teen Wellness Resources – Jewish Teens Thrive a project of the Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Funder Collaborative
• BBYO Center for Adolescent Wellness – Youth-serving organizations offer welcoming and inclusive environments where young people feel safe to share their emotions and feelings. These are ripe environments for promoting adolescent wellness.
• Jewish Federation and Family Services of Orange County Teen Resource Page