Resource Category: Jewish Connection to Mental Health

Love Your Tree – Tu B’Shvat and Body Positivity

The month of February is set aside as Eating Disorders and Body Image Awareness Month. It is a time when we call attention to people who are struggling with all kinds of eating and body image-related challenges and a time to celebrate people of all shapes and forms. Tu B’Shvat and body positivity are surprisingly related within Jewish tradition.
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A Helpful Reminder of Kavod Habriyut

For JDAIM and beyond, learn about kavod habriyut - the value of unqualified universal respect applies to all human beings, whether young or old, sick or healthy, tzadik (righteous person) or rasha (criminal), independent of social status, identity or context. Related to that idea is the Jewish value — and our mental health value — of all human beings being created in the image of God, b'tzelem Elohim.
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Meditation by the Flames: A Hanukkah Guided Meditation

Hanukkah occurs at the darkest point of the year. The seasons are changing, the air is cold, the days are short and the nights are long. These are times when we need light most, and that is why we are tasked with bringing that hope in the form of light into our homes. Bring some light into your home with our new Hanukkah guided meditation.
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You Always Have a Home Here – Parshat Bechukotai

In this sermon, Rabbi Matt Shapiro explores the health benefits of community and the idea of returning home, and how people experiencing mental health concerns need to remember that they can rely on their communities to create a space for them to reside in. And that the members of those communities need to ensure that that is true.
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Hungry to be Heard – A Documentary about Anorexia, Bulimia, and other Eating Disorders in the Orthodox Community

The Young Leadership Cabinet of the Orthodox Union developed a documentary, "Hungry to be Heard", focusing on the rising rates of anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders in our community. It aims at providing educational awareness, prevention, and approaches to eating disorders and is available for guided screenings as part of a conference, communal program, or as a stand-alone presentation.
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