The Gamliel Institute is a center for study, training, and advocacy concerning Jewish end-of-life practices. The Institute is a project of Kavod v’Nichum (Honor and Comfort), a North American organization that provides assistance, training, and resources about Jewish death and bereavement practice for Chevrah Kadisha groups and bereavement committees in synagogues and communities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Kids and Grief: An Introduction to Walking with Kids through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with Vicky Kelman

One 90-minute Session 

July 7, 2021

8:00pm Eastern / 5:00pm Pacific

Course Fee: We are testing a new flexible course fee structure. Please see options at checkout.

We will talk about ways of being present and helpful to kids who are experiencing grief and to kids who are learning about grief through being part of a community in which there has been a loss. We’ll take a look at some of the age-related guidelines for what we might expect to see in kids’ behavior and how we can walk the mourners’ path with them. In our time together we will travel from “do we say ‘dead,’ or ‘lost’ or ‘asleep’ or ‘gone on a long trip’ or ‘in heaven?’” to “bad news” such as the pandemic and the building collapse in Miami, to concrete suggestions for various tools to support you in this holy work.

Vicky Kelman

Vicky Kelman is a Jewish educator who has specialized in creating settings in which the whole family can be empowered build a Jewish life for themselves. Among many innovations, she created the first Camp Ramah family camp (at Ramah in Ojai, California). She a founding director of “Grief & Growing: A Healing Weekend for Individual and Families,” a community initiative to extend a healing opportunity to the bereaved in the Jewish community of the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of several books and articles and is a recipient of the Covenant Award. She lives in Berkeley California with her husband, Rabbi Stuart Kelman.