Crossing the Bridge: End of Life
Thursday, February 3, 2022, 7:30 pm
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The Second Part of Crossing The Bridge addresses the emotional and ethical challenges that go along with end-of-life care, such as prolonging life/delaying death, palliative care, medical assistance in dying, and navigating family tension. Featuring Rabbi Splansky, Rabbi Torczyner, Dr. Russell Goldman and moderated by Naomi Parness.
Rabbi Yael Splansky
Yael Splansky is the Senior Rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto’s first synagogue.
She currently serves as the President of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, on the Beit Din of the Reform Rabbis of Greater Toronto, on the President’s Rabbinic Advisory Council of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, and in the Rabbinic Circle of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
Devoted to Jewish pluralism and life-long learning, Rabbi Splansky is a Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute of Jerusalem. Committed to building bridges of friendship and understanding among peoples, Rabbi Splansky is part of the Canadian Council of Bishops and Rabbis and initiated Rings of Peace as a model of solidarity when hate crimes strike houses of faith.
Rabbi Splansky is the editor of Siddur Pirchei Kodesh, a prayerbook enriched by commentaries and poetry.
She has the unique privilege of being a fourth-generation Reform Rabbi and her greatest joy is in raising her three sons, together with her husband, Adam Sol.
Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner
Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner served as a pulpit rabbi for a dozen years in the United States. In 2009, Rabbi Torczyner came to Toronto to establish Beit Midrash Zichron Dov (www.torontotorah.com), a resource for Jewish learning which creates communities around Torah study, for Jews of all affiliations and all levels of background knowledge. Specializing in Medical Ethics, Rabbi Torczyner was honoured by the Ontario Medical Association in 2019 with an award for his Continuing Education classes for medical professionals. Approximately 3000 recordings of Rabbi Torczyner’s classes are available on www.yutorah.org.
Dr. Russell Goldman
Russell Goldman is the Director of the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care and the Inter-Departmental Division of Palliative Care at Sinai Health. Dr. Goldman leads efforts to establish an integrated, clinical and academic palliative care program focusing on innovative care models. He is on various local, regional and provincial advisory committees in which he leverages his clinical expertise to inform palliative care initiatives and policies. In his daily practice and leadership roles, he strives to improve the experiences of patients and families with palliative care needs. Dr. Goldman has over 25 years of experience in providing palliative at home as well as in inpatient and outpatient settings. In addition to his training in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, he completed a Master in Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg of Public Health
