Rabbi Beth Naditch Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Jewish Theological Seminary

The Jewish Theological Seminary has awarded Rabbi Beth Naditch, Hebrew SeniorLife’s director of clinical pastoral education, an honorary doctorate degree celebrating her 27 years in the rabbinate.

The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City Rabbinic Convocation Ceremony was scheduled earlier this year to celebrate the Class of 1999 and honor rabbis who have served the Masorti/Conservative Movement and the Jewish people with distinction for over 25 years.

“Accompaniment, connection, and teaching have defined your 25 years in the rabbinate. You combine these themes and passions in your current role as director of clinical pastoral education at Hebrew SeniorLife in Massachusetts. In both your chaplaincy and teaching, you bring as much care and attention to the people-as-text as you do to sacred texts and narrative. You understand story as a way of knowing, whether people’s stories are told in words, in silences, in behaviors, or in the holding of a hand. As you continue your experience in trauma-informed work, we pray your soul is nourished,” said the ceremony program.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees and our Advisory Boards, it is my great pleasure to extend a personal yasher koach and mazal tov to our honorees and to their families and friends on this joyous and momentous occasion,” said Board Chair Alan Levine, Esq., in the ceremony program.

“We celebrate Rabbi Beth Naditch, who, with soulful davenning, passionate learning and text study, spiritual care, abundant poetry and storytelling, humor, wisdom, exquisite hazzanut, big heart, and deep connection to our community’s sorrows and joys, has led the Yamin Noraim of the Havurah Minyan of the Capital District for 24 years,” wrote Anna Rosen in the ceremony program.

“Hineini, I am here, in the joyous places and the hardest places; I am ready to support you and accompany you on this journey wherever it may lead. It is this art, skilled practice, and service of Hineini that has shaped Rabbi Beth Naditch’s extraordinary career in the rabbinate. A chaplain’s chaplain, a teacher’s teacher, and a rabbi’s rabbi. Rabbi Naditch has not only brought her pulpit to the bedside and to traumatized communities, but has also taken on the leadership mantle of training the Jewish community’s next generation of chaplains, rabbis, educators, and spiritual first-responders. Because of her tireless work, our communal capacity for compassion, responsiveness, and healing continues to expand at a time when such needs are paramount,” wrote Allison Cook in the ceremony program.

“Rabbi Beth Naditch truly embodies the role of a teacher, grounding her work in curiosity and trauma-informed care to hold space with deep compassion, foster connection, and hope during times of great stress, and prepare her students to lead authentically while honoring the full range of human emotion,” wrote Tammy B. Retalic, former executive vice president, Lunder CareForce Institute, Hebrew SeniorLife, in the ceremony program.

Rabbi David Lerner of Temple Emunah in Lexington and Rabbi Michelle Robinson of Temple Emanuel in Newton were other Boston-area rabbis who received this honor.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife is a national leader working to create a world where aging is defined by possibility, not limitation. We care for more than 4,500 older adults each day across seven campuses throughout Greater Boston, and offer support for families in the aging journey. Our services include in-home care, outpatient therapies, an outpatient memory clinic, short- and long-term inpatient care, hospice, independent and assisted living, and affordable housing with services. We conduct influential research on aging at our Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a grant portfolio of $87 million, and train future health care workers at the Lunder CareForce Institute. Hebrew SeniorLife is a Harvard Medical School affiliate. Follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.   

About The Jewish Theological Seminary
As a preeminent institution of Jewish higher education, The Jewish Theological Seminary integrates rigorous academic scholarship, teaching, discourse, and religious practice in order to strengthen Jewish tradition, Jewish lives, and Jewish communities in the broadest possible sense.