AriYael News

Dear Friends, Happy Shavuot! We would love to share what is blossoming at AriYael this Spring. Rabbi Dan and Zoë Goldblatt were honored to be on the Planning and Leadership team for the 2026 Grief and Growing at Camp Newman retreat, along with Director Liora Brosbe, Assistant Director Yael Galinson, Abra Greenspan of A Healing Legacy, and Liz Orlin of Sinai Memorial Chapel. Grief and Growing is a legacy weekend retreat program held by the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center for over 25 years, that ended when the BAJHC had to close its doors in 2022. Zoë served as [...]

Photo by Aaron Levy-Wolins (c) 2025 J. The Jewish News of Northern California. All Rights Reserved. Honoring our Co-Founders With profound gratitude for the co-founders of AriYael, we honor the essential commitment and support of Susan Talon-Mazer and Marc Mazer to help AriYael become a 501(c)3 and start on its path as a Healing Center. The memory of Ari Mazer will continue to inspire AriYael in perpetuity. Susan Talon-Mazer “This is grief’s most piercing message: there is no way around–the only way is through.” – Joanne Cacciatore, Bearing the Unbearable. When my 23 year-old son [...]

Counting The Omer - A Jewish End of Life Doula Perspective Counting The Omer - A Jewish End of Life Doula’s Perspective by Zoë Goldblatt (Delivered to a national group of Jewish Doulas over Zoom on behalf of Shomer Collective, May 2, 2023) We are in the period between Passover and the holiday of Shavuot where there’s a tradition called Counting the Omer. As a quick Hebrew lesson, the word Shavuot is the plural of Shavua, which means week. So “Shavuot” gives us a sense of time being parsed and measured. I’d like you to reflect on your [...]

Champion of Nursing Award 2022 Honored Recipient • Susan Talon- Mazer RN, MSN • The SFBA Leadership & John Muir Palliative Care Teams Celebrated at Jack's Restaurant. The San Francisco Bay Area Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association recognizes your passionate dedication and contributions as an exceptional hospice and palliative care nurse. This legacy award is a reminder of your dedication to the nursing profession through education, role modeling and patient and family advocacy during your distinguished career. Your colleagues at John Muir Palliative Care Team wrote, "Susan is an incredible and heavily talented palliative nurse at the [...]

Kaddish Poem (For Susan Talon-Mazer) What unnumbered griefs we carry in our numbered hearts— unuttered sigh, the whispers of songless sparrows. "The deeper the sorrow the less tongue we have," the Talmud says. Tongue-tied, heart-stung, our deepest griefs bury themselves alive in the tombs of our former selves. Only the welcome lament liberates them. Let my words be to you like the green earth cherishing. Let this song sew up the tattered seams of your soul. And know, as you bathe the body of your beloved with bowls of rain water, you wash her with the very tears of God. [...]

Experiencing shiva with a sacred fire By Rabbi Dan Goldblatt In Short When I first became a congregational rabbi, I discovered that many people in my community had no experience attending a shiva minyan. We began educating people about the power of this gathering following the funeral of a close loved one. What we discovered was that every time someone had a significant loss and experienced the soul comfort of a shiva gathering, they became committed to and strong advocates for shiva gatherings for others. [The following article is offered as a partnership between eJP and the Clergy [...]