Professional Lecture Series:

Joseph: Family Rupture, Reconciliation, Repair, and Redemption 

Rabbi Rachel Hersh, MSW, BCC  
In Jewish tradition, the Biblical Joseph is called "HaTzadik - the Righteous" by our rabbis. His story spreads across four sections of Torah reading, bringing the Book of Genesis to a stunning finale and laying the foundation for the Book of Exodus. Seen through the lens of family systems theory, this story highlights important ways that Joseph breaks some of the challenging family patterns in his own lineage and offers inspiration for us to reflect on our own. Come explore this remarkable piece of storytelling, engaging both classical rabbinic commentary and modern family systems theory as we seek to understand some of what this story teaches. 

Rabbi Hersh serves as director of Jewish enrichment and engagement at JSSA, a historically Jewish human service agency serving neighbors of all backgrounds across the national capital region. Through her work at JSSA, she integrates Jewish wisdom and tradition with clinical human service practice, spiritual care and mindfulness techniques for agency staff, clients, patients and community partners. Prior to her work at JSSA, Rabbi Hersh had a long tenure in synagogue spiritual leadership.