Sholom SternWhen Words Fail
A Religious Response to Undeserved Hurt
Introduction
1. The Pastor in Judaism
Speaking Authoritatively, but with a Compassionate Voice
Chief Actor in the Healing Drama
2. Give Me Friendship or Death
Health and Human Companionship
Guilt and Mourning
Case Study of a Self-Indulgent Life
Excommunication and Mourning
Alone with God
Sitting Shivah without Any Visitors
Beyond the Destroyed Temple
Life and Dialogue
3. Enter the Comforter
The Non-Professional in the Healing Process
The Therapist as a Friend
Silence, A Prelude to Venting Anger
Does job Express a Death Wish?
Shattering of Eternal Verities
Bittush--A Hasidic Approach to Recovery
Never Letting Go of Guilt Feelings
The Victim Interceding for Friends
4. Listening
Greatest Comfort, "Be Quiet, Let Me Speak"
Jacob's and Elkanah's Failures
Everyman's Question--Is God Listening?
The Lead Role without a Word
The Handmaid Acting as Sarah's Mother
Listening with the Third Ear
5. When Silence is Golden
The Bible's Most Famous Silence
Silence Speaking Louder Than Words
When Knowing Too Much Induces Silence
Highest Praise to God
A Teacher's Silence
The Loudest Noise in the World
6. Give Me Your Hand: Reflections on Nonverbal Communication
The Healing Touch
Rabbi Johanan's Therapy
Eyes and Nose--The Silent Messengers
Clothing and Nonverbal Communication
Cain's Body Language
Semichah--Ordaining through Touch
7. Responding to Tragedy
Every Man Has His Breaking Point
Asserting Power in a Powerless Setting
God Favoring the Pursued
The Weakness of Phyysical Power
Feeling Superior through Laughter
The Present Doesn't Determine the Future
Parallel between Job and Zion
The Most Perfect Thing--A Broken Heart
Job, The Man with No History
Life--A Pledge Returned to God
Can Evil Be Good?
Creative Illness
The Holocaust--Acquiring Special Credit
8. Making Your Peace with God
Where is My Father?
Metaneeds More Than Basic Needs
I Know My Redeemer Lives
Revealing Our Darker Side
Depression and Distancing Ourselves from God
Fighting Death, Asserting Life
Our Humiliation and God's Tears
Job's Healing without God's Answer
Liberated from Prison of Self-Centeredness
Concluding Thoughts
Bibliography
Index
