Author Jack H Bloom, a practicing psychologist who spent 10 years as a congregational rabbi, draws on his own experience watching the successful rabbinical career he enjoyed turn into one he desperately wanted to forsake and describes how he was inspired to become an “athletic coach for rabbis.” Curiously, his high school yearbook had that listed as his ambition. And that’s what he became, though in a way he never imagined. His mentoring his fellow clergy led to his being honored by his colleagues as a “quintessential rabbi for rabbis.”

In his first book, The Rabbi As Symbolic Exemplar: By The Power Vested In Me, Bloom examines how the symbolic role that serves as the source of the rabbi’s authority and power can lead to disillusionment and disenchantment. This unique book details how symbolic exemplarhood is created, what its downside is, what power it offers, how it can be used effectively, how rabbis and other clergy can deal with their inner lives, and what can be done to help them stay “human” while maintaining their leadership. This book is being used in virtually all of the rabbinical schools in the US. In four short years, the term “symbolic exemplar” has entered everyday usage among both rabbis and laity.

The notion of the Rabbi as symbolic exemplar is one of the most important insights regarding the rabbinate in decades.
            ~ Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

In this newest book Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other’s Keeper Bloom continues his concern for the day-to day work of the rabbinate, Bloom and his talented fellow contributors provide an extensive resource of caregiving tools and approaches. Using Jewish tradition and Self-Relations as take-off points, experts from many fields provide insightful perspectives and effective strategies for caregiving.

In the language of self-relations, each of us is not called a Self. Instead, each of us is more accurately described as a relationship among “selves”—relationship is the basic psychological and religious unit! Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other’s Keeper sensitively centers on relationships and the healing process, using the understanding that to spark healing in others, a loving, respectful relationship must first be present between every aspect of our “selves.”