Elliot Kukla

Rabbi Elliot Kukla serves the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in San Francisco (jewishhealingcenter.org), where he provides spiritual care to those who are ill, dying, or bereaved, and where he also co-directs the Kol Haneshama: Jewish End of Life Care volunteer hospice program.

Unconditional Gifts

Elliot KuklaDecember 4, 2017

When I train Jewish hospice volunteers, I ask them to reflect on a moment when they were in need and someone was present for them. I don’t specify anything else about the interaction, yet volunteers always recall something similar. One man shared his story of a bicycle accident, and of the stranger who sat silently with him on the curb until the ambulance came. A woman spoke of her grandmother knitting in the corner of the hospital’s delivery room throughout her three-day-long labor. When I ask for their reflections, nobody tells stories about getting advice (no matter how helpful), or about someone taking heroic, life-saving actions (no matter how important). Rather, the stories are mostly about silent companionship.

Chronic Illness: Separate — Not Equal

Elliot KuklaMay 19, 2017

In the fall of 2013, I got sick. Like most people who fall ill, I assumed I would get better. Weeks, then months, then years passed. And though there were plenty of ups and downs, I did not recover.