What’s one thing we’re all good at? How about not talking — or even thinking — about end-of-life issues. Stephanie Garry is Executive Vice President at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel in NYC and she spends lots of time talking about them. So once a month — here at Exit Strategy — Stephanie and her guests are elevating, normalizing and demystifying end-of-life issues from religious, cultural, societal and other perspectives … with a touch of the serious here, and the creative and whimsical there. Something in that unexpected mix will speak to you, perhaps for the first time. Join us.
Episodes
In his new and widely acclaimed book — “For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today” — Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue in NYC uses Jewish history and storytelling to frame the challenges facing the Jewish community post-Oct 7 … the individual and collective grief and sense of isolation … and […]...
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A year after October 7, we are individually and collectively seeking a marker to frame our grief and our trauma, but is that even possible? “The difficulty of commemorating October 7 is that we’re still in the middle of it … you can’t look back with a sense of completion,” says Rabbi Donald Goor, Rabbi […]...
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Monuments are the types of memorials — headstones, footstones, markers and more — we place at a loved one’s final resting place, and honor a life. So what are our choices? How creative can we be with design? When should we start to think about a monument, and what about maintaining it over time? Adam […]...
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Can universal principles of spirituality join with classic psychotherapy and other modes of western medicine to help us navigate our journeys and their challenges? Anna Yusim, MD, a Stanford and Yale educated and board certified psychiatrist and executive coach, has moved the holistic approach forward in practice and in myriad writings, including her recent book, […]...
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Jewish not-for-profit funeral chapels are making impact not only as service providers, but also as educators, conveners and community builders in an evolving Jewish landscape. Plaza Jewish Community Chapel in New York City and Sinai Memorial Chapel in San Francisco are leaders of this unique and impactful model — here discussed by Stephanie Garry, Exit […]...
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Tony Award winning actor Miriam Silverman lost her mother, Anita, during a pre-Broadway run of the hit play The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window just last year. Her father’s insistence that she stay committed to the play — along with her love for her craft — propelled her forward in a role, on a stage, […]...
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A current off-Broadway production, October 7: In Their Own Words, dramatizes the verbatim testimonies of Israelis from that and following days, revealing raw expressions and interpretations of trauma and grief … and also resilience. Director Geoffrey Cantor joins Exit Strategy Host Stephanie Garry to discuss this groundbreaking, original play … and how live theatre provides […]...
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Come Memorial Day, we will honor US military personnel who died while serving … and be mindful of our veterans and those among them we’ve lost. Edward Yarmus — a licensed funeral director at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel — is a US Air Force veteran himself. He speaks with Exit Strategy Host Stephanie Garry about […]...
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She spends her professional life elevating conversations about death and loss — including as host of this podcast series. But when her own mother — Eileen — died in February, Stephanie Garry was thrust into the journey of mourning and grief herself, gaining new and greater perspective through the lens of her own family. In this special […]...
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In January, New England and national radio and podcast personality Jordan Rich went public with his recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease — modeling for us how uncertainty and grief surrounding a medical diagnosis can evolve into a purposeful, expansive and uplifting resilience. Jordan speaks about his journey with Exit Strategy Host Stephanie Garry as we […]...
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