The Cohort 3 rabbis participated in a day long "Gatekeepers" training provided by the Health Ministry's Unit on Suicide Prevention. The purpose of the training is to assist in identifying potential suicide risks, knowing the proper questions to ask and things to say at the time of crisis and knowing how and where to refer people to further counseling and treatment. The week following the training Barkai held a national rabbinic conference on suicide prevention at the Ministry of Health that attracted over 120 rabbis nationwide. The program included professional lectures from mental health experts as well as meetings with families that have experienced suicides. On the Shabbat following the conference Barkai called on all rabbis throughout Israel to speak about the issue of suicide in their weekly sermons. In a letter to Barkai following the conference, Shoshi Hertz, the director of the Ministry of Health's Unit on Suicide Prevention, called the conference one of the "highlights of her professional career and in the life of the Unit on Suicide Prevention."
BARKAI in Numbers
Synagogues
Rabbis
Congregants
Rabbaniot
Hours of Training
Gatekeepers Training and Suicide Conference Marked World Suicide Prevention Day
The Barkai Center for Practical Rabbinics aims to improve the fabric of Israeli society by intensively training Israeli rabbis in all aspects of communal rabbinics so that they can lead their communities to a more meaningful connection with Judaism and act as a unifying force in Israeli society.
Support Our Vital Work
