How Leaders are Engaging Religious Identity in Healthcare Spaces

Throughout my life, two of my favorite moments in Shabbat services have always been the Mi Shebeirach and the Mourner’s Kaddish.

In my synagogue, both are said together, in community. I was always unsure if the prayers themselves could heal someone, likely not, but I could feel the power of the community in those moments – the reminder that we must show up for each other, and that remembering those in need would spur us into action, which can heal. In between shabbat services, my synagogue was involved in various public health initiatives: food drives, blood drives, and addressing food and prescription insecurity across the world. I was taught to heal the body and soul through community action. 

When I joined Interfaith America, it was during the first wave of vaccinations for COVID-19. I got to experience people leaping into action to help their neighbors, religious leaders using their networks to arrange rides to clinics, people using religious spaces to disseminate information, showing up for their neighbors in ways that the Mi Shebeirach had always called me to do. Afterward, the ripple effects of that project were expanding in ways I could not have ever imagined – our healthcare workers, professors, students, and community members wanted to continue to address the intersection of mind, body, and soul in ways that are impactful and meaningful.  

In addition to utilizing faith spaces to help heal, many of our Faith and Health grantees are striving to increase faith in healthcare settings. Our grantees worked to train pharmacists to increase their spiritual awareness, increase the understanding of the intersection between race, faith, and mental health, and teach OB/GYN students about how a patient’s faith might show up in the delivery room. We have an incredible network of educators and practitioners who are increasing the ability for patients, us, to show up as our whole selves and get cared for, fully. And the journey is not over!  

Because of the calling, yearning, inclination, we have asked several of our Emerging Leaders to speak about the rich promise, even urgency, of engaging religious identity in health-related settings. We’ll hear from those working at the intersection of faith and health and connect with others committed to lifting up our nation’s religious diversity as an asset in the pursuit of personal and public health.