About Rabbi Fenner (he/him)
I am a Reconstructionist rabbi and a board-certified chaplain with over 25 years of experience accompanying people who are seeking understanding, support and guidance for their human life journeys. I bring an inclusive, down-to-earth, and creative approach to Judaism and spirituality.
I believe it is worth honoring the spiritual terrain around experiences of illness, healing, disability, aging, grief, loss, impairment, medical treatment, life transitions, dementia, caregiving, and dying.
In the heart of this work, I have been repeatedly entrusted with people’s stories, hearing their truths, holding and affirming their yearnings for wholeness and meaning. I feel I am on sacred ground when serving people in the depths of their darkness and confusion, and in their moments of healing.
As a spiritual care specialist in organizational settings, I have guided many individuals and groups, including health care professionals and spiritual care colleagues, in providing and improving spiritual care, meditation and centering practices, accessing and expressing deeply held emotions, and various forms of grief and healing work.
In addition to my private practice, I currently serve on the ethics committee of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and on the certification commission of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC).
Clinical Pastoral, Organizational, Jewish Communal, and Educational Leadership
Alongside rabbinic counseling and support for individuals and families, during my tenure at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in San Francisco I was a sought after resource for congregations, hospitals, hospice providers, long term care facilities, schools, and community groups:
Providing training and in-services for diverse, multi-cultural health care staffs across disciplines that fostered deeper understanding, increased referrals, and greater comfort around spiritual care concerns
Presenting to hospital-based CPE (clinical pastoral education) programs regarding spiritual care for Jewish patients
Writing and editing spiritual support “Torah Reflections” and conversation prompts for hospital patients, visitors, and professional colleagues that are used as a resource at facilities across North America
Facilitating caregiver, disability, and bereavement spiritual support groups
Helping train and sustain a community of end-of-life spiritual care companions; conveying tools and practices that allowed trainees to gain skills, comfort, patience, and deepening relational capacity in serving people who are dying or facing mortality
Serving on the planning team and as co-director for Grief & Growing™, a residential program for bereaved individuals and families
engaging with mourners of all ages, to facilitate their grieving, play, memorializing, and healing together
preparing and guiding a team of therapists, nurses, body workers, musicians, child counsellors, and spiritual leaders to support participants and staff in this intense, life-affirming work
