Rabbi Eric Weiss is CEO/President of Bay Area Jewish Healing Center. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is a co-founder of “Grief and Growing™: A Healing Weekend for Individuals and Families in Mourning" and "Kol Haneshama: A Jewish End of Life/Hospice Volunteer Program". He attended the University of California at Santa Cruz where he received a B.A. in Biology and Judaic Studies with honors. He lived in San Francisco and worked in law offices before he entered rabbinic school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He holds a Masters degree in Hebrew Letters and was ordained in 1989. In addition to his rabbinic seminary work, he is formally trained in Jewish education, clinical pastoral care, and spiritual direction. He is a spiritual direction supervisor. His writing has appeared in many publications. He has served on several boards, among them the national board of the Central Conference of American rabbis (CCAR), the Reform movement’s national rabbinic body. Rabbi Weiss has taught extensively throughout the Bay Area, and has been featured in local and national media. He is the host of a local TV show called Mosaic which features inter-faith issues, and the editor of Mishkan R'fuah: Where Healing Resides (CCAR Press, 2013) and Mishkan Aveilut: Where Grief Resides (CCAR Press, 2019). He lives with his husband, Dan, in San Francisco.
Rabbi Shira Stern is a pastoral counselor and Disaster Spiritual Care provider for the American Red Cross. As the Director of the Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling in Marlboro, NJ, she works with children and adults as they focus on problem solving and personal growth. Rabbi Stern has more than 32 years of educational experience, including teaching Judaism at Rutgers University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and a Master of Arts degree from Hebrew Union College, where she was ordained a rabbi. She earned her Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Counseling from HUC-JIR in 2003. She is also a Board Certified Chaplain, and has served as a hospital, hospice and long-term care facility chaplain. Rabbi Stern's writings have been published in The Women's Torah Commentary and The Women's Haftarah Commentary, Jewish Relational Care from A-Z, and she is the consulting editor of Mishkan R’fuah, Where Healing Resides, published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. She has been a contributor and consultant for three National Geographic Books.
