Overview
Thank you for your interest in participating in Sacred Spaces' Seiviah: Sacred Aging cohort.
This cohort will be open to up to 15 synagogue staff, clergy, or lay leaders who are interested in enhancing prevention and response to elder abuse at their own shul or in their community. We ask that part of your role is already dedicated to interacting with older adults congregants or helping people age with dignity and respect.
About the Cohort
This virtual cohort will bring a small group of professionals together for learning and peer-to-peer sessions. There is an $800 stipend to support/subsidize participants who want to implement a small project in their organization or community as part of their cohort experience.
The Seivah cohort offers a dedicated space for synagogue professionals and lay leaders to connect and collaborate, enhance their own knowledge about elder abuse, better support older individuals in their congregations and communities age with dignity and respect, and collectively strategize how synagogues can be part of elder abuse prevention and intervention.
The learning sessions will be led by experts and cohort participants will explore topics, such as:
- Recognizing signs of abuse and neglect, and understanding barriers to disclosure.
- Jewish texts and values that can ground prevention efforts.
- Building skills on how to check in on older adults when there are concerns about abuse and neglect, through a trauma-informed lens.
- Ways synagogues can serve as sources of resilience, care, and health.
- Strategies to strengthen community responses and networks.
The cohort will run from June 2026 through March 2027. Individual projects will happen between October and January and in February there will be a convening to hear about cohort member projects.
Completing a small project is an exciting aspect of the cohort. Cohort members can receive a stipend to design and implement a project that they would like to see at their agency or in their community. See the cohort FAQs for a list of project examples.
Cohort members commit to attending all learning sessions and most peer-to-peer sessions. The tentative dates for the learning sessions are listed below. They will be two-hour sessions that start at 11 a.m. Pacific/Noon Mountain/1 p.m. Central/2 p.m. Eastern:
June 23rd
July 14th
August 4th
July 14th
August 4th
Applications are being considered on a rolling basis. The applications will formally close June 5, 2026.