Rabbi Caryn Aviv’s new book, Unlearning Jewish Anxiety: How to Live with More Joy and Suffer Less, arrives at a critical moment in Jewish history, when anti-Jewish contempt and harm have visibly increased. It’s completely understandable that Jewish people are feeling increasingly anxious about our safety, worthiness, and belonging in the United States. And it’s not inevitable that we should suffer so terribly from this contempt. We can learn how to respond differently, by noticing, with awareness, what we need from moment to moment, to care for ourselves, and choose wisely, rather than from an anxiety or trauma response. 

Unlearning Jewish Anxiety explores the insidious impact of anti-Jewish contempt, and how this harm shows up in our everyday habits and responses to fear and uncertainty. Unlearning also harnesses neuroscience and Jewish wisdom to better understand and unlearn our inherited cultural anxiety habits with compassion and kindfulness. The broader goal?  Helping Jews, loved ones, and our allies engage in tikkun atzmi (healing our souls and our nervous systems) to expand our capacity for tikkun olam (healing our own broken world).

Join Rabbi Dr. Aviv in a book reading and in conversation with Rabbi Irwin. This important event is in-person and on Zoom.

Rabbi Dr. Caryn Aviv (she/her/hers) serves as Rabbinic and Program Director at Judaism Your Way in Denver, CO. She loves to create and facilitate transformative Jewish experiences that spark joy and meaning for Jews and loved ones. Prior to becoming a rabbi, Caryn earned a PhD in sociology from Loyola University Chicago in 2002. She taught, mentored students, and published research in Jewish Studies and sociology at University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Denver from 2003-2013. She is the co-editor of New Jews and of Queer Jews. She received her rabbinic ordination from the ALEPH Ordination Program, in the lineage of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.