On this special episode of Talking Away The Taboo, I Was Supposed To Have A Baby and Rabbi David Balto host Program 1 of the Perinatal Loss Summit. 

Grappling with Loss: The Personal Stories

Two parents will describe how they grappled with the challenges of premature death, dealt with religious obligations, and created a path for spiritual healing.

Rabbi Ilan Glazer is the Co-Founder of the Our Love Continues Facebook group, a space for Jewish parents who have experienced miscarriage, end of a wanted pregnancy, stillbirth, or death of a child to find meaning, resources, and community. Ilan and his wife Sherri helped start the group in response to the stillbirth of their son Shemaryah Zichri in January 2022. Ilan is also the Founder and Director of Our Jewish Recovery, which exists to uplift the hearts and souls of everyone impacted by addiction in the Jewish community. Ilan is working on an album of original melodies Shemaryah helped bring to the world. Ilan and Sherri hope and pray that he is at peace, surrounded by his ancestors, and that his melodies will bring comfort and healing to all who need it.

Cantor Hinda Eisen Labovitz is the co-spiritual leader of Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase, MD. She is the mother of four children, including Ronen (z"l) who died in infancy of a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. In Ronen's memory, Cantor Labovitz did a year-long study of the entire Tanakh/Hebrew Bible, and continues to teach about grief and loss, in particular about how bereaved parents are represented (or aren't) in the Bible. Her reflections on study and ongoing living with grief are published here.