I’m thrilled to bring you my conversation with Rabbi Steve Leder. Steve is the senior rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. He is the author of five books and in our conversation today, we explore his latest: For You When I Am Gone: Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story.

We explored so much from the wisdom we gain in the wake of loss, to the most important gifts we can give others – both in our lives and in our deaths.

Spoiler alert, it’s not our money, our record collections, or anything tangible – it’s our stories. He’s learned so much from his personal losses and from the decades he’s spent in his role as a Rabbi about what it is our loved ones will want from us when we’re gone. It’s such a generative and thought-provoking conversation, I can’t wait for you to listen!

Pick up a copy of For You When I’m Gone at your favorite local bookstore or online here

(24;24) Rabbi Steve Leder explains why our current system of the last words we leave our loved ones are the legal verbiage of a will is so profoundly problematic. That’s why he suggests creating an ethical will instead.

(46:00) Rabbi Steve Leder shares a beautiful phrase from the Talmud that is a reminder that we need one another. We can’t endure pain without community, without the caring support of others. Loss reminds us that we don’t need to navigate grief alone.

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