Rabbi Simcha Raphael

Simcha Paull Raphael, a rabbi, psychotherapist and teacher, has devoted his life's work to bringing together Jewish tradition, psychology and the study of death and the afterlife. He was born in Quebec and studied at Concordia University in Montreal. In 1986 he received a PhD in psychology from CIIS, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and in 1990 Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi ordained him as a Rabbinic Chaplain. He has taught at Temple University, La Salle University and Bryn Athyn College and served as a spiritual director at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. In the Philadelphia area he works as a transpersonal psychotherapist, bereavement counsellor and spiritual director.

As founding director of the DA'AT Institute, which focuses on death awareness, advocacy and training, he gives lectures, scholar-in-residence weekends and professional trainings for clergy, hospice staff and caregivers. The topics include Jewish views of the afterlife, Kabbalah, death rituals and mourning. Jewish Views of the Afterlife, his best-known book, is now in a third edition. Later titles include The Grief Journey and the Afterlife, May the Angels Carry You, Living and Dying in Ancient Times and Spirits, Ghosts, & Dybbuks, and he has also published collections of poetry.