From One Life to the Next Life

From (one) Life to (the next) Life explores how living in the shadow of death is the secret to leading a meaningful life. Faced with the loss of her baby son, the author shares her personal journey from paralyzing grief to living a life infused with purpose and passion. This powerful memoir is filled with Jewish teachings about birth, death, and the afterlife, including the how and why behind Jewish burial practices.

An inspiring story that is both profound and comforting.

“This book presents the unvarnished truth about death so honestly that it opens a window of understanding about the Jewish approach to healthy grieving and recovery.”

Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz

“A must-read. Elissa guides us to understand and value the way that death infuses life with meaning and gratitude. Elissa has…transformed her pain into wisdom and tenderness.”

Sherri Mandell, author of The Kabbalah of Writing: Mystical Practices for Inspiration and Creativity

About the author:

Elissa Felder is the Coordinator for Core’s Communities of Practice (www.CoreTorah.org). Core is an international organization that aims to create warm and inspiring Jewish communities by nourishing and networking women. Core offers training, resources, and support for women who want to strengthen their communities on an intentional and ongoing basis. In her role, Elissa helps these international communities grow and thrive. Elissa started and actively manages Core’s community of practice for women engaged with traditional chevrah kadisha. This is a global community whose mission is to share experiences, give encouragement, network, and help to develop and support others. She is responsible for providing on-going professional development for the community. The knowledge she acquired through her work motivated her to write this book.

Additionally, she is very active in her local chevrah kadisha and speaks widely on this topic.

Elissa is the Founding Director of Core Connects RI, a non-profit organization that aims to deepen women’s connections to one another, to Jewish wisdom, and to Jewish values, as well as to empower each other to find greater meaning, purpose, and possibility in life and to cultivate unity without uniformity. As director she is passionate about providing others with opportunities to grow and become. She runs programming both online and in person.

Elissa is passionate about bringing Jews together and celebrating their commonalities rather than their differences. Through all of these experiences, Elissa mentors and encourages others on their journeys.