Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW, is Professor of Ritual and Human Development at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California.  She is a Psychotherapist and Author, specializing in grief and healing, who assists institutions in creating caring communities., and has contributed to many other publications.Her acclaimed book,  Mourning & Mitzvah,  is now being translated into Spanish and sections of the book have been translated into several African dialects for AIDS hospice workers on that continent.  Rabbi Brener was a Bereavement Chaplain for Skirball Hospice and  is a founding faculty member of Yedidya’s Morei Derekh- Jewish Spiritual Direction Program. She serves on the steering committees of  the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Medicine and the Southern California Jewish Burial Society.