Clergy play a vital role in walking with a family through the death of a loved one, offering presence, guidance, and hope when words often fail. In moments of deep grief, they serve as steady companions—listening without judgment, holding sacred space for tears and questions, and reminding families that they are not alone in their sorrow. Beyond providing spiritual rituals and prayers, clergy help weave meaning into the experience of loss, naming God’s promises of comfort and resurrection even when those truths feel distant. By accompanying families with compassion and faith, clergy embody the care of the wider community and offer a tangible reminder of God’s abiding love in life’s hardest seasons.
Presenter
Steve Leder is the senior rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. After receiving his degree in writing and graduating cum laude from Northwestern University, and spending time studying at Trinity College, Oxford University, Leder received a master’s degree in Hebrew letters in 1986 and rabbinical ordination in 1987 from Hebrew Union College.
He is the author of five books: The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things, More Money Than God: Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul, the bestsellers More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us, and The Beauty of What Remains, and For You When I Am Gone: Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story.
As Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, he officiated well over a thousand funerals and ministered to countless mourners facing grief and bereavement. His writing distills decades of pastoral care into meaningful guidance on mourning, memory, and legacy. Leder teaches that grief is not about “getting over it,” but about presence—just showing up as your authentic self—as catharsis. Combining lived empathy—particularly after losing his own father—with a richly practiced spiritual framework, Rabbi Leder embodies both the wisdom and the warmth essential for guiding individuals and families through bereavement.
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You may also like the following events from Kindling Faith at United Lutheran Seminary:
- Next month, 8th October, 06:00 pm, Come to the Well in Gettysburg
- Next month, 9th October, 04:00 pm, Thriving Ministries: Congregational Vitality Training in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
- Next month, 13th October, 04:00 pm, 2025-26 Pastoral Care Series with Reverend Beth Toler in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Also check out other
Arts events in Gettysburg,
Literary Art events in Gettysburg.
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