In 2004, Sherri Mandell won the National Jewish Book award for The Blessing of the Broken Heart, which told of her grief and initial mourning after her 13-year-old son Koby was brutally murdered.
Years later, with her pain still undiminished, Sherri trained to help others as a pastoral counselor, one of the first in Israel's hospitals.
Could a stranger offer comfort to patients and their families in the face of cancer? Could Sherri find comfort by comforting others?
Reaching for Comfort is the moving memoir of an experience that was at turns painful, awkward, and funny, but always enriching.
Advance Praise
"Having faced the most unimaginable trauma-the loss of her son Koby to a terrorist attack-Mandell sets out to accompany others through loss, illness and suffering. The reader is gifted with a beautiful account of heart-opening-Mandell's, to be sure, and also those of the patients and family members she accompanies. What a blessing to witness Mandell's and her patients' resilience!"
-Rabbi Dayle Friedman, editor, Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Guide from Traditional and Contemporary Sources