A spiritual road map for living based on the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who was Head of the Lubavitcher movement for forty-four years .
Resources
This guide was prepared by others who have gone through this journey. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Consult with qualified professionals (attorney, accountant, financial advisor) for your specific situation. Remember: You don’t need to do everything at once. Take it step by step.
Be sure to be aware of possible scams targeting widows and widowers. Never share personal or financial information with those you do not know and trust.
This Tool Kit contains many ways and ideas on how to navigate holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, yartzeits (anniversary of someone’s passing), and other meaningful occasions and help them become more manageable. It is not meant to be clinical advice, but rather a guide to pull from and customize for your specific needs and situation.
Widowhood changes our outlook and mindset when coping on these days. Preparing and planning can be key to navigating these occasions more successfully.
Books
Toward a Meaningful Life, The Wisdom of The Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson
The Happiness Prayer: Ancient Jewish Wisdom for the Best Way to Live Today
This book goes through the prayer “Eilu Devarim” (these are the things) and how each of the things listed in the prayer from celebrating with the bride to study and to helping a mourner are paths toward happiness.
The Choice
The author is a Holocaust victim who transformed her life and others by realizing that the one thing no one could take from her was the choices she could make about how she handled what life sent her way.
Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life
This book consists of letters Greitens wrote to his friend who was struggling with life and moving forward.
Remember My Soul: What to do in Memory of a Loved One
This book provides 30 days of insight and exercises to help process a loss and work through it with meaning.
Pain is a Reality, Suffering is a Choice: Grappling With Divine Justice
After his 14 year old daughter passed away, every year Rabbi Resnick would write a eulogy for her with wisdom pulled from Jewish classical texts. This book is a compilation of his eulogies.
Option B
Written by a wealthy forty-something woman whose husband died suddenly. Her “plan A” was to live with him until they were both old. Since that didn’t work she needed to figure out a “plan B.”
Mourning and Mitzvah: A Guided Journal for Walking the Mourner’s Path Through Grief to Healing
This book walks the reader through the steps of grief from the initial loss in the Jewish tradition.
Living a Joyous Life
Learn to live a joyous life through Jewish practice.
Hope Will Find You
This book is written about the author’s search while dealing with a grave illness of her daughter.
Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul
Stories about Life, Death and Overcoming the Loss of a Loved One
Build the Life You Want
This book shows readers how to improve your life right now instead of waiting for the outside world to change through looking at happiness from every angle.
Be Within, Stay Above
Meditations on the wisdom of the Rebbe compiled and condensed by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Short, insightful, brilliant and uplifting Jewish wisdom on a variety of topics.