Simcha Paull Raphael

Raphael was born Steven Paull in 1951 and grew up in Montreal, the son of Rose and Harold Paull. He was educated in Hebrew day schools at United Talmud Torahs of Montreal. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Sir George Williams University, a Master of Arts from Concordia University, a doctorate in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and was ordained as a Rabbi rabbinic pastor by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Raphael's early encounters with death deeply impacted him, including the loss of his grandmother when he was four and two close friends in his early 20s, one of whom was his best friend who died in a car accident in 1973. He found that Jewish tradition generally offered minimal support for confronting death, with most Jewish belief emphasizing life over the hereafter and many assuming Judaism didn't have a concept of an afterlife. Convinced that Jews wanted something different, he decided to write a book delving into non-rationalistic explanations from Jewish tradition. ==Jewish Views of the Afterlife==

Raphael spent 15 years researching and writing Jewish Views of the Afterlife, It is currently in its third edition. Raphael proposes that understanding and embracing these traditions can transform Jewish experiences of death and mourning, offering an antidote to the grief and trauma of events like the Holocaust. The book ultimately positions Judaism as a meaningful source of insight into life after death, aligning it with global religious and near-death perspectives. In his "Kabbalistic-Psychological" model of afterlife, he divides existence into spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical realms with specific rituals for each. ==Career==

Raphael co-founded a bereavement-support program at a Jewish funeral home in Toronto spiritual director at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1999–2009), Acknowledging that death is unsettling, he insists on the need for open discussions about it. He highlights historical beliefs in the soul's continuity, particularly within Kabbalistic traditions, stressing the importance of understanding the soul's nature to grasp what happens after death. In 2014 he founded the ''Da'at Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy, and Training'', which provides transpersonal psychotherapy, individual and group bereavement counseling, spiritual direction, pastoral care, and hospice support. He applies his understanding of Jewish teachings of the soul's afterlife journey in the hopes of making this knowledge relevant to healing and emphasizes the importance of being with people in their grief. ==Personal life==

Raphael is married to Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, who was ordained in the Reconstructionist movement. He and his wife created their surname by combining their birth surnames Robinson (hers) and Paull (his). In 1988 they received an award for excellence in programming for their contributions to developing a death awareness program in Toronto. ==Bibliography==