Wise Aging: Getting Good at Getting Older!

Occasionally, we meet an older person we admire and think: “I want to be like her when I grow up. I want to be wise, joyful, grateful, compassionate, patient, funny, curious, optimistic!” As Estelle Reiner said in the classic deli scene from When Harry Met Sally: “I want what she’s having.” The question for us as we get older is: what do I need to do now to become the eighty-five-year-old I someday hope to be? What work do I have to do now to acquire a heart of wisdom?

Rabbi Laura Geller, Rabbi Emerita of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, was the first woman to lead a major metropolitan synagogue as Senior Rabbi. Twice named one of Newsweek’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America, Rabbi Geller was featured in the PBS documentary Jewish Americans