Today, Weiner remains close with the Pivko family—on Rosh Hashanah, he’ll call Felisa with a new year’s blessing. She’ll attend his High Holidays services at the medical center, admiring his “infectious positivity” and noting how his messages always manage to be “both deeply spiritual and deeply human.”

These likely are among the reasons Weiner was recognized by the Rabbinical Council of America, the leading membership organization of orthodox rabbis in North America, as Chaplain of the Year during the organization’s annual conference this past spring.

“I deeply appreciate receiving this great honor from the Rabbinical Council of America when there are so many chaplains who deserve an award for the holy work that they do,” Weiner said. “I’m grateful to serve Cedars-Sinai patients, families, staff and our community, helping bring more light, kindness and warmth to the world.”

It’s been 17 years since Weiner joined Cedars-Sinai as a full-time rabbi. He chose religion for his profession because he wanted to be a source of good, he said.

“Although working in a hospital was not my initial plan, helping people who are vulnerable and in need certainly was,” Weiner said. “I soon realized I could do that even more in a hospital than I could in a synagogue.”

Weiner said he likes that every day is different in the Spiritual Care Department.

Patient care can involve making rounds, handling urgent situations and crises, helping patients and families with a challenge or struggles, and guiding decisions that may impact Jewish laws and practices. Weiner also oversees a team of 12 Cedars-Sinai chaplains, teaches Judaic classes, leads holiday observances and sermons, helps ensure spiritual wellbeing, and fosters a meaningful connection to Jewish ideals and culture within the hospital.

“Rabbi Weiner’s weekly Torah class is attended by an array of employees, some of whom have never studied the Hebrew Bible,” said Cedars-Sinai postdoctoral scientist Rebecca Benhaghnazar, PhD. “He leads with humility and inclusivity, and his insight and wisdom based on the scriptures further inspire us to perform our jobs with righteousness and excellence.”

Cedars-Sinai Lead Christian Chaplain the Rev. Peggy Kelley has worked closely with Weiner for 14 years.  

“Despite having different faiths, we respect each other’s deeply rooted convictions,” Kelley said. “Rabbi is an incredible leader—he brings light, a safe presence, comfort and a brilliant mind—a rare combination.”

Jonathan Schreiber, vice president of Community Engagement at Cedars-Sinai, agreed.

“Cedars-Sinai’s commitment has always been to ‘be a blessing’ for those in need,” Schreiber said. “No one lives this model more than Rabbi Dr. Weiner. We are fortunate that Cedars-Sinai patients, loved ones and staff all benefit from his expertise, compassion and caring. He is not only deserving of Chaplain of the Year—he’s also our Chaplain of Every Day, and we are grateful to him for that.”

Weiner himself is quick to credit his Cedars-Sinai colleagues, especially those providing patient care.

“They show up and work so hard for the betterment of humanity and our patients,” he said of faculty and staff. “They recognize that supporting people means helping the whole person—not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. It’s very special to see.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Historic Texts May Inform Modern Bioethical Dilemmas

The Jewish High Holidays, a time of reflection, repentance and new intentions, begins Oct. 2 at sundown with Rosh Hashanah—the Jewish New Year—and continues on Oct. 11 with Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar.

Jason Weiner, PhD, senior rabbi at Cedars-Sinai and director of the Spiritual Care Department, will lead High Holidays services at the medical center on Oct. 3, 11 and 12. Patients, staff and the community are welcome.

In hopes of leaving congregants with meaningful inspiration for the year ahead, Weiner prepares for the sermons he will give during High Holidays services by researching, reading and, most importantly, listening. The past year has been an especially heavy time for people around the world, Weiner said, so the opportunity to craft a message that brings comfort and inspires reflection and renewal can feel both daunting and heartening.

“I speak with many patients at Cedars-Sinai about how world events have impacted their lives this year,” he said. “People tell me they are yearning for healing and comfort. I hope my message can offer help and hope. At the same time, I appreciate listening, learning and gaining inspiration from others during the High Holidays. I’m looking forward to having our community together for all these reasons.”

The Cedars-Sinai Newsroom spoke with Weiner more about the High Holidays services and what messages he hopes to convey.

What are some prominent themes of your High Holidays sermons this year?

I’ll focus on the role of the Jewish people during these difficult, divided times in our world, and on themes of resilience and overcoming adversity. In Jewish tradition, we believe the Ten Commandments were broken by Moses and that new whole tablets were kept in the Ark of the Covenant along with the broken tablets. Likewise, our world has felt broken this year. I want to emphasize that it’s critical during these times to maintain balance and perspective. I’ll also express how important it is to embrace community—to recognize that we can’t do everything alone and that we need each other’s support. That’s what the holidays are about—coming together for support and camaraderie.

What are your wishes for the Jewish New Year?

I’m hopeful for a fresh start, a new beginning, and the opportunity for a better year ahead. There’s a classic Hebrew saying, “May the old year and its curses end, and may the new year and its blessings begin.” I feel like that saying is really perfect this year.

Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Wednesday, Oct. 2, and continues through Friday, Oct. 4; Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Friday, Oct. 11, and continues through Saturday, Oct. 12. Weiner will lead three High Holidays services in the Harvey Morse Auditorium at Cedars-Sinai. Prerecorded services also are available.

• Rosh Hashanah: Thursday, Oct. 3, 10 a.m.–noon  
• Kol Nidre: Friday, Oct. 11, 6:30–8 p.m.
• Yom Kippur: Saturday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Cedars-Sinai Rabbi Publishes Book About Bioethics

Cedars-Sinai memorialized the day with its 40th Annual Yom Ha’Shoah Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration at the medical center on May 6th. An endowment from the Roya and Joel Geiderman Family Trust supports the hospital’s annual tribute, as well as The Joel Geiderman, MD, Lectureship.

“Cedars-Sinai sincerely thanks the Geiderman family for their generous support of this annual commemoration,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “Especially now, the remembrance of one of the darkest chapters of human history is critically important.”

Geiderman is co-chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Emergency Medicine, medical director of the Emergency Department and professor of Emergency Medicine. He also serves as vice chair emeritus of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

“Events like the Yom Ha’Shoah commemoration, the Martin Luther King Day celebration and other community outreach efforts, including those for the unsheltered, exemplify this institution’s commitment to working for the greater good,” said Geiderman. “My family considers it a gift to be able to contribute to those efforts.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Malka Z. Simkovich, PhD, a respected scholar and authority on Jewish history and the Hebrew Bible. Simkovich is director of Catholic-Jewish Studies, as well as the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies at Catholic Theological Union. She’s also a Leon Charney Fellow at the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies and a Kogod Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She’s authored numerous books, receiving the 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries Judaica Reference Honor Award for one of her works. Her latest book, Letters from Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity, will be released in June 2024.

“With profound sincerity and deep sorrow, Cedars-Sinai stands with the world in remembrance of the many souls lost during the horror of the Holocaust,” said Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, and the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership. “As an institution founded on the tenets of the Jewish faith, we share in the dedication of this day to eschew the spirit of hate that resulted in the Holocaust.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Kindertransport Saved This Volunteer from Nazi Germany | Cedars-Sinai

A lot, as it turns out.

When the Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies was created at Cedars-Sinai two years ago, founding Director Sari J. Siegel, PhD, envisioned an international and interdisciplinary community of scholars working together to better understand the history of medicine during the Holocaust and other mass atrocities, broadly share that knowledge, and leverage it to help inform modern medical education, practice and ethics.

Siegel’s vision propelled her to serve on the first commission assembled by peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet charged with examining medical practice during the Nazi era. The Commission of 20 comprises historians, medical ethicists, physicians and medical educators from around the globe. Their recently published report, “The Lancet Commission on Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust: Historical Evidence, Implications for Today, Teaching for Tomorrow,” includes Siegel’s expertise earned from her years of research into the roles of Jewish prisoner-physicians forced to work in Nazi concentration camps.

The commission notes, “Studying medicine under Nazism highlights the critical role of societal factors and of ethics in medical and scientific advancement. By learning about the abuse and distortion of medicine and medical ethics during this period, the medical community can better face the ethical pressures of today and tomorrow, fostering a deeper understanding of human rights as central to medical practice and research.”

As the Jewish world prepares to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom sat down with Siegel, research assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences in the History of Medicine Program, to discuss the Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies—unique among medical centers in the U.S.—and how it’s using history to help educate, inform and influence modern medical practice.

Dr. Siegel, tell us about the center’s work.

The Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies is one component of Cedars-Sinai’s Center for the Arts and Humanities in Medicine. It is a research and education hub—a site for knowledge production and a platform to share and discuss findings. Our programming draws participants from around the world and has included virtual roundtable discussions and lectures; book, art and film talks; and an international symposium—all open to the public. The center’s interdisciplinary approach translates to events that have featured scholars of 15 nationalities from 12 academic disciplines, including political science, literature, ethics and psychology.

Every year we offer a two-month Strauss Fellowship to an early-career scholar conducting research at the intersection between health or medical practice and the Holocaust or other human atrocities. We’ve had Strauss Fellows from India and Hungary, and the list has grown to include China with our 2023-2024 Strauss Fellow.  

Through the unique model of the Strauss Fellowship, we facilitate conversations between fellows and Cedars-Sinai physicians for researchers to gain clinical and scientific insights that help them interpret source material in new ways. The learning is reciprocal, as fellows share their brand-new research and shed light on unknown histories connected to the physicians’ respective medical fields.

In educating clinicians about their predecessors’ conduct—namely, doctors’ participation in, resistance against, and rehabilitation efforts following mass violence—the center works to strengthen physicians’ compassion and moral compass. It helps demonstrate that humanitarian medical practice is very important here at Cedars-Sinai, and it connects to Cedars-Sinai’s identity as a Jewish hospital that both hired and treated Holocaust survivors.

What are the findings of The Lancet Commision's report? 

The report has three main components. The first addresses history. It presents a state-of-the-field discussion that extends from the interwar period until decades after the end of the war. Our goal was to offer a nuanced historical perspective—something often lacking in discussions of this challenging history. Among our tasks was countering myths and misconceptions, which frequently stem from oversimplification.

For instance, we demonstrate that, contrary to common belief, medical experimentation in Nazi camps cannot be simply categorized as “pseudoscience.” Though they led to horrendous suffering, disfigurement, and sometimes death, many of the experiments were, in fact, designed in accordance with scientific standards and practices of the time. Some were performed in collaboration with esteemed academic institutions, and several were commissioned by the German military to yield actionable information.

The second component focuses on the implications of this history on modern medicine, science and health policy and identifies areas that could be vulnerable to unethical actions today. Human subject experimentation under the Nazi regime, for example, communicates to us that we must never lose sight of the humanity of patients and subjects in the pursuit of new information. Other discussions draw attention to the vulnerability and influence of political and economic contexts on medical ethics and to the challenges of competing loyalties—to name just two.

The third component presents a conceptual framework for bringing the subject of medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust into health sciences classrooms: history-informed professional identity formation. It lays out a road map for prospective educators aiming to build a course that informs students of the history while also recognizing the contemporary relevance of the history and its legacy. While the most obvious points of relevance arise when health professionals encounter ethical dilemmas, we also want to sensitize students to, for example, prejudice in clinical and research practices and potential abuses of power.

Can you share how our center’s work aligns with the commission’s recommendations regarding healthcare professional education?

To a certain extent, the Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies is a real-world manifestation of the commission’s educational goals. Given its presence in a medical center, the center’s audience is foremost the Cedars-Sinai faculty and staff, so our programming speaks to people further along in their learning trajectories—residents to retirees. It’s never too late for health professionals to learn aspects of this history that has resonance in many aspects of their clinical and research work. Plus, in supporting the research of Strauss Fellows, the center helps the creation of new knowledge that can, in turn, contribute to healthcare professional education at all stages.

How do current medical school curricula highlight the role of medicine and healthcare providers during the Holocaust?

Unfortunately, the history of medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust is largely absent from medical school curricula. That’s something the commission hopes to change; we want this education to be universal. A good start could be to integrate information into medical ethics and/or diversity, equity and inclusion courses. It’s important that this information not get lost in the mix, because it can facilitate the professional identity formation that will serve students and their future patients. 

What keeps you engaged in this work, given the incredibly sad subject matter?

I have multiple drives: to create knowledge through my own research, to mentor fellow researchers, to mentor educators through the commission’s Teacher Training program, and to spread knowledge of this subject to people for whom the history can be transformative in their own healthcare training and practice. 

Read more in Discoveries: The History of Medicine Can Inform the Future