What is Shmirah? Learn with Gail Tosto

Come learn about Shmirah with Gail Tosto who is a Jewish end-of-life doula, hospice volunteer, chevrah kadisha (Jewish burial society) volunteer, and founder of Austin Shmirah — a 250-member, cross-denominational group of volunteers who perform shmirah (prayerful or mindful accompaniment between death and burial) for the deceased of all local congregations, Chabad, and the unaffiliated. She serves as one of its three Facilitators.  An active member of Congregation Agudas Achim, she thrives on interactions with people from across the entire Jewish community. Gail is a retired multilingual translator and teaches “Hebrew Through Torah” through CAA’s Adult Education program.

Shmirah is the Jewish tradition of lovingly accompanying our deceased between death and burial. Austin Shmirah, founded in 2010, is a city-wide network of local Jewish congregations and individual volunteers performing shmirah for the deceased of all denominations, including the unaffiliated. Each congregation autonomously chooses its own approach to shmirah. Each volunteer chooses how often to serve and with which congregation(s) to partner (as long as they meet the congregation’s requirements). Our cooperative, cross-denominational model may be unique among Jewish communities. Austin Shmirah has been called the most effective large-city, all-volunteer shmirah-scheduling system in the United States. Gail Tosto, our speaker for this event, is the founder of Austin Shmirah and currently serves as one of its Co-Facilitators.