Through meditation and martial arts, Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg teaches kids with cancer how to harness their inner power to overcome pain and heal physically, spiritually and emotionally.
Rabbi G, as his students affectionately call him, holds a first degree black belt in Choi Kwang Do and first applied the ancient art to pain management at a summer camp for children with leukemia. He began volunteering at the camp after his 2-year-old daughter died of the disease. Noting its effectiveness and its potential, Rabbi G founded Kids Kicking Cancer in 1999.
Today, Kids Kicking Cancer offers free classes, uniforms, support during medical procedures and transportation to children and their families. The Southfield, Michigan-based nonprofit has expanded into New York, California, Florida, Italy, Israel and Canada and has helped more than 5,000 children and their families. In Boston, Kids Kicking Cancer has been embraced at Boston Children’s Hospital and plans to work with Mass General and Boston Medical Center in the near future.
An assistant clinical professor of Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Rabbi G has refined the classes to include breathing, visualization and relaxation techniques, along with the classical movements of the martial arts, and extended the organization’s services to any child with a serious illness.
“Rabbi G’s experience in the martial arts, as a spiritual leader and as a parent have provided him with remarkable insight into issues facing children and families with a diagnosis of cancer,” says nominator Ashley Haseotes.
