Wisdom of the Century

Editor’s note:  We previously published an ArtSpeak video conversation with Merle Saferstein focusing on her journal writing.  Here is a link to that interview:  https://artspeak.fiu.edu/interviews/merle-saferstein/

MERLE R. SAFERSTEIN has dedicated her life to education, legacy preservation, and support for those facing significant life challenges. Her career began as an elementary school teacher. She later became the director of educational outreach at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center and, for twenty-six years, worked closely with hundreds of Holocaust survivors to ensure their stories were passed on to students, teachers, and future generations. After Saferstein’s long tenure as a Holocaust educator, her passion for legacy continued as she developed a course entitled “Living and Leaving Your Legacy®.” She now teaches and speaks to audiences locally, nationally, and internationally about leaving a meaningful legacy.

She trains hospice staff and volunteers, showing them ways to help patients leave their legacies, and works closely with the patients at the end of their lives doing sacred legacy work. For many years, Saferstein has volunteered at a camp for children who experienced the death of a family member—helping them gain important tools, including journaling, to cope with their grief. She also conducts all-day parent sessions at these camps. Saferstein facilitates Women’s Writing Connection, a writing for wellness group at Gilda’s Club for women impacted by cancer.

She is the author of Wisdom of the Century, a coffee table book celebrating 90 individuals 90 years old and older with stories of love, life, and legacy. For fourteen years, she culled through her 359 journals, taking excerpts from approximately seventy topics. From these excerpts, she authored “Living and Leaving My Legacy,” Vols. l and ll, each containing eleven subjects. Vol. ll is an Amazon #1 new release in two categories and is an Amazon bestseller in two additional categories. Saferstein is also the author of “Room 732,” an award-winning short story collection that pays homage to the historic Hollywood Beach Hotel.

As a pioneer in the field of legacy journaling, her chapter on the subject appears in “The Great Book of Journaling: How Journal Writing Can Support a Life of Wellness, Creativity, Meaning, and Purpose.” Saferstein is a council member of the International Association for Journal Writing, is a contributor to the Huff Post, Medium, Authority Magazine, Women Writers, Women’s Books, and Thrive Global, and has been featured on NPR, MSN.com, and in an article in Writer’s Digest.

Saferstein was honored as the 2019 Greater Miami Jewish Federation Volunteer of the Year.

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 8 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.