Growing and learning is key to making Later Adulthood fulfilling. Opening the mind to new ideas, opening the hands to new skills, opening ourselves to new experiences lends life a quality of joy and excitement.

We aim to produce a Jewish version of these programs of adult learning, especially focused on Jewish topics for older people. We can also offer guidance to those elders who wish to pursue higher education elsewhere, making learning available to all. 

Everyone is an artist. Art is an important part of human existence. All of us have a capacity to express ourselves in some medium. Creating art of all kinds is among the most joyful experiences, and again, an opportunity afforded once our working years are concluded.

Adults in their later years want to feel useful. They want to serve, to contribute, to give back. Most especially, they want to direct their energies to the well-being of future generations. Their accumulated experience, patience and wisdom, positions them uniquely to do so effectively. What they need is an institutional structure to make placements, offer guidance, and on-going support. Sayva will offer resources and guidance for late-adulthood second careers, particularly in the helping professions, for paid and unpaid internships for elders, for sustained and spontaneous volunteer service opportunities.

Play is a critical part of the human soul. As we get older, our culture suppresses play in the service of work and responsibility, and  “maturity.” Later Adulthood offers the opportunity to recover the joy of play by releasing us from the need for performance, the fear of failure, the embarrassment of trying new things. Sayva offers opportunities for play, for engaging activities valued simply for their own sake. Walks, trips, games, affinity groups, hobby groups, all would enrich the lives of elders.

The most important element in successful aging is connection with others. Maintaining old friendships, making new friends among peers and among younger people, sharing oneself with family, are critical for this time of life. Every program or function of Sayva must carry the priority of connecting individuals into relationships. Sayva will conduct a sustained effort at developing  groups of every kind and affinity simply to connect people and push back the loneliness that affects so many older people – walking groups, Mahjong games, investment clubs, book groups, travel groups, restaurant crawls, theater groups, etc. 

The move from working life to Later Adulthood, the movement through Later Adulthood toward Old Age can be fraught. As change comes to our daily routine, as body and mind change, as relationships change, our identity changes, leaving us feeling out of place in the world.

One of the most important things we can do for elders is to organize rites of passage for the significant moments that attend our later years. When we deviate from the car’s navigation route, the screen reads, “Recalibrating,” or “Re-Routing.” We are not interested in retiring, retreating, or removing ourselves from life.