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"Of all the programs in
Partnership 2000, I can't think of a
single program I am more proud of,"
Aronson said.
The new hospice is one of only
11 in Israel. Like most, it provides
home-based services rather than set-
ting aside a specific building or hos-
pital wing to hospice care.
The alternative of home hospice
care contrasts with the push in Israel
to fill the many available hospital
beds, said committee member David
Techner, who went on the mission
with wife Ilene.
Techner, a funeral director at Ira
Kaufman Chapel in Southfield,
joined Rabbi Freedman in emphasiz-
ing the importance of compassionate
end-of-life care, provided in a cul-
tural and religious context. Like
most Israeli hospices, the Shiffman
Home Hospice lacks religious chap-
laincy.
"I really felt like I was back in
1980, working here in Michigan,"
said Techner. "Then, I felt there was
a different way Jews died just as
there is a different way Jews live."
Frequently when he's asked to
connect people with a rabbi after a
death occurs, family members will
tell him, "I wish mom could have
spoken to him before she died."
Techner said he felt the Michigan
team had convinced the staff at the
Shiffman Home Hospice that "if we
can get a rabbi to come visit, it will
be a good death."
Rabbi Freedman said providing
end-of-life care to the mainly
Sephardic population served by the
Shiffman Home Hospice is compli-
cated by cultural differences.
Although patients and their families
may be culturally and spiritually
Jewish, they sometimes are not
familiar with ritual.
In one case, a caregiver refused
adequate pain medication for his
terminally ill wife because he mis-
takenly thought Judaism forbade
such measures. This is where a rabbi
on the hospice staff would have been
more effective than a team of doc-
tors and social workers, Rabbi
Freedman said.
"He needed to understand that,
within the Torah, it's very specific
that there are two values in health
care. Symptom management is one;
pain control is the other," Rabbi
Freedman said. "And when healing is
not possible, the focus switches to
pain control and the Torah demands
and requires it."

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