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This Week

Caring For Each Other

A Eelping /land

Metro Detroit's rise in synagogue caring committees follows
a national trend toward congregations taking care of their own.

LESLIE ZACK
Student Intern

T

he relationship was satisfying. Through
their weekly visits at the Danto Family
Health Care Center in West Bloomfield,
visitor Sylvia found inspiration, and resi-
dent Sofie gained a new friend. The women became
very close, sharing their life stories and their hopes.
When Sofie passed away more than a month ago,
Sylvia attended her friend's funeral with tears in her
eyes. Sylvia said she feels fortunate to have met such
an incredible woman. It came about through Sylvia's
participation in the Bikur Cholim committee at
Temple Beth El, a Reform congregation in
Bloomfield Township.
"Our main role is to provide companionship.
When you live in a facility, it can be lonely. We
bring a touch of the Jewish community to others,"
said Evelyn Prince of West Bloomfield, committee
co-chair.
This was exactly what Sylvia and Sofie offered
each other.
Two years ago, Rabbi Daniel Syme of Temple
Beth El realized he needed help . Unable to be every-
where at once, he suggested the temple start a Bikur
Cholim pro-
- gram. Since
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then, the group
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has blossomed
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and now offers
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a touch of
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Volunteers are assisting
(Jewishness) to
busy rabbis with pas-
those who have
been overlooked
toral duties of various
in our commu-
kinds, and everyone
nity. Although
the phrase bikur
benefits.
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(UAHC), the Reform movement's New York-based
membership organization. And that reason, he said,
is for "people to take care of each other and to be
concerned and involved with each other."
Rabbi Moshe Edelman of the United Synagogues
of Conservative Judaism in New York said in the
Conservative movement, "the mitzvot are richly dealt
with and always high on the agenda. The notion of
the 'caring community has always been there."
Most metro Detroit Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform synagogues have some form of social-action
committee in place.
Although the majority of Orthodox synagogues
do not have a "titled committee," they participate in
various forms of caring for each other. They offer
Caring For Each Other
kosher meals to those in jail, help children in foster
Temple Beth El's program is not alone. Feeding on
homes to remain in the Jewish community, visit the
the hunger for spirituality many Jews have in their
sick, blow the shofar (ram's horn) o n the High Holy
lives, synagogues across the country are working as
Days and read the megilla scroll at Purim for those
hard on "inreach" as outreach. They are creating -
unable to attend services.
"caring communities" — extended families of con-
Ahavahs-Chesed/Bikur Cholim, an Orthodox
gregants who are fulfilling ancient Jewish responsi-
service organization chaired by Fayga Dombey of
bilities of mitzvot (righteous acts) by reaching out to
Southfield, is not affiliated with a synagogue; it was
one another.
started because there was a need for visitors in hosp
These small acts — sitting with an ill patient,
tals and nursing homes. It helped establish a kosher.
preparing a meal for a family that has lost a loved
pantry in the emergency room of Providence
one are nothing new in Judaism. Many kinds of
Hospital in Southfield, benefiting kashrut-observin
mitzvot are explicitly spelled out in the rabbinical
patients and their families who spend extended pen
teachings as holy responsibilities. But too often in
ods of time there. Group volunteers also sew clothe
the hustle-bustle of our busy 21st-century lives,
in need of repair for residents at Menorah House, a
these simple tasks are done only when they have to
privately run Jewish nursing home in Southfield,
be — when they affect us personally. Otherwise,
and transport people who have no means to medi
they are left to our spiritual leaders and, perhaps, a
appointments.
handful of committed volunteers.
"We saw a need for people living in nursing
"What the caring community program really is
homes and thought we could bring joy," Dombey
trying to do — and succeeds in doing — is return-
said.
ing the synagogue as a spiritual community to the
She described one volunteer's personal experienc
root, basic reason that a community comes togeth-
The volunteer had been visiting an elderly woman
er," said Rabbi Richard Address, director of the
who was blind for a number of years. The woman
Department of Jewish Family Concerns for the
always wanted to give the volunteer something to
Union of American Hebrew Congregations

translates to "society to visit the sick," volunteers
also send New Year's cards and Purim treats to those
in need.
The program volunteers at Beth El currently
include 25 adults and their children. "It is an indi-
vidual thing; people are drawn to this for different
reasons," Prince said.
For example, one volunteer doesn't have living
grandparents so she participates to establish relation-
ships with her elders. "We are not there to provide
health, medical or legal care," Prince said. "We are
there to provide a friendly, Jewish touch."

