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The late Joe
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was one of the
first residents
Rabbi Polter
visited.
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Israel, science and education.
Spreading Compassion
Rabbi Polter celebrates 15 years serving
seniors in JSL's chaplaincy program.
•
Lynne Meredith Golodner
Special to the Jewish News
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24
April 3 • 2014
W
hen Rabbi Dovid Polter
was a child, he visited a
nursing home with his
class. An elderly woman in a wheel-
chair made her way over to him and
asked if she could give him a hug. "I
reminded her of her son, who had
died; he says. "I refused. My teacher
offered me incentive, and the woman
embraced me."
The experience turned his fear of
older adults into compassion for them,
so much so that Polter has devoted
his work to talking with, sitting beside
and providing Jewish programming for
older adults throughout the tri-county
area as Jewish community chaplain
with the Jewish Senior Life Chaplaincy
& Outreach Program.
In its 17th year, JSL's chaplaincy pro-
gram brings programming, including
songs, stories and reminiscences, to
older adult facilities around the area.
Joanne Kristal, program coordinator,
engages in "lengthy, heartfelt" con-
versations with older adults wherever
she goes and says that even if only one
person attends her programs, she feels
wonderful for having touched a life.
Recently, Kristal facilitated a sing-a-
long at a residence. One woman didn't
sing along. As Kristal said goodbye
to every person who gathered for the
program, she rubbed the woman's hand
and said, "I hope you enjoyed our pro-
gram:'
The response: "More than you'll ever
know:' And tears came to the woman's
eyes.
"It brought tears to my eyes, too:'
Kristal said.
Polter has expanded the program
over the years. Now, students from
Akiva Hebrew Day School in Southfield
make calls on Fridays to wish older
adults a Shabbat Shalom by phone.
Even 90-year-old Ruth Wayne, who
resides in Florida during the winter,
volunteers at times to make friendly
Shabbat calls.
On the chance that one or two Jews
may be living there, Polter visits facili-
ties in Armada, Brighton, Downriver
and elsewhere off-the-beaten path. He
visited a Holocaust survivor in Brighton
whose son lived out there. He had long
conversations with a 100-year-old "very
bright, retired attorney, a free thinker"
who affiliated with Humanistic Judaism
but still enjoyed Poker's more traditional
programs.
Last June, he began visiting a woman
in Trenton. In November, she died and
one of her daughters asked Polter to
officiate at the funeral. He conducted
the service at the Ira Kaufman Chapel,
even though the deceased would be
buried in Flat Rock. Her great-grand-
son asked to play violin; he performed
"Avinu Malkeinu."
"I was stunned; said Polter, who
explained to the audience that this song
is sung on Yom Kippur, the holiest day
of the year, when the Ark is open, and
Jewish people from all over the world
sing this very soulfully.
Polter believes he is "literally rescu-
ing lives — not physical lives, but spiri-
tual lives:'
In 15 years, Polter has built a data-
base of 400 facilities. He keeps in touch
quarterly and fields calls when Jewish
older adults move in. A nursing home
in Wayne requested a mezuzah on the
front door for its only Jewish resident.
"Jewish Senior Life's whole focus is
to care for and nourish the lives of our
older adults:' says Carol Rosenberg,
director, Jewish Senior Life Foundation.
"Not just in body and mind, but in
spirit, too. We care for older adults at
our residences, and we care for them
all over Metro Detroit because that's
what it is to be a Jew. No fellow Jew
should be too isolated to connect with
our community and never should be
forgotten:'
To learn more about becoming a
parachaplain volunteer for the Jewish
Community Chaplaincy & Outreach
Program, contact Joanne Kristal at
(248) 661-2999.
❑
Lynne Meredith Golodner owns Your People
LLC, a Southfield public relations company.