Strengthening our Caring Community: Gemilut Chasadim current and future acts of lovingkindness
One of the guiding texts that forms my theology is from a midrash on Psalm 145:9, the line from Ashrei: tov Hashem lakol v’rachamav al kol maasav, “God is good to all because God’s compassion is on all of God’s works.” My favorite interpretation in this midrash is that the verse means that God is good to all because God gives humanity the ability to be compassionate to each other. Indeed, this is my belief and my experience: people feel God’s goodness in their lives when humans show up for them in compassionate caring.
Part of what makes a community like Netivot Shalom sacred is the compassionate caring that we offer each other. We experience the presence and goodness of the Divine when we receive compassionate care, especially in difficult times. Our community has a sacred infrastructure in place to make sure this happens: a Chevra Kaddisha when there is a death, Meal Trains for families with new babies, and Gemilut Chasadim (“acts of lovingkindness”) when someone is struggling with illness, recovering from surgery, needing meals after a death in the family, and the like.
Our community is growing; long-time members are aging; and the Gemilut Chasadim needs are increasing in our community. I want to share with you about our current Gemilut Chasadim infrastructure and also ask for your involvement in expanding our work in Gemilut Chasadim.
Currently: We have wonderful Gemilut Chasadim co-chairs: Susan Lawrence (and thank you to her husband Andy Cohen, who recently passed the baton after several years serving as co-chair with Susan) and Herb Brosbe, and new co-chairs on the team, Terry Becker and Sarah Rose Leonard. One of these co-chairs reaches out to a person in need to find out how the community can help with meals, rides, or other support. The needed support is then posted on a site called Lotsa Helping Hands, and members of our community sign up. If you are not already signed up for Lotsa Helping Hands, please do so here – we need more community members to offer support! In addition, if you have a need, please reach out to me at rabbi@netivotshalom.org or to the Gemilut Chasadim co-chairs at gemilut@netivotshalom.org. We can only support you if we know that you have a need. And we want to support you! It is a mitzvah for our community to support you, so please don’t be shy about asking for help when you need it.
Future: In the coming months, we plan to expand our Gemilut Chasadim care in our community. Keep your eyes open for a series of learning sessions on the topic by myself and others so that you can gain skills, confidence, and find great meaning in performing acts of lovingkindness. Our hope is to create a “Bikkur Cholim (visiting the sick) Team,” with an intensive Bikkur Cholim training by Terry Becker, who worked for many years as a hospital chaplain and as a chaplain supervisor, training clergy in pastoral care skills. As our community grows and ages, we will need this special corps of trained members to provide ongoing support, calls, and visits to our members who are ill or who need compassionate care.
I encourage you to consider how you might get involved in strengthening our caring community by signing up for Lots Helping Hands, responding when there is a need, and/or attending the upcoming learning and training sessions about Gemilut Chasadim and Bikkur Cholim. As it is taught in the midrash, “God is good to all because God gives humanity the ability to be compassionate to each other.”