The President's Corner

Community Outreach

August 2007

Dear Members and Friends of Or haGan Jewish Community,

Communication is vitally important in building community and our work is ongoing. Community doesn't just take place at services, as many synagogue members may think. The best times are shared around a kitchen table!

Reach out with a friendly call to someone home bound, the person who no longer drives or may have lost a spouse and is home alone. These are just some of the different reasons to call and say hello. Someone suggested bringing some of the Kiddush lunch home to them on Shabbat. Take some of these goodies we enjoy after services and stop by their house to say hello and visit for a little while.

It's all about building community and making people feel like they are included. People join synagogues for different reasons. A synagogue is a house of prayer, a house of learning, and a house of gathering. There are times we have to think outside the box to make all these things happen. There are even synagogues that have services on speaker phone so those who are unable to be there physically can still feel a part of their community.

A few days ago an elderly Jewish woman told me how frustrated she felt that very few people caled her while she was convalescing at home after a hospital stay. How can we talk about building community when there are people who are house bound and who feel isolated and alone? Nothing replaces the warmth of a personal visit or a phone call.

Is there a disconnect today between talking about building community and the actuality of reaching out to help house bound and elderly people? If we cannot take care of our own beloved members, then we are failing in our responsibilities of being a caring Jewish community.

We should put our community on CHAI-Alert! Contacting the home bound and elderly should be our CHAI-est priority! What can each of us do to reach out? The first step is making sure we know who they are. Please call or email me if you know of someone: 521-6163 or drskye@comcast.net.

The second step is ensuring that they get calls or visits. I need your help to make sure that we reach out to the Jewish elderly in our community who may be feeling isolated and undervalued. If you would like to volunteer to reach out to people or if you are interested in coordinating the effort, please let me know. I will also enlist our Board members. Of course, if you already know someone who needs a helping hand or visit, please take time from your day to give them a call. It means so much.

Lshana Tova Tikatevu....May you be blessed in the New Year,
Dr. Skye Weintraub, Or haGan President