The Omer, 2007
TBA is a congregation that cares for its members. Before there was a Chesed
Committee, Pinky Pencovic and Sid Shaffer, “The Sunshine Boys,” provided
support and Bikkur Cholim to members struck by illness. The idea for our
current Chesed Committee grew out of a talk with Rabbi Mark Diamond shortly
before the Holidays in 1999. We put it on hold until after the Holidays and had
our first meeting on Wednesday, October 20, 1999. Rabbi Diamond met with Alan
Silver, Andy Wasserman, Outi and me. A few others expressed interest but were
unable to make that meeting. As originally conceived, we would be a committee
in the formal sense, with defined membership and regular meetings. It soon
became apparent that that was neither feasible nor necessary. Now that email
among our membership is nearly as available as the telephone, our Committee
has evolved to a distribution list of about sixty TBA members who volunteer to
provide meals or other assistance to congregants and families struck by
illness.
As you may know from previous Omer articles, not every volunteer volunteers
for every project. When we become aware of a need, we solicit volunteers and
create a sub list for that particular person. Then one of us arranges and
schedules our various interventions: meals, rides, shopping, occasionally
childcare, etc. Over the last eight years, we have become less formal and more
efficient.
Deeds of loving kindness are their own reward. Preparing a meal, usually the
Shabbat evening meal, and driving it over to a family coping with illness,
sometimes just dropping it off without even seeing them when they are too ill,
may not seem like much. But many of us think of the service we provide as
a way to express care and concern. I have lost count of how many times
volunteers have said they feel they get more out of this than the recipient.
Perhaps a mitzvah is best done for its own sake without thought of reward.
On the other hand, receiving a meal or a ride or whatever service we are able
to provide means a lot to the recipient. Illness can be lonely. Receiving care and
concern in the form of a Shabbat meal can go a long way toward easing that loneliness.
We do not have trouble finding enough volunteers for any particular need but
finding out about the need remains our first problem. As it is, we learn about
needs in an unsystematic and unreliable manner, no doubt missing many.
Sometimes families hesitate to ask, sometimes they do not know that we have
this committee, sometimes there may be other reasons. But we want to know.
Chesed volunteers become Chesed volunteers because they want the opportunity
to express care and concern through these deeds of loving kindness. Part of
the reason for this article is to bring ourselves to wider attention and
perhaps, in that way, make ourselves more available.
Our list is open to receive new volunteers. At our original meeting, as I
recall, it was Andy who introduced the phrase “One mitzvah a year,” as a
catchphrase to encourage people to sign up. If you are encouraged to
volunteer, or if you are aware of someone or family who might benefit from our
services, please contact Warren Gould by e-mail at chesed@tbaoakland.org, or
by clicking the link in the upper right corner of this page.
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