On Rosh Hashana I introduced the Kesher Initiative to our community. In this column I would like to take some time to explain it in further detail and, hopefully, elicit your support for the program.

The Kesher Initiative is an experiment. It is a creative response to two trends facing the Jewish community: the increased social, welfare and medical needs of our community as we age and move further away from extended family on one hand and the continued erosion of the welfare system and social safety net by government policies on the other.

It is not a cure all – the Kesher Initative is not designed to solve all of our problems and care for all of our troubles. Rather, it will, as its name suggests, help us to build connections (Kesher means connection) that will, in time, provide a little solace, comfort and resources for the multiple issues we confront every day.

Funded by the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island through a pilot grant, Kesher is a partnership between the Jewish Family Services of Rhode Island and us (Congregation Agudas Achim). We have hired (and JFS will supervise) a social worker to spend eight hours per week working exclusively in our congregation.

Nicole Jellinek, who officially started as our Community Social Worker on September 17, will make connections to services and resources existing in the broader community that our members would otherwise not be able to, know how to or be embarrassed to access. She will also assess the needs of the community through direct contacts or referrals from me and make recommendations on programming – do we need a support group for parents of teenagers or maybe one for those caring for aging parents, for example. She may visit congregants who are ill or homebound and make arrangements for rides to synagogue or meals to be delivered and provide some short term counseling to members in crisis or need.

We are very lucky to have found such an ideal candidate to engage with us in this way. Nicole graduated from Smith College School for Social Work in 2000. Before coming to Agudas Achim she worked at Faulkner Hospital in Boston in the outpatient mental health clinic and the inpatient psychiatric unit.

Prior to social work school, Nicole received a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and interned at Massachusetts Health Decisions and the Bioethics Cooperative, a non-profit educational organization. Nicole also worked as a counselor and advocate at Planned Parenthood, a Boston area domestic violence shelter, and Crittenden Hastings House, an anti-poverty agency.

Nicole’s interests both in social service and in religious life provide her with the background, skills and passions to make a difference in this community. As an experimental program we do not have a lot of models to follow. But we both believe that this synagogue needs to become – first and foremost – a center of relevant spiritual and emotional support for our members if it is ever to become the center of holiness and redemption we want it to be. In other words, before we can bring light to the nations, we must bring light to our own souls – this program provides one way of bringing that light.

I said earlier that I hope to elicit your support. There are three ways I believe you can help the Kesher Initiative get off the ground.

First, those of you who work in the helping professions – doctors, nurses, therapists, teachers, social workers, etc – have professional contacts and a wealth of knowledge that Nicole can use to create a data bank of information for people facing various issues. We want to create reliable referral lists and build connections to the existing social service, mental health and medical communities. Nicole may call you – but don’t wait – call her and offer to let her pick your brain for a few minutes sometime soon.

Secondly, we are already a very caring and helpful community to our members. But sometimes, the caring and helping is a little haphazard. Nicole’s job is not to do our gimilut hasadim (acts of loving kindness) for us. But she can help us organize our responses to those in need a little better. Nicole will be creating volunteer lists and will call on people for various things – rides, meals, a little extra shopping for someone, and visits to those who are ill. Volunteer to help out – let Nicole know you are open to be called on.

And thirdly, make the synagogue a part of your personal support network. Many people already confide in me and turn to me when confronted with challenges in their lives. I am deeply honored to be trusted in this way. Yet I know that there are some people who may never think to turn to their rabbi or their synagogue at the hard times. But we are here – to listen, to think creatively for solutions, to connect you with others facing similar circumstances, to pray with you or maybe simply to sit with you and hold your hand. We are here. We want to connect – call on us.

For the moment, please connect to Nicole by leaving a message for her at the synagogue or email her at at kesher AT agudasma.org. As always, I am reachable via email or at the synagogue (or in an emergency, on my cell phone) for any reason whatsoever.

L’Shalom
Rabbi Elyse