Act of Loving Kindness: Healing training offered for visiting the sick

By Judy Marcus

The Jewish community has an age-old tradition of visiting the sick (bikur cholim). Indeed this act of kindness is one of the mostly highly valued mitzvot (commandments).

Throughout history, members of the Jewish community have turned to one another for support and healing in times of need. The Twin Cities Jewish Healing Program, a program of Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis,  is an extension of this heritage, using the wisdom and traditions of Judaism to offer comfort, hope and strength to individuals experiencing loss, life challenges, illness, dying and grief.

The Talmud teaches that one who visits the sick actually removes 1/60th of that person’s suffering. The wisdom of our tradition recognizes that illness affects not only the body but the spirit as well. Visiting someone who is ill alleviates isolation and lifts a person’s spirit.

Each visit makes a difference. The mitzvah touches both the visitor and the person who is visited.  

The Healing Program helps ensure that no one needs to face illness alone. Through prayers offered, wisdom shared and silences honored, the Healing Program helps those in need. With trained volunteers, information and referral, and the Francine and Neil Feinberg Healing Resource Library, the Healing Program answers the call for many individuals and their families encountering life altering situations.

In March, the Healing Program and Sholom Community Alliance are offering a free bikur cholim volunteer training entitled “Acts of Loving Kindness.” Training is for visiting the sick within one’s own congregation, at Sholom Home East or Sholom Home West, and/or with unaffiliated Jews in healthcare facilities through the Healing Program.

Participants are expected to attend all four training sessions:

• Sunday, March 16, from 10 a.m.–1 p.m., and Tuesday, March 18, from 6–9 p.m. at the St. Paul JCC
• Monday, March 24, and Thursday, March 27, from 6–9 p.m. at Sholom Home West.

A light meal will be included with each session.

Participants can gain a greater understanding of:
• Empathetic listening and communicating
• Jewish principles of visiting the sick in healthcare settings
• Jewish prayer
• Needs of the patient and family
• Confidentiality and healthy boundaries
• Nursing home, hospital or home visits
• Jewish views on death and dying

Training leaders are Rabbi Amy Eilberg and Rabbi Shalom Reznik-Bell. Eilberg is a national leader in the Jewish Healing Movement and in spiritual direction. She now creates interfaith dialogue programs in the Twin Cities. Reznik-Bell, Director of Spiritual Care for Sholom Community Alliance, has won awards for his Spiritual Care Volunteer Training Program.

Bikur cholim volunteers bring a wide variety of personal gifts to the tasks they choose: visiting at a hospital, nursing home or hospice, driving someone to a doctor’s appointment, and bringing a book, audio tape or other resources from the healing library. The newest resource is the Healing Program’s newly published and nationally-respected guide, “Jewish Spiritual Companion for Medical Treatments.”

These volunteers all share something in common – their compassionate hearts, empathetic ears and willingness to be present with other people in need.  

“When you see that welcoming smile upon the face of those you visit, you will know that you are performing a special mitzvah both for the person you are visiting and also for your own soul,” says a bikur cholim volunteer. “You will truly feel that you arrive bearing a flower and come away carrying a bouquet.”

If you are interested in attending the training, registration is required by March 5. To register or to access Healing Program services for you or someone you love, contact  Judy Marcus, Healing Program Coordinator, at 952-542-4840 or jmarcus@jfcsmpls.org.