Submission #298 by Beth El Men'S Club - Somerset, NJ (957)
I have read the General Guidelines, "Nuts and Bolts" and Program Advanced Planning (Excel Spreadsheet) Documents
Bikor Cholim
FJMC - other
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The Bikur Cholim at committeeTemple Beth El, Somerset, NJ., was formed to accomplish three goals:
1 To find out who and where the sick or homebound people in our Temple .
2 To inform the Rabbi who and where the people in the Temple community were
3 To gain permission and implement visits by committee members to sick, homebound, or invalid members of the community
1 To find out who and where the sick or homebound people in our Temple .
2 To inform the Rabbi who and where the people in the Temple community were
3 To gain permission and implement visits by committee members to sick, homebound, or invalid members of the community
Bikur Cholim Committee
I originally initiated the Bikur Cholim Committee through our Temple Beth El’s Men’s Club back in December 2011. This was done after my seeing complaints into the office for lack of visits for our members or their mates in the hospital, and recognizing that no formal Bikur Cholim committee currently existed in the Temple.
The Bikur Cholim committee was formed to accomplish three goals:
• To find out who the sick or homebound people in our Temple were, where they were located, and whether or not they were interested in having any visitors other than the Rabbi.
• To inform the Rabbi of all the people in the Temple who were sick, at home, in a hospital or in a rehabilitation center, and needed visits from him. Make sure these individuals’ names got on the weekly Mi’she barach list.
• If the sick, homebound, or invalid people were amenable to having visitors other than the Rabbi, make sure that someone on the bikur cholim committee visited this individual and brought them a small gift from the Temple (miniature challah and small bottle of wine for Shabbat) along with a get well card from Temple Beth El’s Men’s Club Bikur Cholim Committee. If the individuals weren’t interested in getting outside visitors, just insure that the Rabbi would visit them and bring them the Shabbat gift and get well wishes from the Bikur Cholim committee.
I was able to get some key people on my Bikur Cholim committee. Three of these people lived in the Adult Communities and knew which Temple members within their communities were sick or going in for surgery. Other people on the committee were already informally visiting some of the Temple members who were sick or homebound.
This committee was quite successful in accomplishing the first two goals and had limited success in accomplishing the last goal. While the Committee got and continues to get a complete listing of all the sick or homebound people along with their whereabouts and passes this information on to the Rabbi, it could not always get volunteers to visit these sick people and bring them the miniature challahs , and small bottles of wine.
However, the past, present, and on-going work done by this recently established Bikur Cholim Committee has been met with great appreciation from those receiving gifts and visits. In the short time that this committee has been in existence, there have been no more complaints about lack of visits from the Rabbi or other congregants, the P.R. has been great, and there have even been a number of donations coming into Men’s Club by way of the Bikur Cholim committee.
This committee has served a very important purpose for the Temple and the Men’s Club, and is seen by board members, as well as Temple and Men’s Club members as being quite worthwhile and long overdue.
Going forward, I hope to get a greater number of volunteers on this committee to help in this very important Mitzvah of “visiting the sick”. With the good P.R. the committee has gotten, I do think this will happen.
I strongly feel that the recognizing of the need for this committee, and the following through in establishing this very important and mitzvah driven committee, qualifies this Bikur Cholim Committee for the FJMC 2011 -2013 Torch Award.
Marc Hilton
2011- 2013 Temple Beth El Men’s Club President
I originally initiated the Bikur Cholim Committee through our Temple Beth El’s Men’s Club back in December 2011. This was done after my seeing complaints into the office for lack of visits for our members or their mates in the hospital, and recognizing that no formal Bikur Cholim committee currently existed in the Temple.
The Bikur Cholim committee was formed to accomplish three goals:
• To find out who the sick or homebound people in our Temple were, where they were located, and whether or not they were interested in having any visitors other than the Rabbi.
• To inform the Rabbi of all the people in the Temple who were sick, at home, in a hospital or in a rehabilitation center, and needed visits from him. Make sure these individuals’ names got on the weekly Mi’she barach list.
• If the sick, homebound, or invalid people were amenable to having visitors other than the Rabbi, make sure that someone on the bikur cholim committee visited this individual and brought them a small gift from the Temple (miniature challah and small bottle of wine for Shabbat) along with a get well card from Temple Beth El’s Men’s Club Bikur Cholim Committee. If the individuals weren’t interested in getting outside visitors, just insure that the Rabbi would visit them and bring them the Shabbat gift and get well wishes from the Bikur Cholim committee.
I was able to get some key people on my Bikur Cholim committee. Three of these people lived in the Adult Communities and knew which Temple members within their communities were sick or going in for surgery. Other people on the committee were already informally visiting some of the Temple members who were sick or homebound.
This committee was quite successful in accomplishing the first two goals and had limited success in accomplishing the last goal. While the Committee got and continues to get a complete listing of all the sick or homebound people along with their whereabouts and passes this information on to the Rabbi, it could not always get volunteers to visit these sick people and bring them the miniature challahs , and small bottles of wine.
However, the past, present, and on-going work done by this recently established Bikur Cholim Committee has been met with great appreciation from those receiving gifts and visits. In the short time that this committee has been in existence, there have been no more complaints about lack of visits from the Rabbi or other congregants, the P.R. has been great, and there have even been a number of donations coming into Men’s Club by way of the Bikur Cholim committee.
This committee has served a very important purpose for the Temple and the Men’s Club, and is seen by board members, as well as Temple and Men’s Club members as being quite worthwhile and long overdue.
Going forward, I hope to get a greater number of volunteers on this committee to help in this very important Mitzvah of “visiting the sick”. With the good P.R. the committee has gotten, I do think this will happen.
I strongly feel that the recognizing of the need for this committee, and the following through in establishing this very important and mitzvah driven committee, qualifies this Bikur Cholim Committee for the FJMC 2011 -2013 Torch Award.
Marc Hilton
2011- 2013 Temple Beth El Men’s Club President
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