blogs/brentspodek

At our best, BHA operates as a kinship group - a large extended family that looks out for each other. 

And so it happens with some regularity, that members of BHA reach out to me or Cantor Ellen, looking for a little help. 

Sometimes it's a ride to a doctor when they won't be able to drive afterward, or a lift to a BHA program in the evening. Sometimes its help with relatively minor household tasks that some of our elderly or infirm members can't easily take care of on their own. Sometimes, people are looking for help navigating a governmental or insurance bureaucracy. 

When we get these calls, Cantor Ellen and I help out where we are able, but ideally, we would all be looking out for one another. Our tradition teaches that כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה - the Jewish people are at some level, responsible for each other. We’re going to try out a new system here that we hope will help us fulfill that responsibility a little more easily. 

So here's how this will work: 

• If you are a member of BHA and are open to providing help to folks needing help with things like rides, occasional childcare or light household tasks, please add your name here. If you don't want to receive those requests, don't do anything. 

• If you are a member of BHA looking for help with things like rides, occasional childcare or light household tasks, communicate your need to me or Cantor Ellen and we will get the word out to the list and ask people to be in touch with you if they can assist. 

Of course, we are all sometimes in positions where we need help, and we are all sometimes in positions where we can offer help. Needing help and providing help refer to types of emails, not types of people!

With hope that this will help us become a community that more fully takes care of one another,

Rabbi Brent