This coming May 5 and May 6 will mark the first-ever Bikur Cholim Bergen County (BCBC) Shabbat. The purpose of the event is to bring awareness to the community of the plethora of services Bikur Cholim has to offer. This Shabbat was chosen as it is Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, which highlights the mitzvah of Ve’Ahavta L’Reacha Kamocha, Love your neighbor as yourself. This is also the time of year of Sefirat Ha’Omer, during which we focus on increasing unity.
My own personal experience was the impetus for me to help inform those who might benefit from the chesed available through Bikur Cholim of the services they provide. I wanted to be with my husband over Shabbos in a Bergen County hospital during his recent hospitalization. There I discovered how truly fortunate we are to live in a community where there are charitable donors and selfless volunteers who partner to make a stressful situation more tolerable and comfortable.
Bikur Cholim Bergen County has many volunteer opportunities to suit one’s particular strength and interest. One can volunteer to cook meals for one with critical medical needs. If one enjoys driving and assisting people to medical appointments, there is a need for that as well. Perhaps one is interested in visiting the sick in the hospital; volunteers can choose which hospital in Bergen County to visit. Offering a family respite by relieving the primary caregiver or visiting a choleh (an ill person) at home are other important chesed opportunities.
We may feel vulnerable and alone when entering a hospital and the experience can be frightening. Perhaps we feel hungry or tired, wondering where we can have a meal or rest our head when a loved one is under medical care. Just knowing there is a kosher well-stocked pantry and sleeping arrangements can be a tremendous comfort. These services are available through Bikur Cholim in Englewood Hospital, Holy Name Hospital and Hackensack Hospital. A stocked pantry is available at Valley Hospital.
The Valley Hospital offers two kosher pantries through their pastoral care program.
Outside the hospitals, BCBC has two medical equipment gemachs and special arrangements made with Teaneck Taxi service. This arrangement makes it easier for community members to travel to medical centers on Shabbos or Yom Tov and go home from the hospital when halachically permissible.
A personal account of the chesed done via the medical gemach: “The availability of a wheelchair for Yom Tov made it much easier for my son and family to come to Teaneck and not have to fit a wheelchair in their van for my grandson. Thank you for all the work that you do.”
Another personal account regarding the Shabbos taxi arrangements: “We were in the emergency room of Englewood Hospital on Erev Shabbos and were not sent home till three hours after Shabbos began. The front desk called the taxi for us and gave the Bikur Cholim password. It was amazing—we didn’t have to do any melacha. They took us home to Teaneck and Bikur Cholim took care of the payment. We couldn’t believe how smoothly it ran.”
A personal account regarding local rides to MD appointments: “The Bikur Cholim volunteer drove me door to door and the driver was so pleasant and uplifting.” This woman got rides to treatments as her condition prevented her from driving.
Please mark your calendar and come to a melave malka on Motzei Shabbos, May 6, at 9:30 p.m. at the home of Dr. Jessica and Laizer Kornwasser, 393 Edgewood Avenue, Teaneck. We will have the honor of listening to the inspirational words of Rabbi Ephraim Simon at this event, so please come out and enjoy this very pleasant and informative evening. Light refreshments will be served. Learn how to be part of this enormous chesed opportunity. To learn more, visit the website at [email protected].
By Stacey Gardin
