For 50 years, Rabbi Yakov Hilsenrath, z”l, visited the sick at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rabbi Hilsenrath’s family, volunteers for Bikur Cholim of Raritan Valley and members of the local community, recently gathered in RWJ’s new 

Bikur Cholim hospitality room to remember Rabbi Hilsenrath’s extraordinary commitment to the mitzvah of bikur cholim. A beautiful plaque was dedicated in his honor and will be permanently displayed in the RWJ Bikur Cholim hospitality room.

The plaque reads as follows:

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Bikur Cholim of Raritan Valley

In Memory of

Rabbi

Yakov Chaim Hilsenrath

A man of extraordinary faith, energy and vision, Rabbi Hilsenrath dedicated himself to the mitzvah of bikur cholim, visiting the sick at this hospital for 50 years. Having established the first Bikur Cholim in the community, he was diligent in ensuring that the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of Jewish patients would be met. Rabbi Hilsenrath served on the hospital’s Medical Ethics Committee with wisdom and sensitivity.

This plaque is lovingly dedicated to Rabbi Hilsenrath’s memory by the Hilsenrath Family Rebbetzin Devorah Hilsenrath, Chaya and Azriel Heuman, Rabbi Baruch and Sima Hilsenrath, Rochelle and Philip Goldschmiedt, Aviva and Michael Rappaport and by Ronald Slusky, his devoted student May Rabbi Hilsenrath’s memory be a blessing for all those who benefit from Bikur Cholim of Raritan Valley’s many acts of chesed.

Attending from Rabbi Hilsenrath’s family were Rebbetzin Devorah Hilsenrath, Rabbi Baruch and Mrs. Sima Hilsenrath, Chaya Heuman, Aviva Rappaport, and Philip and Rochelle Goldschmiedt. The presentation on behalf of Bikur Cholim was made by Nitza Adler, Rahel Baruh, Dawn Botnick and Marcia Freedman.

Bikur Cholim of Raritan Valley, founded in 1993, is a volunteer organization in the heart of Central New Jersey whose stated goal is to “help carry out the mitzvah of bikur cholim with humility, compassion, care and sensitivity.”

May Rabbi Hilsenrath’s memory be a blessing for the many beneficiaries of his devotion to the mitzvah of bikur cholim.

To contact or donate to Bikur Cholim of Raritan Valley, please call 732. 572. 7181 or visit their website at www.bikurcholimrv.org. Their address is 7 Marshall Drive, Edison, NJ 08817.