Sept. 2025
Tory Metzger

At Beth Jacob, we aspire to take Gandhi’s famous words to heart. We are always looking for ways to engage our members and the community at large. To do this we want to know and understand what is relevant, important, and meaningful to peoples’ lives. For many years we have had an active Chesed Committee (“Chesed” being the Hebrew word for “loving kindness”), comprised of volunteers who, in partnership with the clergy, supports grieving congregants, welcomes new members, and acknowledges times of challenge and joy for our Beth Jacob community. We are now taking this mission to the next level by bringing what has always been an important component of our Shul into sharper focus, a raison d’être per se. The reality of our time is that chronic and serious illnesses are a growing concern for many of us, and palliative scenarios are sadly commonplace. It is of paramount importance to address these issues with our broad community, and to provide various Jewish-ly pertinent frameworks to tackle these realities.

Beth Jacob is proud to meaningfully connect past and present in Jewish tradition, and in that light, we are planning two presentations for the fall of this year. The topics of palliative care and MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) will each be explored in conversation with leading voices in our community, in conjunction with Jewish perspectives provided by our own Rabbi Beni Wajnberg. The two part series is scheduled for the afternoons of Sunday Oct. 19 (Dr. Samantha Winemaker, speaking on Palliative Care) and Sunday, Dec. 7 ((Dr. Shelly Sender, speaking on MAID). Stay tuned!

Once finalized, more details will follow via community messaging. For members of our Shul, know that we are growing our work in partnership between volunteers and clergy. We are expanding visits to home bound congregants, to those recently bereaved, and to those celebrating life’s multiple joyful milestones (new babies, new homes, proud achievements). In summary, in this Jewish New Year, we at Beth Jacob are recommitting to our core values and want to assure you that we are here for you. We very much look forward to your joining us in this year of 5786 as we work together to embody the positive changes we so want to see in our community and our world.

Shana Tovah!