Busy Hanukah for Community Chaplaincy
Along with individual visits with clients, JFS Chaplain Lynn Liberman brought six Hanukah celebrations to six different sites throughout the Twin Cities giving more than 70 people the chance to celebrate the Festival of Lights with others. “All appreciated the opportunity to come together as Jews,” said Rabbi Liberman, “some for the first time in meeting other Jewish residents in their buildings. We learned about the holiday, sang songs, played dreidel and had a Hanukah nosh.” For several of those in attendance, this was a rare opportunity to feel the presence of the Jewish community and be part of something both familiar and connective.
Community Chaplaincy continues to reach out to the marginalized, the disenfranchised, and the forgotten. One such client, who is unable to leave the secure facility in which he currently resides, was so glad to have someone who could speak a little Hebrew and knows even “a bissel Yiddish” come for a visit. His family, who lives out of town, were delighted to know that there was a closer Jewish connection for him.
“It is truly a blessing to be able to be present in this way on behalf of our Twin Cities Jewish community and JFS,” said Rabbi Liberman.