SinaiCares is a Temple Sinai program designed to provide support to members at times of illness, loss, hardship and celebration. SinaiCares uses volunteers to partner with our clergy in the sacred work of g’milut chasadim, performing acts of loving kindness; bikur cholim, visiting the sick; hiddur p’nai zaken, honoring the elderly; and nichum aveilim, consoling the mourner. The SinaiCares Program was initially established in loving memory of Kathie Rabinovitz, a Temple Sinai member devoted to helping those in need.
Resources
Sinai Resources
- Shabbat Healing Service Supplement
- Dealing with Challenges of Health & Difference: a bibliography from the TS Library
- Healing music: please contact Karen Auerbach, SinaiCares Coordinator for suggestions
Community Resources
• Jewish Social Services Agency (JSSA)
• Iona Senior Services
• Jewish Council for the Aging (JCA)
About SinaiCares
SinaiCares supports our members in a variety of ways:
- Trained volunteers visit members who have been ill, experienced a loss, or just need some extra support or companionship.
- We arrange roundtrip rides through our ride service companies to Temple Sinai for services, programs, and events.
- We deliver challahs to members on the Shabbat of sholoshim (the end of the first 30 days of mourning).
- We drop off Yahrzeit candles, along with a ritual information card, on the first anniversary of the loss of an immediate family member.
- Volunteers bring baby baskets to members who have a new baby in the family.
- We facilitate bringing members together with families who are hosting Passover Seders and Yom Kippur break-fasts.
- Clergy and lay leaders conduct worship services and lead programs designed to comfort at times of need and during life transitions, such as Shabbat Healing Services.
- SinaiCares volunteers visit senior residences to conduct Shabbat and High Holiday services.
To find out more about SinaiCares, or if you know of someone in our community who needs care, please contact Karen Auerbach, SinaiCares Coordinator or call the temple office at (202) 363-6394. We are always looking for volunteers to make visits, make deliveries and help with other SinaiCares programs. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Karen Auerbach.