| I applaud Mark's offer, but it doesn't seem to be really needed, at
least where I live - in critical professions (health care, police,
fire, and so forth) Jewish people are enough of a minority that it
doesn't seem to be a problem for people to schedule themselves to not
be on call on the high holidays or during the Passover seders, and so
on. Though in our synagogue there are always one or two of the doctors
who have their beepers in the pockets on Yom Kippur, and discreetly ask
us committee-member types where a non-disruptive telephone is located,
just in case there is an emergency (which I think has happened exactly
one time, since I have served on the high holidays committee) - they
are not on duty but have to be on call (that particular doctor is a
cardiologist; I think he is *always* on call - never seen him without
the beeper - what a way to live....). Of course, we are a liberal
congregation, but in matters of life and death, breaking any rule is
allowed to save a life (according to most interpretations, anyhow).
I bet the offer would be real helpful in areas with a higher
concentration of Jewish people, though - say, Brookline, MA, rather
than the western suburbs where I live.
We do sometimes get groups who volunteer to help out during high
holidays services right at the schul - babysitting, for example.
/Charlotte
|
| Re .1:
Thanks, Charlotte.
Funny you should mention babysitting.....some years ago when I lived
in Rochester, NY, several teenagers from Temple Beth Am babysat
at my Congregational Church on Christmas Eve so that the parents
could participate in the service. The following September (if memory
serves) my wife and I babysat in the nursery during Yom Kippur at
Temple Beth Am.
I'd be glad to fill in wherever needed. My good friend, Jim Freedman,
will be passing the word in Temple Beth Abraham's (Nashua, NH)
newsletter as well.
Mark
|
| Re .1:
> Of course, we are a liberal congregation, but in matters of life and death,
> breaking any rule is allowed to save a life (according to most
> interpretations, anyhow).
Even according to the strictest interpretations of Jewish law, there are very
few matters that are not superseded by "pikuach nefesh" (the saving of a life).
Certainly, the decorum of a High Holiday service would be secondary to a
medical emergency.
|