AS THE WORLD GETS BIGGER…

There was a time when maintaining a sense of community was relatively
easy. When transportation and communication were limited and unsophisticated, a person’s primary contact was with the world he or she could see, hear and touch. It was not uncommon for multiple generations of a family to live relatively close to each other, and for communities to be made up of multi-generational families.

In the 1950s, automobile travel became easier and more practical with the advent of the interstate highway system, and commercial air travel became more widespread
shortly after that. The time when long-distance phone calls were expensive and a big deal are long gone, and the ease of e-mail and internet communication means that there is often little difference between connecting with someone in the next town and someone half a world away. Yet, as Rabbi Schindler pointed out in her Yom Kippur sermon, ease of communication over long distances often means greater challenges in finding the personal support that a community offers.

As many people in our Temple Beth El community know, it is not uncommon for people to travel far from where they grew up to take advantage of employment opportunities. Yet while travel and communication are easier, the need for feeling a sense of community in one’s immediate surroundings is even greater. As a Temple family, we seek to establish that sense of community in a couple of ways.

Our Caring Community projects are designed to bring the personal touch to those who may otherwise feel isolated or alone. Whether it is the consistent team contact of Second Family or one-on-one home visits, or the timely note or phone call when a loved one dies, our Caring Community seeks to provide essential, personal contact. If you know of a need or have even a couple of hours a month to reach out to a member of our community, please let me know.

One of the greatest challenges for our Temple community is communicating timely information. The size of our congregation with members spread out over hundreds of neighborhoods and housing developments means that keeping up with individuals is difficult at best. This is especially challenging when it involves illness and hospitalization. While the HIPAA laws have done a great deal to insure patient confidentiality, it means that we as a congregation face greater challenges in keeping up with our hospitalized members. Each Charlotte hospital interprets these HIPAA laws differently, and so our ability to know who is hospitalized varies.

Here is where we need your help. If you know of someone who is ill, please call the office and let us know. The information can be passed along through a member of the staff, or you can ask to leave a private voice message for a member of the clergy.

FAQ: If the Temple knows of someone in the hospital, does their name automatically end up on the Mi Shebeirach list? Answer: No! If you inform us of an illness, also let us know if the person does/does not want to be included on the Mi Shebeirach list, whether they would like a phone call or visit from the clergy, etc. Even if the situation is confidential and the person does not want a visit, we would like to be kept abreast of their progress. Very often a person does not want help at the moment of crisis, but would like the Temple to reach out to them later on. Send us the request, and we will honor it. But please keep us informed!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to speak to any member of the clergy. And may we as a Temple family continue to reach out to those around us with the presence and personal touch that only face-to-face contact can provide.

L’shalom,
Andrew Bernard
Cantor