Blowing Shofar for the Bed-Ridden and Their Families

Rabbi Shraga Sherman of Chabad of the Main Line in Merion Station, Pa., has been visiting Jewish patients in hospitals for more than two decades. When the High Holidays come around, he makes it a point to blow the shofar for them and for anyone else who happens to be by their side.

“People are very emotional—much more than usual—about their sense of missing services, missing connecting with the Jewish community,” he says. “When you go in to blow shofar and there are family members visiting, they often didn’t go to shul that Rosh Hashanah, so it’s more than just servicing the patient. You’re sitting and talking and sharing a High Holiday with the family just as much as with the patient.”

In every corner of the globe, thousands of rabbis, rabbinical students and community volunteers will be visiting hospitals, nursing homes and prisons this Rosh Hashanah, as every year, to enable Jewish people to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar, and to provide the isolated and fearful with a feeling of connectedness and hope.

Hearing the shofar is a mitzvah whose impact is both immediate and long-lasting, says Sherman. The shofar heralds the coronation of G‑d as King and the acceptance of His providence over every aspect of life, as well as the crying out to G‑d from the depths of one’s soul. These concepts are especially resonant with those who are hospitalized. What happens on Rosh Hashanah, he adds, sets the tone for the entire year ahead for many people; giving them a positive experience gives them hope for the new year as well.

People also tend to be more attentive than they might be in other settings, even synagogue settings: “You have a captive audience. When you visit someone in a hospital room, unlike when you’re teaching from the pulpit, you have their complete attention,” says Sherman.

Of course, accomplishing this by a sickbed takes a little nuance. Sherman has managed to sound the shofar without unduly disturbing a person sleeping in the next bed over, he notes.

Over the years, he has assembled a group of community members who fan out to offer the shofar at nursing homes, old-age homes and retirement homes throughout the Philadelphia-area suburbs, reaching people who otherwise would not be able to hear it. Volunteers sometimes walk miles to get the job done, according to the rabbi.

It’s also the closest some have ever gotten to the mitzvah. “It’s very impactful for people,” he says. They try to corral Jewish doctors in the halls and go to the emergency room to give people the flavor of the holiday. “One of the most inspiring parts of this,” he says, “is when the volunteers all reconvene for minchah, the afternoon prayer service near the end of the day, and swap stories.”

Rabbi Aharon Amzalak of Chabad of Oak Park, Mich., has been working at nearby Beaumont Hospital for three years. One of his goals—he visits between 25 and 50 people a day—is to help patients deal with unresolved inner conflicts.

While visiting patients, Amzalak also assists them and their families with the practicalities of the High Holidays, like handing out a newsletter that includes holiday information and candle-lighting times. People have asked about services in the hospital, but it’s often tough for patients to leave their beds and floors to attend.

Even when a visit with a patient focuses on interests or experiences beyond the holidays, Amzalak recognizes that what people say can be relevant to the High Holiday season and to their current state of mind.

“It’s important to acknowledge that this time of year should bring them a sense of strength in their healing,” he says. “It’s a time for prayers, it’s a time for reconnection. It’s an opportune time for people to recall and reconnect to their heritage.”