Six years ago, a group of knitters, quilters and crocheters at Congregation Beth Am put their hands to work, creating comfort for the infirm. They traced their hands onto fabric, assembling a quilt filled with appliquéd hands. Healing Helping Hands was born.
This past summer, Leah Strauss crocheted the 100th blanket, a delicate covering of green squares bordered in white. Like the preceding 99 blankets, and those created since the summer, Strauss’ blanket was delivered by clergy or volunteers to an ailing member of the Los Altos Hills Reform congregation.
“I’m honored to be able to provide warmth from my hands to comfort people in difficult circumstances,” said Strauss, who has created several dozen blankets and will begin chairing the group next month. “It’s a hand-to-hand connection for people who are not well to the warmth and caring that our congregation provides. I feel that my contribution to making someone more comfortable in difficult circumstances is a privilege and an honor.”
Cantor Lauren Bandman planted the seeds for Healing Helping Hands while addressing a Rosh Hodesh gathering that focused on visiting the infirm. She mentioned that some years ago, while visiting a friend’s mother in the hospital, she was struck by a remarkable quilt that a church group had created.
Participants were inspired. Cherie Half, who was instrumental in launching the group, began teaching knitting along with Phyllis Karel, who also taught quilting techniques along with Lyndalee Korn.
A project of Beth Am Women, Healing Helping Hands is open to all, men and women. Of the 10 or so people who attend monthly meetings — and a couple dozen who work independently at home — some are accomplished quilters, crocheters or knitters. Some are beginners who quilt, crochet or knit squares that Karel and others will piece into a quilt or afghan. In recent years, group members also began creating blankets for newborns in the congregation.
Some of the quilts and afghans, with intricate appliqué work and stunning color combinations, could be displayed as works of art. But that’s not the goal. Instead, they are gifts of healing, provided anonymously. In addition to clergy, Yad l’Yad, a synagogue committee that reaches out to the infirm and homebound, helps to distribute the handmade gifts.
The crafters do not know who will receive their creations. But the group receives many thank-you notes. Along with pictures of the finished quilts and blankets, messages of gratitude from recipients and their family members fill an album on display in the synagogue office.
In a note of congratulations on the 100-blanket milestone, Nancy Bratman said she was “definitely in need of comfort” when Rabbi Janet Marder delivered a handmade blanket before her cancer surgery last year. “Just holding the blanket in my arms and against my cheek felt good, and the compassion behind its creation indeed brought me comfort,” she wrote. When she came home from the hospital, she asked her son to cover her with the blanket from Beth Am. “I felt the most extraordinary warmth spread over me, and I was filled with a sense of relaxation and all-is-right-with-the-world,” she wrote. “It was just like magic,” she said in a phone interview.
Karel, who has chaired the group for many years, treasures these notes, which thank the group for caring, for “providing warmth and comfort during a very trying time,” for healing.
“We’ve given something concrete,” Karel said, and those in need know that “people care.”
Healing Helping Hands meets monthly at Congregation Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills and welcomes new participants. For information, email [email protected].