Rabbi Steven Kapnick strides through the halls of the Jewish Home for the Elderly in Fairfield, Conn., greeting residents in rapid-fire succession, voice booming with his Bronx accent.
“Good to see you, Sophie,” he says. “You’re looking well today, Esther,” he adds. “See you at services, Herman.”
Now and again, a resident pulls him aside to ask a question. Bill, sitting in a wheelchair, Mickey Mouse cap covering gray hair, wants to know if using a previously-charged, battery-operated razor is allowed on Shabbat.
Knowing the names of each of the Jewish Home’s 360 residents (as well as staffers) is all part of the job for this director of pastoral services.
“The average age of our residents is 88,” Kapnick notes with awe. Kapnick, formerly a pulpit rabbi, is the Jewish Home for the Elderly’s first full-time pastoral director.
Along with Rabbi Gary Lavit of the Hebrew Home & Hospital in West Hartford, Rabbi Jay Jacobs of New Haven’s Jewish Home for the Aged, and Rabbi Ed Schlaeger of Tower One/Tower East in New Haven, Kapnick serves a diverse community of older Jewish residents.
Bay Area rabbis perform similar services.
“Seasoned citizens” is how Schlaeger refers to his congregation, for whom he holds weekly Shabbat services. Schlaeger, the only one of the four whose position is part time, is also the only one who is non-Orthodox, having received his training at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
Jacobs credits his strong relationship with his grandmother as an influence in deciding to work with the elderly. He’s been with the Jewish Home for the Aged for more than five years, previously serving as a part-time rabbi for a congregation in Rhode Island.
He holds both daily and Shabbat services for the Jewish Home’s 225 residents. In a theme common to many rabbis, Jacobs laments, “I’d like more people to come to services. We usually have just 10 people for the daily service.”
One of Jacobs’ programs, a Rabbi’s Rap held on Sundays, addresses a variety of topics.
“I try to relate to modern problems and to meet each level of understanding. I try to touch each resident in some way, perhaps with a story or a song,” he says.
Holidays are a special time. Jacobs and Kapnick, assisted by others, make every effort to include the residents in holiday observances.
From Shabbat to Passover, Tu B’Shevat to Simchat Torah, celebrations are held on each nursing unit, as well as in common areas. As Kapnick says, “If Moses can’t go to the mountain, we bring the mountain to Moses.”
Large print haggadot and prayer books, and modified services have been developed to better serve the residents, but the spirit of the holidays and enthusiasm remain strong.
“What happens in synagogues, happens in our nursing units,” enthuses Kapnick. “We have eight Passover seders, plus the main seder in the dining room. We build a platform and have a seder in the round. Plus, a full formal, adapted seder is held on each unit. I eat a lot of matzah and drink a lot of wine.”
Each of the rabbis tries to develop a sense of community among the residents.
“I can help residents become reconnected — with themselves, each other, and with their heritage,” notes Lavit. “It’s rewarding to work with individual residents, to help them become reconnected with the essence of who they are and with the community of their parents, Abraham and Sarah; it’s horizontal and vertical in time.”