Rabbi Miriam Senturia stood mesmerized as glorious music escaped from the piano keys beneath the time-worn fingers of the former concert pianist.
After the elderly woman’s stroke, she had supposedly lost the ability to play.
But something about the Shabbat service that Senturia conducted at the nursing home moments earlier “opened something in her,” said the rabbi. “She sat down and somehow played this beautiful piece.”
It’s not that every Shabbat service led by Senturia, the community rabbi of the East Bay, brings about such extraordinary results.
Yet for many Jewish seniors living in nursing and assisted-living facilities, where they are isolated from the larger Jewish community, “participating in a joyful service can be so uplifting that amazing things happen,” said Senturia, who will lead close to 10 High Holy Day services in upcoming weeks.
“It’s not necessarily some big thing that you can see. But sometimes when we’re singing and dancing, their shoulders move or they don’t want to let go of my hand. Some dance in their wheelchairs. Others just sit there and hold hands with one another for awhile.
“Sometimes women who haven’t lit Shabbos candles for years, or watched their own mothers’ light candles, remember for the first time in years and tell one another about it — and their own eyes light up with joy.
“It helps maintain a sense of meaning, identity and continuity in their lives.”
Senturia performs Shabbat, High Holy Day, Chanukah and Passover services at senior homes as part of her chaplaincy outreach. But according to the rabbi, who has worked through the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay since October, the need for additional volunteers to lead services at the largely non-Jewish facilities in the area is tremendous.
Jews, she explained, are a distinct minority in these mostly Christian residences. Since they are not in a position to go out and join a synagogue, “we have to go to them.”
While there is no umbrella group organizing volunteers, Senturia said those interested in learning more about leading services or simply visiting Jewish seniors in the East Bay can contact her at (510) 839-2900, ext. 212.
Karen Fiske, a physician from Moraga, began volunteering recently at Aegis of Pleasant Hill, an assisted-living facility. She had done this type of volunteer work in the past because she considers it a mitzvah and a way “to honor our fathers and mothers.”
Last Friday she led her second Shabbat service for the seniors at the home. During the service they sang songs, did the blessings over the candles, wine and challah, and talked about Jewish memories. Some participated actively and some just sat quietly and soaked it all in.
“We welcomed Shabbat together,” said Fiske, a member of Temple Isaiah in Lafayette. “We also did a little Torah discussion and talked about the fact that the High Holidays are coming up.”
She believes the service allowed the residents to “reconnect with their Jewishness in a way their day-to-day activity doesn’t necessarily allow” them to.
“I get a sense that they get no Judaism without this,” Fiske said. “They live in a lovely facility, but like others in Contra Costa County and elsewhere in the Bay Area that are not specifically Jewish, Judaism has to be brought to the resident in order for them to participate in Jewish ritual and celebration.”
Even with only two services under her belt at Aegis, the outcome has so far been enlightening.
At last Friday’s service, for instance, one female resident arrived particularly excited. She had photographs of her 5-year-old granddaughter saying the blessing over the Shabbat candles that she just couldn’t wait to share with the group.
“She was so proud and so delighted to be able to share the fact that her granddaughter is learning Jewish tradition and leading a Jewish life,” said Fiske. “If you could have seen and heard the joy in that resident’s eyes and voice — to show me and the others present — she was so proud.”
It’s not that the woman didn’t have other friends in the home to share her photographs with.
But finally, “She was given a context where everyone would appreciate and understand her nachas.”