It’s a random act of kindness made of yarn.
Deborah Bloch calls them comfort caps: knitted multicolored caps for chemotherapy patients losing their hair. For kids in the pediatric oncology ward who need a splash of brightness. For ailing seniors at Rhoda Goldman Plaza or for preemies languishing in a neonatal intensive-care unit.
As part of her synagogue’s spirituality group who knot the caps, Bloch says the head-coverings provide “loving-kindness through the work of our hands.”
The project has come a long way in the two years since it took off. To date, 115 knitters have turned out more than 1,000 caps, all earmarked for patients at California Pacific Medical Center, UCSF Medical Center at Mt. Zion, the UCSF Women’s Health Resource Center and other local hospitals.
The knitters pay out of pocket for their yarn. Most work at home alone, while some get together for “knit-ins.” One thoroughbred knitter singlehandedly cranked out more than 100 caps while commuting on MUNI.
Many of the knitters are women from Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, but not exclusively. Some are college students, others still in high school. There are even a few good men happy to wrap and purl.
“Many of our knitters find the act of knitting puts them in the quiet space associated with spiritual moments,” says Bloch. “We don’t tell people how to knit them, because we thought by leaving it to each knitter’s design, we would get a variety. No two caps are alike.”
“People do it because it’s easy and a wonderful way to do a mitzvah,” says Ellen Benjamin, a member of the comfort cap committee that keeps track of the project. “It’s really serving God.”
The comfort cap project was Bloch’s brainchild. She has been a member of San Francisco Congregation Emanu-El since 1998, having moved to the Bay Area from New York two years before that to be near her sons and grandchildren.
Thanks to the Internet, she learned about an out-of-state project called “chemo caps,” hand-knitted hats for cancer patients. “I was on sabbatical,” says Bloch, a professor of organization and leadership at University of San Francisco. “I had time on my hands and a fevered brain, as usual.”
Bloch brought the idea to Emanu-El Rabbi Helen Cohn and the members of her spirituality group. The response was immediate and enthusiastic. “We wanted to do some mitzvah work,” says Benjamin. “We wanted to bring a spiritual impact out into the community.”
As the committee member in charge of distribution, Benjamin has seen the looks on the faces of recipients, or of the parents of children receiving caps. “I can’t tell you the joy I received,” she says. “I’ve seen bravery. I know survivors living with the fear of recurrence. The strength you see in people struggling with chronic illness is amazing.”
Adds Bloch: “I get enormous satisfaction from this. Jews need to live in the world in a way that is consonant with trying to make it a better place for someone.”
Benjamin understands the truth of that all too well. “Three or four years ago I was a recipient myself after having surgery,” she says.
Then, speaking for herself and all the knitters of comfort caps, Benjamin adds, “This is healing.”