“The healing of body and spirit is my life’s meaning,” said Rabbi Leonard Lewy.
Such is the case for him and other Wisconsin Jewish chaplains. Some, like Lewy, have chosen the chaplaincy over other career paths in the rabbinate. Others use it as an adjunct to their other positions.
Three Wisconsin rabbis and one cantor recently shared their chaplaincy experiences with The Chronicle. These chaplains’ pulpits are everywhere, and for everyone, Jewish and not.
Lewy works at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., where he is planning a Passover seder which will be open to all comers, Jewish and non-Jewish. He plans to film the seder, for the benefit of those patients or staff members unable to attend.
A San Francisco native and a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Lewy said that he always wanted to be a health care chaplain, which he said is “an all-encompassing profession.” His mother was a nurse and his father had always wanted to be a pharmacist or doctor.
His parents were Holocaust survivors, which inspired him to enter the rabbinate. He served for two years as a pulpit rabbi in Orange County, Calif.
But he saw being a pulpit rabbi as a way-station on the way to chaplaincy, where he could actualize his Jewish identity and combine it with health care.
He received chaplaincy training at UCLA Medical School, then served in hospice care with the Visiting Nurse Association in Los Angeles. After moving to Milwaukee, he was director of Jewish Chaplaincy Program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation for 10 years before accepting the position in Park Ridge.
He continues to live in Milwaukee because he and his family love the community, he said. He commutes to his job predominately by train.
Lewy says that a large percentage of the patients, staff, and volunteers at Lutheran General are Jewish, but he provides services to people of all faiths. He visits with patients and family members, providing prayer books, Jewish ritual objects and kosher food to those who want it.
Rabbi Boruch Comrov has been involved in chaplaincy for 14 years.
“I just feel that chaplaincy is G-d’s work,” he said. “I’m able to reach many who have no connection with their Judaism.”
Comrov, originally from Chicago, went for training in clinical pastoral education for over a year at Aurora Sinai Medical Center, which brought him and his family to Milwaukee.
While working at the Ark in Chicago, where he managed the food pantry, he was called to visit a lady who was dying in the hospital. The dying patient told her daughter she wanted a rabbi. The daughter, who had no rabbi, called the Ark.
Comrov said the Shema with the mother, who, shortly afterwards, at peace, died. “That was my calling from above that I should become a chaplain,” Comrov said.
After training, he worked for a year in pastoral care at the Jewish Home and Care Center. Thereafter, Comrov became the chaplain of Horizon in Milwaukee and is now a chaplain in the Midwest Palliative & Hospice Care Center in Glenview, Ill.
Comrov said his greatest satisfaction is to be able to help patients and family members have peace within themselves, providing spiritual and emotional comfort. His greatest challenge is the anger and fear that people face when they go through serious illness or the dying process.
“My whole job is combating these feelings with a spiritual presence, and helping people unravel their own spiritual journey, to find their own answers and their own healing within,” he said.
He also decided to become a military chaplain, “something I always wanted to do.” It took four years for him to prove to military authorities that he was physically fit.
“They had me run races against others trying to get in,” Comrov said. “Every time I came in last, and thought I hadn’t made it. But I was told, ‘You did fantastic against 18 year olds.’”
He now holds the rank of lieutenant in the Navy Reserves. He also serves Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine personnel. He works two days a month and does two weeks of active duty a year.
“We do a lot of counseling, serious issues, depressions, suicide, marital issues,” he said. “We also advise senior military officers on the morale of the troops, and how best to get morale up.”
This position involves some interesting travel. “Right before Rosh HaShanah I went in a helicopter off the east coast to a fleet of ships in the Atlantic,” he said. “This coming year I’ll be traveling to Okinawa to do my chaplaincy there for a couple of weeks.”
Gil-Ezer Lerer is both the rabbi of Temple Menorah and a volunteer chaplain for the Brown Deer Police Department.
He and his late father, Rabbi Isaac Lerer, about 10 years ago received a letter from the Brown Deer Police Department asking if they might be interested in forming a new chaplaincy program.
The younger rabbi accepted. His duties include being on call for any emergency involving tragedy or death notification.
“I once received a death call when someone passed away in his house,” Lerer said. “Another time, a young man committed suicide, and I stayed with the family until the medical examiner came. Once, after a bank holdup, I provided interim counseling for the shaken tellers.
“I feel good about my chaplaincy because I can be able to help in time of need. It is a kidush Hashem [sanctification of God’s name] to donate time to help others in need.”
“The Brown Deer Police are a great group to work with,” he added. “They treat me as one of them.”
In 2012 Lerer was awarded the William W. Wagner Excellence in Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Award from the International Conference of Police Chaplains. He also served as chair and guest lecturer at the ICPC regional training conference in Milwaukee in 2009.
Cantor David Barash, who serves Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun in River Hills, also serves as a volunteer chaplain with the North Shore Fire Department.
Barash said he spent most of his formative years in Madison and “always wanted to come back to this area to be close to my family that lives in Madison and Milwaukee.”
In February 2003, the North Shore Fire Department recognized a need for a chaplain to assist and serve firefighters and families of the area, Barash said. A meeting was convened and 35 members of the clergy gathered to learn about this process.
“At that time, three of us expressed interest in the program,” Barash said, “and we participated in two and a half months of a probationary period, where we went on ride-alongs with the firefighters to get to know each other, and to see a ‘day-in-the-life.’”
In May 2003, Barash was appointed to be one of the chaplains. “The NSFD provided us with chaplain’s training and firefighter gear, including turnout gear, a helmet, rubber boots and a high-powered flashlight, so that we are able to assist both firefighters and victims at the scene of a fire,” said Barash.
“During a fire, we will be a liaison between the firefighters and the victims of the fire to be able to give an update on what is happening with the fire,” Barash said. “When the fire is out and it is safe to enter the premises, we will assist the victims in retrieving insurance information, valuables and more.
“We are also able to assist in obtaining board-up services, help with pets if necessary, and make arrangements for a free night at a local hotel with the ‘First Night On Us’ program. We will also help to contact other family members and leave a pamphlet, ‘After the Fire,’ describing the next steps to take.”
After a death, the NSFD will page a chaplain. “We will help to console the bereaved, and enable the ambulance to get back into service,” said Barash. “We will say prayers and help to contact family, clergy and a funeral home, and we will stay with the family until the medical examiner or the funeral home has come to take the loved one.”
“Almost all of my work as a chaplain is helping those in crisis; tragic, life and death situations where there is great loss,” said Barash. “I feel fortunate to work with [the firefighters] to assist them in helping others.”
These four men are not the only local Jews doing chaplaincy work in the area. Look for a future Chronicle article about some of the others.
Arlene Becker Zarmi is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 40 publications nationwide. She was also the producer and host of a travel TV show for Viacom, and is a Jewish genre and portrait artist.
Loading ...