“Your pantry saved me during such a difficult time…”
“Saying thank you is not enough…”
“Mi ke’amcha Yisrael…”
“I have no words…”
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Bikur Cholim of Baltimore has earned a reputation for providing numerous essential resources and constant support to the cholim (sick) of Baltimore. One of the organization’s most utilized services is the Bikur Cholim Hospitality Rooms found in multiple local hospitals. These pantries provide a wide variety of kosher food, free-of-charge, to families as they tend to their loved ones.
Recently, Karen Katz found herself in a hospital with a family member who needed medical attention. Unable to go home, she made her way to Bikur Cholim’s Hospitality Room and found a comfortable room that provided food, reading material, and, most of all, a place to relax and reenergize. With the desire to publicize this service, Karen approached me to write an article about Bikur Cholim’s Hospitality Rooms. As a Bikur Cholim volunteer myself, I thought writing this article would be a piece of cake. But as I began to research, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of chesed Bikur Cholim of Baltimore does every day via its Hospitality Rooms. Moreover, I was astounded by the sheer number of volunteers and donors who keep the pantries running and fully stocked 24/7.
The Hospitality Rooms play a critical role among Bikur Cholim’s numerous services. These range from fresh meal deliveries to hospital rooms or private residences, visitation, transportation, respite, birth-night babysitting, housing, patient advocacy, the Roz Walin medical equipment gemach and many other chasadim. Bikur Cholim has quickly grown to become the organization to turn to when a medical situation arises. In-hospital, Bikur Cholim works behind the scenes to improve kosher hospital meals, incorporate halachic sensitivities into employee training and new hospital construction, ease access to hospital-sponsored Shabbos housing, and arrange appropriate chaplaincy. All this is provided absolutely free by an energetic team of case managers, service coordinators, and over 400 volunteers working tirelessly to meet the needs of cholim. Yet Bikur Cholim’s greatest daily imprint, perhaps, is found in the six Hospitality Rooms around the city. Stocked not only with a wide selection of food and other items, each room is infused with the selfless devotion of incredible volunteers.
“As a recipient of the chesed showered upon me by the Cleveland Bikur Cholim organization, I wanted to return the kindness by helping others in our community through Bikur Cholim of Baltimore,” comments Mrs. Nusy Lefkovitz, Bikur Cholim Hospitality Room and Visitation volunteer for over 10 years. “There is no greater satisfaction than giving of yourself to help another person, especially a fellow Jew. It’s so rewarding when I restock the pantry every Thursday and meet someone from Lakewood, New Jersey, or from as far away as Eretz Yisrael! Just as Hashem shows us tremendous chesed each day of our lives, we return His kindness by extending ourselves to others through our wonderful Bikur Cholim of Baltimore,” she asserts so poignantly.
Mrs. Leah Klein, a long-time volunteer and coordinator for the Sinai and Hopkins Hospitality Rooms, proclaims, “Our pantries give people a hug during a difficult time.”
Not simply a place to get a bite to eat, each Hospitality Room is stocked with an array of items, including havdala supplies, electric candles, sefarim, and Jewish newspapers and magazines. Signs are posted each week and before every holiday with the relevant zmanim for candle lighting and tefila. In memory of her son, Mrs. Cindy Ring prepares and donates dozens of Shabbos packages to enhance kavod Shabbos for those spending Shabbos in the hospital. These beautiful and well-thought-out packages include a becher for Kiddush, a challa board with a challa cover, a knife, salt shaker, bencher, havdala items, and relevant halachos for those spending Shabbos in a hospital.
For the holidays, Bikur Cholim provides a shofar; lulav and esrog; menorahs, dreidels, chocolate coins, and donuts for Chanuka; and cheesecake for Shavous to all who need them. The rooms are completely cleaned and kashered for Passover with all the foods and utensils restocked appropriately.
Come in at any time and you can have a hot cup of coffee, a full fresh meal, or a snack. Check the drawers and cabinets for unexpected items donated by generous Baltimore businesses or purchased by volunteers. Need a snood or yarmulka? They’ve got you covered! Cell phone died? There are chargers in the drawers. Contacts bothering your eyes? Contact cases and solution are on hand. The volunteers have thought of everything!
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As fate or, as we say, Divine intervention would have it, I found myself accompanying a family member to GBMC while writing this article. It seemed that Hashem wanted to show me firsthand what a difference a Bikur Cholim Hospitality Room would make for us during this hospital stay.
When we have been in the hospital in the past, Mrs. Bonnie Pollak, Bikur Cholim coordinator of family services, arranged to have meals delivered from local establishments to the patient’s hospital room. Comforting as that was, we felt dependent on continuous deliveries and couldn’t store or heat the food if desired. This time, I was able to bring food from home, keep it in the refrigerator in the Hospitality Room, marked with the labels and pens provided. I could heat the meat meals in the meat microwave and the dairy meals in the dairy microwave and just stop in for a quiet moment to daven or have a cup of tea. I witnessed other patients’ family members marvel at the room and enjoy fresh kosher meals stocked daily in the refrigerator and freezer. I walked in on a nurse, who told me that she comes in every afternoon to daven Mincha. I saw young men learning from the sefarim on the bookshelves. I sat with other family members over a cup of coffee, and we gave each other support. It served as my home away from home and made a challenging time so much more tolerable and uplifting.
All of this would not, and could not, be done without the volunteers. Whether those in need are local or visitors coming to receive medical care at one of Baltimore’s world-class hospitals, our volunteers are there for them day in and day out. I sought to find out who was behind the Bikur Cholim Hospitality Rooms.
It was humbling and inspiring to speak to volunteers who take such pride and satisfaction in maintaining the Hospitality Rooms. Close to 40 volunteers work tirelessly to keep the pantries stocked and clean. Mrs. Leah Klein supports the Hopkins and Sinai Rooms. Mrs. Nusy Lefkovitz and Mrs. Helen Hexter support the Sinai Hospitality Room. Mrs. Rachel Neuberger and Mrs. Shelley Kadden oversee the one at UMMC, and Mrs. Chana Ciment oversees the new Hospitality Room at GBMC.
I caught up with Rabbi Pinchos Rabinowitz, Executive Director of Bikur Cholim of Baltimore, and he shared the following: “Baltimore has many chesed organizations that do great work. The Hospitality Rooms in our hospitals are a staple of Bikur Cholim of Baltimore and well known throughout the world. We have received feedback from families and patients from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, and, of course, locally. When families and patients have a chance to break away from the hospital room and beeping monitors, they come and relax in the Bikur Cholim lounge. Not only are the rooms helpful during challenging medical times, they also serve as a wonderful place to celebrate the birth of new baby. Our rooms are enveloped with a familiar heimish warmth, where one can grab a kosher snack, a hot meal on Shabbos, and a sefer or book to read. It lifts the spirit and refreshes the soul, giving them the koach, the strength, to deal with whatever they need to. The Bikur Cholim Hospitality Rooms are an oasis, a safe zone where people can gather their thoughts and move forward. All this could not have been possible without the work of our dedicated board members over the years as well as the hundreds of Bikur Cholim active volunteers who are the backbone of our community and our great organization!”
It truly takes a village, a “village” of regular community people who so kindly give of themselves to help the klal. Thank you: Dr. Elli Azman, Chumie Azman, Sarah Barber, Shira Miryam Bronfin, Reuven Bronfin, Chana Ciment, Chaya Cohen, Adina Feinstein, Yaakov Feinstein, Toby Freidman, Tzini Friedman, Esti Froelich, Miriam Gardner, Sarah Gelberman, Rabbi Shulem Gertner, Shoshi Glazer, Ilana Golub, Cindy Goodman, Helen Hexter, Chaim Hochman, Shuey Horowitz, Jerry Kadden, Shelley Kadden, Shoshana Kadden, Gitty Katz, Erica Kelemer, Oriana Kelemer, Gavriel Kelemer, Leah Klein, Faigy Kleiner, Shira Leff, Nusy Lefkovitz, Dr. Rafoel Leider, Zvi Levine, Josh Lewis, Ephraim Liebes, Goldie Liebes, Nechama Luxemburg, Judy Meltzer, Rachel Neuberger, Ilana Portnoy, Eliezer Portnoy, Rivky Preiserowicz, Shani Reitberger, Nechama Robinson, Liz Rothstein, Moti Sambrowsky, Shoshana Schmell, Rochel Schnur, Rivka Sherman, Miriam Singal, Blima Singal, Rabbi Yehuda Spatz, Leah Spatz, Tani Sperling, Zahava Turner, Dr. Shmuel Wealcatch, Ruthy Wolman, Yael Zelinger, Rabbi Yehuda Zelinger, and Dr. Avi Zuckerbrod**
A special thank you to the various businesses that generously subsidize items in the pantry, including B’Dazzle, Catering by Yaffa, Hats to Hose, The Knish Shop, O’Fishels, Rosendorffs, Seasons, and 7 Mile Market. “With the hot soup and cholent, the Shabbos warmer is such a beautiful addition to all that we already have; we are truly a full-service pantry,” said Helen Hexter with pride.
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Although dozens of kosher hospitality and Shabbos rooms have been in operation in hospitals throughout the United States for many years, nothing of this sort was available in Maryland until 2009. Sarah,* an original Bikur Cholim volunteer, was visiting Lakewood, where they had a Hospitality Room in place. It was just a closet, but she was determined to bring this chesed to Baltimore. She reached out to Bikur Cholim of Cleveland, which was known to have such pantries in hospitals, and they assisted her in drafting a proposal to present to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). With the help of Dr. Steven Czinn (Chairman, Department of Pediatrics and Director of the University of Maryland Children's Hospital) and Rabbi Ruth Smith (Jewish chaplain at UMMC), the Hospitality Room opened as the first kosher Hospitality Room in a Maryland hospital.
“I was very impressed with UMMC when we went through this process,” Rabbi Smith reminisces. “They really believed that we needed the pantry, and didn’t care about the expense. They sat down with me and Sarah and worked on what we thought we needed. They generously sponsored and installed cabinets, a sink, a refrigerator, and microwave – no questions asked. We had a lovely event when we opened the Hospitality Room. That event will remain one of my favorite experiences here at the hospital.
“It’s wonderful to work with Bikur Cholim of Baltimore and see how they are able to keep the Hospitality Room fully stocked. They make sure every item needed is there. It has been a real collaborative effort, and I am pleased to work with UMMC and Bikur Cholim to benefit the community,” concluded Rabbi Smith.
Sinai Hospital, in partnership with Bikur Cholim, opened the community’s second Hospitality Room in January 2012. The new pantry was generously dedicated by the Vim family and Mr. Hershel Boehm of 7 Mile Market. “For two years, the Hospitality Room had been operating out of a little hole in the wall near the main hospital desk,” recalls Helen Hexter, Bikur Cholim pantry and visitation volunteer for over 10 years. “I jumped at this special opportunity to help with the Bikur Cholim Hospitality Room,” Helen continued. “My father was just niftar and Bikur Cholim was near and dear to his heart.” Helen’s father had started Bikur Cholim in Kew Garden Hills, New York, and she knew that continuing his work in Baltimore would be a tremendous zechus for his neshama and a way to perpetuate the mitzva he taught her by example.
Aron Katz, former president of Bikur Cholim; Yaakov Feinstein, former chairman of the board of Bikur Cholim; and Laure Gutman, a”h, former vice-president of Bikur Cholim, took very active roles in seeing this large, comfortable, and fully stocked Hospitality Room at Sinai completed. “We are thrilled to introduce this service to the Baltimore Jewish community to better serve its needs,” said Aron Katz. With the advent of a Shabbos food warmer, along with instructions by Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, Sinai’s Hospitality Room now even offers hot food on Shabbos. Rabbi Shulem Yoel Gertner, a member of the new Khal Chassidim of Baltimore, sets up the Shabbos hot food every week and cleans up after Shabbos!
Governor Larry Hogan took a Chol Hamoed trip to Sinai’s Bikur Cholim Hospitality Room this past Sukkos. He was duly impressed by the pantry and all the work Bikur Cholim does for the sick.
The Sinai Emergency Room Hospitality Room opened that same year as a convenience to family members who find themselves in the Emergency Department, and serves as a thank you to the tireless Hatzalah members who are a constant presence in the ER.
Just two short years later, in February 2014, Bikur Cholim of Baltimore and Johns Hopkins Hospital opened the fourth Bikur Cholim Hospitality Room. Many thanks go to Ty Crowe, Director of Pastoral Care, for his assistance in this effort. The Hospitality Room was generously dedicated by Mr. Hershel Boehm of 7 Mile Market in memory of his beloved father. At the opening dedication ceremony, Ron Peterson, President of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Executive VP of Johns Hopkins Medicine, remarked on the importance of offering “this accessible yet private space within the hospital for reflection, relaxation, and religious practice.” Dr. Paul B. Rothman, M.D., Dean of Medical Faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, recognized the “wonderful work of Bikur Cholim in supporting the needs of the Jewish community at Johns Hopkins and other hospitals” and their close cooperation with the Johns Hopkins Hospital staff. Dr. Lewis Romer, attending physician in the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Pediatric ICU, shared his feeling of being able to provide better care to his patients because the non-medical needs of the family are taken care of by Bikur Cholim. Finally, Rabbi Zvi Teichman, Rav of Congregation Ohel Moshe and past Bikur Cholim of Baltimore Board Member, expressed his appreciation for all that Johns Hopkins Hospital offers to the Jewish community.
Aron Katz read a thank you letter from a patron describing the new room as, “a place to keep a restless and nervous child busy and find something to eat for the patient and his tired and hungry parents, away from the overwhelming hospital. We really felt like we’d come home to a cocoon prepared by our loving, Yiddishe family.”
Mrs. Laure Gutman, a”h, together with Dr. Gary Applebaum, national medical director of Seasons Hospice Care, set in place the fifth Hospitality Room at Seasons Hospice of Sinai located in the Mt. Pleasant building. On Dec. 20, 2017, the hospice unit at Sinai Hospital dedicated its new kosher kitchen to the late Laure Gutman, a local nurse, longtime Bikur Cholim volunteer, and passionate advocate for end-of-life care. “The key of the hospice unit is for it to be supportive and comfortable for patients as well as family,” commented Dr. Applebaum. “Addressing the needs of the Jewish community is something we are proud to provide.”
On September 6, 2018, GBMC joined Bikur Cholim of Baltimore and opened the sixth and newest Bikur Cholim Hospitality Room. It was generously donated by the Gardner Family in loving memory of R’ Shlomo Gardner, a”h. The room had been in the works since 2016, when Toby Friedman and Ruthy Wolman first proposed the idea to the hospital. As more and more kosher-observant patients received care at GBMC, the duo felt it was time to open a Hospitality Room pantry there. “The Jewish community is expanding within the greater community, and they’re coming to us for healthcare more and more,” said Chaplain J. Joseph Hart, GBMC’s director of spiritual support services. “It is a place of respite, a place of refreshment. It’s a place of nourishment, both spiritual and physical.”
Rabbi Pinchos Rabinowitz said, “GBMC’s Hospitality Room will be our sixth pantry. Even though hospital patients can access kosher food, families often cannot, and the pantry fills the need. Foods include kosher snacks, microwaveable meals, and staples like yogurt and cans of tuna. Anything we think people might need daily we try to keep in the pantry. It gives them an opportunity to rejuvenate, to help their family member get well faster.”
“On behalf of Bikur Cholim and the Jewish community of Baltimore, we are most grateful to the entire GBMC community for being a patient-first hospital – a place where all patient needs are valued, whether they be medical, emotional, religious, or family,” remarked Dr. Dov Frankel, critical care specialist at GBMC. “The opening of a Hospitality Room, which supplies kosher meals and religious articles to observant patients and their families, is an extraordinary display of respect and compassion, and a gift to the Jewish community of Baltimore.”
On display in the room is a large book collection donated by Dr. and Mrs. Frankel as well as a museum-quality display case to house a collection of menorah Judaica that has belonged to the hospital since 1966. “Our desire was to make provisions so that patients and their families would feel more at home and cared for at GBMC,” Hart said.
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On behalf of Bikur Cholim of Baltimore, I would like to express our gratitude to the University of Maryland Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Sinai ER, Seasons Hospice at Sinai, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and Johns Hopkins Hospital for partnering with us in our mission of kindness. We are indebted to our countless volunteers and donors who so generously and lovingly give of themselves for the klal. With all Bikur Cholim has to offer, Mrs. Eve Messing captured it by saying, “From someone who has benefited from UMMC, Sinai, and GBMC’s Bikur Cholim’s Hospitality Rooms on numerous occasions, I pray that no one will ever need Bikur Cholim or its pantries, but if one does, it is a tremendous comfort to know they are there for us and have provided us with such special facilities.”
For more information and exact location of each Hospitality Room, please visit us at https://baltimorebikurcholim.org or contact us at 410.999.3700. Dedication and sponsorship opportunities are available for the Hospitality Rooms.
