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Mitzvah Minyanaires

Alvin Stern

Normally, in this column, I discuss rituals and upcoming holidays or customs we practice. This month, I will demonstrate that doing mitzvoth is something that we can all practice and by doing so, can change our lives and lives of others in many significant ways.

We at TBS are proud of our daily morning and evening minyanim – we hold them every day throughout the year, and offer our “services” to those who have sustained a loss and need to say Kaddish, or who come to pray for someone who is ill, or to join with fellow Jews at times of difficulty in the world at large (or even in our own smaller world) and our minyanim offer comfort, a link to the familiar traditions of the past and a hope for a better future. When someone comes to minyan following bereavement, the regulars often go up to the new arrival, and welcome them by offering condolences.

The morning minyan at TBS has a very cohesive group of regular attendees who are there not because they are reciting Kaddish, but to come together each morning for the sake of davening and socializing (usually after services are over). This group is very welcoming of those observing yahrzeit or saying Kaddish during or following the shiva period – at the end of each day’s service, someone publicly announces these events, and individuals then greet the person.

Over the past several years, the Morning Minyanaires have demonstrated several acts of kindness which have changed their lives and those of many others – let me give three examples:

Several years ago, a congregant passed away who had been a member of the minyan group. It is appropriate to have someone stay with a body at all time prior to the burial – this is known as standing shomer – keeping watch or guard over the body, reciting Psalms while doing so. Within hours the passing of this individual, the morning minyan group divided themselves into two-hour shifts, so that the deceased would be given this last measure of respect by people he had known rather than strangers. The minyanaires did the same thing on at least two other occasions since then, as well.

Recently, a long term congregant and member of the morning minyan group was hospitalized. He expressed a desire to be able to daven with the group once again; but his medical condition did not allow him to leave the ICU. So, as soon as the minyanaires heard this, they decided they would go to him the next morning, and daven a second service at his bedside – and so with a few phone calls by Rabbi Levenson to get permission for 10 people to be in an ICU room at 8 AM, the minyan took some siddurim and a tallit for this individual and made him once again part of the close knit group that he so missed!

Also recently, a woman, who had been part of the morning minyan only for the past year while she recited Kaddish for her late mother, needed chemotherapy for cancer. She also needed transportation – and again, immediately several individual women made a schedule between themselves to arrange for this woman’s needs.

Of course, the minyan recites prayers for a speedy recovery for a long list of individuals, members of the group visit people in the hospital on a regular basis, call people who aren’t able to get out, and give tzedakah for many worthy causes. They also make a point of having a weekly study session after the services on Wednesday mornings with Rabbi Lindemann.

In these ways and others, the individuals of the morning minyan perform mitzvoth and reach out to people in need. By their example, all of us can learn some of the basic principals of Judaism – caring for those in need, reaching out, offering words of comfort, sharing stories, sharing a good joke, giving of oneself for the betterment of another and in general just being there ready to do another good deed! So, to the morning minyanaires- Kol HaKavod; and to those who aren’t yet part of this group of “gutte neshamas”, come join them!