Feature Issue on Faith Communities and Persons with ... - NCRTM

Profile
23
Jewish Residential Living:
The Jewish Foundation for Group Homes
by Marcia F. Goldberg
The Jewish Foundation for Group
Homes (JFGH) is a nonprofit organization
with 18 residential homes and 44
apartments in suburban Washington,
D.C. that provide community residential
services, and enhanced independent living
skills, for adults with disabilities.
The organization also makes it possible
for those using its residential services,
80 percent of whom are Jewish, to live in
a Jewish environment in a kosher home.
Many of the Jewish residents of
JFGH group homes have had limited religious
education and experiences in
their early years. While some grew up
with Jewish traditions within their families
– such as holiday celebrations, some
synagogue attendance for religious services,
and formal religious education
and Bar or Bat Mitzvah – not all come
from Jewish families that observed the
traditions. In addition, observant families
may have found it difficult to find a
proper religious educational setting for
their child with a disability. Now, these
individuals are living in homes that have
kosher kitchens, and they are regularly
participating in Jewish holiday celebrations
and life cycle events.
In each home, Shabbat (Sabbath) is
welcomed on Friday evenings with the
lighting of candles and blessing of grape
juice and hallah (braided bread). In
some, the residents are able to lead the
blessings by themselves, and in others
the direct care staff recite them from
translations or transliterations. Over 90
percent of the direct care staff in the
JFGH residential settings are not Jewish,
which makes it necessary for nearly all
of them to be educated in various aspects
of Jewish living. The Jewish Living
Coordinator and Committee of JFGH
provide a bridge between the staff and
Jewish traditions through required staff
training, and members of the committee
serve as mentors to each home, providing
an ongoing personal contact and
guidance. In addition, recognizing that
staff cannot do it all, JFGH relies heavily
on ongoing support from volunteers and
congregations, and has a full-time volunteer
director. Holiday celebrations are a
particularly busy time. Volunteers come
to the homes to help prepare special
foods connected with the holiday, or the
residents go to a synagogue to work with
the members. For example, every group
home has a sukkah (booth for the Feast
of Tabernacles) built by residents with
the help of volunteers.
Residents are also actively involved in
the larger Jewish community. They are
recognized and greeted at community
gatherings and at the Jewish Community
Center by the volunteers they’ve met in
their homes. Each year residents volunteer
alongside staff at the Jewish Federation
of Greater Washington Super Sunday
Dial-a-thon fundraiser, helping to
support the larger community. Group
home residents have gone on missions
to Israel sponsored by the Jewish Federation;
they are full participants in the
tour, returning home with a greater appreciation
of Israel and, at the same
time, giving the other participants a
chance to know them as persons first.
And residents of several homes regularly
attend synagogue services where
they participate fully in the services.
One congregation especially involved
in facilitating the inclusion of people
with disabilities in the larger Jewish
community is Shaare Tefila in Silver
Spring. The religious school and synagogue
have an emphasis on being part
of a community within Judaism, and express
that in a variety of ways. Within
its own religious school, it serves a number
of students with disabilities who are
integrated into the regular education
setting. The school’s post-confirmation
class (11th–12 grade) has been particularly
involved with JFGH residents,
spending time in the homes at holidays
talking with them about Hanukkah and
the idea of religious freedom, and about
Purim and the importance of standing
up for what you believe. Several times a
year group home residents share
Shabbat dinner with the congregation,
giving residents and staff the opportunity
to experience the meal in a larger
community context. The congregation
also set aside a regular morning service
to focus especially on the participation
of persons with disabilities, inviting the
president and executive director of
JFGH to speak, and involving residents
in the reading of the Haftorah (selection
from the prophets chanted in Hebrew)
and the leading of Hebrew and English
prayers and other honors. And when a
new group home opened nearby, the
congregation raised funds to purchase
equipment for its kosher kitchen, as well
as Judaica, and welcomed residents to
the community and to participation in
all congregational activities.
Shaare Tefila is one of many congregations
in the Greater Washington area
that involves adults with developmental
disabilities in all aspects of their programming.
With increased contact
comes increased comfort as people get
to know each other as individuals. A
number of the JFGH residents have become
formal members of congregations
of their choice and speak proudly of
their rabbi and cantor. During the annual
Mitzvah (performing good deeds)
Community Service days held by congregations,
the residents of the group
homes perform community service
along with everyone else, contributing
to making the community a better place.
Marcia F. Goldberg is Jewish Living
Coordinator with the Jewish Foundation for
Group Homes, Rockville, Maryland. She
may be reached at 301/984-3839 or by e-
mail at mgoldberg@jfgh.org.
Published on the Web site of the Institute on Community Integration (http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/143/).