Creating a Caring Community

First and foremost, congregations need to develop caring and supportive responses to the individuals and their families who are directly impacted by the outbreak of hostilities. The following ideas may be helpful as you work to create a supportive and caring community:

• Identify those members who will be directly impacted by hostilities in Iraq and the East, including those who are serving in the military, their spouses, parents, and close friends.
• Assign members of your congregation's Caring Community Committee to stay in regular contact with them. Weekly phone "check-ins" may be very important, allowing for on going contact and the ability to respond in case of need. Remember, this is also an opportunity to establish or nurture a consistent relationship with a key member of the congregation.
• Establish support groups or meetings for families impacted by events in Iraq, particularly those who have spouses, children, or friends overseas or called up for duty at some secure location (remember, for many of these families, there may be long periods without contact).
• Create a network from within the Caring Community Committee to provide, if needed or requested, food, transport for children and older adults or other services.
• Create a religious school letter-writing campaign, which will not only keep those overseas connected to the community but will help students comprehend what is happening.
• Establish discussion groups for young people and adults to share feelings about events in Iraq, loss, and separation. If possible, ask a professional mental health worker to facilitate, and include discussions about Jewish values regarding the war/loss/separation etc. (See the Educational Responses materials as well as materials prepared by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.)
• Plan a Shabbaton/text study focusing on moral and ethical dilemmas of war, good vs. evil, justifiable war etc.
  

  For texts to help teach Jewish perspectives on war, download Reacting to a World at War*, a compilation of Jewish texts that recognize the tension between the love of peace and the need to use force at times in order for good to triumph over evil.

  *Please note this is in PDF file format, in order to view you must have Acrobat Reader. To download Acrobat Reader for free, please click here.

• Work with neighboring congregations, both Jewish and other faith groups, to provide support to the families in the community through events such as discussion groups, letter campaigns, and a community wide prayer vigil.
• If your congregation is near a military base, work with base chaplains to arrange for civilian clergy and lay volunteers to conduct Shabbat and holiday services, teach Torah and provide spiritual counseling on bases and ships and in hospitals and reach out to Jewish service members and their families and make them full participants in the life of your congregation. See the resolution on Support for Jewish Military Chaplains and Jewish Military Personnel and their Families, adopted at the 2005 Biennial.
• Finally, remember that families who have someone serving in the armed forces may experience financial difficulties. While each congregation will determine what is appropriate for members called to active duty, remember that no individual should be denied membership because of an inability to meet payments, particularly at a time when the support of a caring community is so important. For more information on establishing adjustments, see Money Matters: Compassionate Guidelines for Talking Dues, published jointly by the UAHC-CCAR Commissions on Synagogue Affiliation and Synagogue Management.