There is no greater meaning that can be brought to our lives than to be using our strength, our talents and our assets to improve God’s world and aid God’s creatures.

Our Social Action Coalition is engaged in making a difference in lives in our community. Committees welcome new participants - please call our office (914-948-2800) or e-mail info@templeisraelcenter.org to find out how you can get involved.

Assisting the Hungry and Homeless
Comforting the Bereaved
Visiting the Sick-Bikkur Holim

(scroll down for more information)


Assisting the Homeless and Hungry
This very active committee provides dinner twice a month to the forty people at the Open Arms Shelter in White Plains, and once a month at the Community Soup Kitchen, where TIC volunteers bring the meal and serve it. In addition, they provide Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners to people living at the Coachman shelter in White Plains. For information contact Arleen Priest or call the synagogue office at 914-948-2800.

Comforting the Bereaved
With a goal of providing comfort to members in a time of grief, this committee is issuing a pamphlet for bereaved congregants, containing community resources and spiritual readings. They are also planning to establish a support group within the congregation for people who have suffered a loss, and to arrange for after-shiva visits to recently bereaved members. For information contact William Bagliebter or call the synagogue office at 914-948-2800.

Visiting the Sick-Bikur Cholim
Members of the congregation visit the sick in hospital or at home. For information contact Jacob Darer or Laura Platt Weinstock or call the synagogue office at 914-948-2800.

Mission Statement:
To perpetuate and strengthen our community as a support system through acts of kindness.

Bikkur Cholim is translated as “visiting the sick”. Our Jewish, shared egalitarian obligation is to provide visits to those who are in need of physical and/or spiritual need. By reinforcing connections to “life” and to our caring community, we are able to promote healing.

For Jews, visiting the sick is not just the “right” thing to do, but also a mitzvah and a commanded act of spiritual significance. By practicing Bikkur Cholim, both the visitor and the visited alike will be enriched through these acts of holiness. Traditional guidance and interpretation on Bikkur Cholim teaches us that a person cannot heal him/herself alone. At TIC, we hope to both inspire our congregants to perform the mitzvah of Bikkur Cholim and to bring both G-d’s presence closer in your own life as well as establishing a greater connectedness and sense of spirituality in our community.

As your Bikkur Cholim co-chairs, one of our primary goals will be to increase the awareness of the need for Bikkur Cholim amongst us. Until now, our community has generously been available to train and offer time and energy to visit those in need (which may be a visit, a phone call, running an errand for someone who is homebound, or sending a card, and at times, reciting prayers and/or bringing a meal during a holiday to the homebound). Nevertheless, last year, only six or seven opportunities were brought to the Bikkur Cholim committee for some assistance. We are hoping to find ways of broadening our chain of communication and use the resources of our caring community more frequently.

If you are aware of a situation that might be appropriate for a Bikkur Cholim referral, you may call the clergy directly, or the committee co-chairs. Along with the clergy, the Bikkur Cholim Committee is held to the strictest standards of privacy, confidentiality and integrity.

Please email Jacob Darer or call him at 576-3614 or email Laura Platt Weinstock or call her at 686-6317 with referrals or questions about the committee or if you are interested in becoming a volunteer.