MONTREAL — Some walk in on their own. Others come in wheelchairs or are even brought in on their hospital beds. Family and community members are often there too.
What they have in common is a desire to attend High Holiday services at the Jewish General Hospital’s Samuel S. Cohen Auditorium.
For the ill or infirm, the services, which are many decades old, are particularly meaningful, said Rabbi Raphael Afilalo, the hospital’s chief of pastoral services for the last 1-1/2 years.
In an effort to underscore the importance of the services and heighten awareness, the hospital this year published its first-ever flyer indicating that the public is welcome to attend. There is no charge and no tickets are sold.
The juxtaposition of patients, some of whom are gravely or even terminally ill, against the backdrop of prayer that speaks of humanity’s inevitable fate lends an air of authenticity that might not be as obvious at other places of worship, Rabbi Afilalo said.
Especially resonant for the worshippers is the emotional climax of the service, the rendition of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer during Musaf. It speaks of an individual’s fate being sealed by God for the coming year, and its solemn invocation echoes through the hall.
Dr. Joseph Portnoy, a specialist in infectious diseases who is now the hospital’s director of professional services and has been a hospital staffer since 1971, has served as volunteer gabbai at the services for so many years that he can’t remember exactly how many.
It is Portnoy who guides worshippers to their seats, and in general, ensures that things are running smoothly with what Rabbi Afilalo said serves as a great example of compassion and tenderness.
Portnoy said that, as he is every year, he will be assisted at the services his by wife, Susan, and the entire family, all of whom walk to the synagogue from their home in the Town of Mount Royal. Son Aaron will read the maftir on Rosh Hashanah.
“These are people who are living under circumstances they don’t want,” Portnoy said, alluding to the ill and their families. “There are special prayers, sometimes people are crying.
“But people are very touched and moved. You just can’t imagine how appreciative [they] are.”
Rabbi Afilalo, who succeeded Rabbi Myer Schecter who died in 2005, said the services are held in the large auditorium because the hospital’s main Jewish chapel, on the sixth floor across from the solarium, is too small to accommodate all those who wish to worship.
The services will be led, as they have been for some 45 years, by ophthalmologist Dr. Eugene Edelstein.
“Every Jew wants to be home for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” Rabbi Afilalo said, “so for the families who are here, it is very meaningful. It gives an entirely new dimension to the service. The people here really feel the need to pray.”
Rabbi Afilalo said that while the auditorium has never filled to capacity, the services attract a good number of worshippers. The services are also attended by JGH doctors who are on call over the High Holidays but drop in if they can.
“It is a very, very special service,” he said.
For more information on the services, contact Rabbi Afilalo at 514-340-8222, ext. 5677, or by e-mail at [email protected].
