Fall 2021 | Stav 5782
Jewish Wisdom
on Loneliness
Whenever a study gets released about Jewish demographics and denominations, there’s a rush among rabbis and experts to figure out how to use that data to show that they’re doing things the right way. Reform Jews will shout—“look! We’re the biggest.” Orthodox Jews will proclaim “yeah…but we’re growing.”
Only once have I seen every organized group of Jew rally around one single statistic with the same fervor—the study showing that people who attend religious services regularly live on average four years longer than those who don’t. I joke…but not really…when I say that many of my colleagues were trying to figure out a way to leverage this data without sounding crass. “Join a synagogue—your life depends on it!!”
The idea seems ludicrous but with increasing scholarship on the devastating physical health impacts of loneliness—this seemingly absurd factoid starts to make sense. Loneliness and social isolation can be as bad for your physical health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The pandemic of COVID has exacerbated the epidemic of loneliness that was already underway. The clergy stand behind our congregational decision to be virtual for these High Holy Days again this year. But the spiritual and relational cost of that decision is not lost on me. I have heard from so many of you about the pain of not being able to be in person with each other. How the isolation erodes our sense of self and purpose. Since the time of the ancient
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Temple in Jerusalem, our tradition has built in the mechanisms to see and identify when someone feels isolated and lonely. But it is also true that we cannot assume that standing for Kaddish or reciting Mi Sheberach is enough. These rituals are catalysts for us to follow up and really find out what is going on with a person. Judaism helps tell us when to show up. The actual showing up- that’s on us.
–Rabbi Sarah Bassin
Associate Rabbi (Rosh Hashanah Second Day Sermon)
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