With an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Jews in the Bay Area, the majority are “invisible” to the Jewish community — not involved in synagogues or other communal organizations, according to Rabbi Leslie Alexander. A new program aims to increase that involvement — one baby at a time.
Sponsored by the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose, Shalom Baby sends outreach volunteers to the maternity ward. While still in the hospital, parents and their newborn babies will receive a bag of Jewish gifts and information, and assistance in connecting with the community.
The bag contains a pink or blue plastic hospital tub; a baby T-shirt emblazoned with the words, “I am a new member of the Jewish community”; a Jewish-themed wooden puzzle; a children’s book of Jewish stories; an “owie” kit (first aid supplies); and an information packet on brit milah and baby naming ceremonies.
Also included are coupons from the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley and information from local synagogues, preschools, Judaica stores, Jewish mom’s groups and the federation, plus a copy of Resource, a guide to Jewish life in the Bay Area.
Alexander said the beauty of the program is the “human to human contact — touching base with people when they’re bringing children into the world.” She said the volunteers are a personal link to the community, ready with information if the parents are interested. Like some of the targeted families, many of the Shalom Baby volunteers relocated to the South Bay and have kids of their own.
One of the first new moms to receive a visit and Shalom Baby bag was Meryle Sussman of San Jose. “It made me and the baby feel a part of the larger community and a sense of responsibility to continue the Jewish tradition,” Sussman said. She said she and her husband, Howard, incorporated some of the information from the packet into her daughter Carly’s baby naming ceremony.
Shalom Baby was initiated in the South Bay by federation president Bonnie Slavitt Moore after she heard about it three years ago at a United Jewish Communities conference in San Diego. Her sister also delivers similar bags in Rockland County, N.Y.
“I came back [from the conference] and said this is the most wonderful program I’ve ever seen, and we need to do it,” said Slavitt Moore. After 18 months of committee meetings, the details of the program were finalized and the bags were created. Slavitt Moore said all the items except the T-shirts were donated.
Twenty-five volunteers have delivered more than 50 bags since the program began in June, according to Lynn Osband, the Women’s Division director. She said the response to the program has been positive, and already it has connected some families to the Jewish community.
“I just got a call this morning from a couple still at Good Samaritan, and they called because Rabbi Alexander’s name was in the packet.”
Osband said that the couple was going to have a doctor circumcise their baby boy in the hospital, but instead they asked Alexander to come and say some blessings during the circumcision. “All these little connections are building community,” Osband said.
Alexander, the chaplain for the federation, used her contacts at Good Samaritan, Community Hospital of Los Gatos, and El Camino and O’Connor hospitals to solidify the program. The hospitals established a system to quickly and confidentially notify Shalom Baby volunteers of new moms’ names and admission dates. The hospitals and the federation together then trained the volunteers on how to approach the parents in a sensitive and respectful manner while following hospital visitation rules.
“I think what we’re doing is so welcoming in a world that is not welcoming,” said Slavitt Moore, several days after the World Trade Center attacks.
Deborah Leibovitch of Santa Clara, another new mom who received a visit and Shalom Baby bag, echoed the sentiment. “It’s very nice that there are people out there welcoming new families,” she said. “Somebody…who was thinking about us helped me remember that people care and that there are people who can help, who are warm and accepting.”
Leibovitch added that after reading through the information in the bag, she learned what types of programs and family support systems are available in the community. She and her husband, Allen, are now looking into membership at the Los Gatos JCC. “There are all kinds of resources that I’m thinking of connecting with,” she said.
Slavitt Moore added, “This is the perfect piece of what the Jewish federation does. We’re not asking them for dollars; we’re welcoming them. They’ll be part of the Jewish community.”