“Paul Farmer, of Blessed Memory,” Rabbi Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings

February 25, 2022 | 24 Adar I 5782

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings as we make our way toward Shabbat.

You can listen to it as a podcast here.

There are certain people whom you may not know personally but are connected to you because of the inspiring way they live their lives. Paul Farmer, who unexpectedly died this week, is such a person. He is one of the greats of not only his generation but of many generations to come because of his profound impact, embodied compassion, and belief in each person’s true humanity.

In a world now filled with devastatingly frightening scenes of war and Ukrainians fleeing for their safety from an egomaniac violent Russian leader, it feels necessary and even hopeful to refocus our attention on a person of true integrity and love. (Nevertheless, see below for ways to assist the Jewish Community in Ukraine.)

When we wonder and cry in anguish how much evil and ill intent exists, we can spend too much time lamenting negative forces. Paul Farmer shined the light on what is possible when others deemed providing healthcare to the most needy, especially in Haiti, impossible.

He, along with others, created an organization called Partners in Health. I heard on the radio why he insisted on the inclusion of the use of the word, Partners. He believed that solutions to providing equity in healthcare anywhere in the world cannot be done alone. He created communities of solutions and care with local providers whom he had trained. His life work fashioned places of meeting to care and provide the best medicine to many places in the far corners of the earth.

This week’s Torah portion describes the operation of building the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, also known as the Tent of Meeting. In order to craft the design, the people had to step forward with the gifts of their hearts and the wisdom of their skills to fashion this sacred place. God singled out Bezalel who possessed the spirit of the divine manifest in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Exodus 35)

It occurred to me that Paul Farmer, whose religious practice I do not know, devoted his life to providing places of meeting, a mishkan. The sacred dwelled in the interactions of the divine spirit manifest in the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge Paul Farmer brought out in others even as he embodied it all himself.

Our member, Jennifer Goldsmith, who had the honor of working directly with Dr. Paul Farmer at the Brigham, wrote these words and gave permission to share:

To say my life was blessed working with Paul Farmer is an understatement. It was transformed. Paul changed the world and changed lives and changed one life at a time with every interaction, every kindness, every time he used one of his many superpowers—his gift of remembering everything told to him by all who crossed his path.

Of his many gifts, this one was perhaps the most marvelous: never to forget a name, a face, a story, a hope of another person. His capacity for having room for more and more people in his heart was boundless. So was his vision for good in the world. And somehow, he could be so personal but also make the remarkable happen: imagining AIDS and MDR-TB care for patients our world would have rather ignored, forgotten, disbelieved. Building hospitals on vast impoverished plateaus. Trusting the vision of community health workers. Creating a training program that believed that to provide care equitably we need to understand what is beyond the doors of our institutions—we need to see and understand lives as they are lived. And then building another and another including a remarkable University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda where he taught until his final hours.

Her response is shared by hundreds, probably thousands, whom Paul Farmer embraced as part of the global health family he lovingly nurtured.

Rabbi Chaim Stern wrote: Holiness lies less in doing a particular thing or in reaching a particular goal, than in making the effort with all your might.

Paul Farmer was such a person whose memory continues to illuminate paths of darkness with the light of his memory and inspiring—with all his might—life.

Zichrono Livracha. Remembering him surely brings blessing.

Shabbat Shalom!

(Please see the note below from Marc Baker of CJP for ways to help in the Ukraine.)

• We join together, onsite and online at 6:00 p.m., to gather strength from one another in the face of war in Ukraine, as we bring in Shabbat with prayers of safety, hope, and peace. Join on Zoom, on Facebook Live, or stream on our website.
• Tot Rock Shabbat gathers online at 5:00 p.m.
• Torah Study begins at 9:00 a.m. To join the conversation interactively, access Zoom. You can also watch on Temple Israel’s website or Facebook page.
• 10:00 a.m. Thank Goodness it’s Shabbat at home.  Please register here.
• Village Playtime Havdalah will gather at 3:00 p.m. on the playground (weather permitting) or indoors (with masks) in the social hall with ride-on toys, puzzles, blocks, craft stations and more. We will recite the Havdalah blessings with Rabbi Suzie Jacobson. Register here.
• Riverway Havdalah gathers at Temple Israel at 5:15 and is followed by an ice skating excursion and an apres skate at Trillium Brewing. Learn more and register.
• We say goodbye to Shabbat and welcome a new week at 8:00 p.m. with Havdalah Join on Zoom.

Connect with me here. I look forward to corresponding with you and to hearing your thoughts.

Shabbat Shalom!

From Rabbi Marc Baker of CJP: We have fostered a decades-long relationship, helping to build the thriving Jewish community in Dnipro, Ukraine, CJP’s sister city.

Our partners report multiple explosions targeting military installations and infrastructure in Dnipro. The airport remains closed, and the community has been advised to stay home. We are in close communications with our partners so that we can better assess the needs of the 40,000 Jews who live in Dnipro who suddenly find themselves on the front lines of a terrifying military invasion.

Thanks to our community’s generosity and the flexible resources provided by CJP’s Annual Campaign, we are able to respond immediately to crisis, and CJP has already sent an emergency grant of $110,000 to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and directly to the Jewish community of Dnipro to support critical food, shelter, and energy needs.

So many of you reached out to ask how you can help. Today, we launched the Ukraine Emergency Fund so that we can continue to show our solidarity and support for the Ukrainian Jewish community. 100% of your gift will provide direct support to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and our partners on the ground in Ukraine to help the most vulnerable. Assistance will include food, shelter, medicine, and other basic needs.