It all started with the simple idea of bringing the feeling of Shabbat into hospital rooms for patients and their families. A decade later, it has evolved into feeding hundreds of people at eight area hospitals and senior homes in northern New Jersey.
Ten years ago, Dara Orbach, a Livingston, N.J., native was in a New York City hospital with her mother-in-law and Shabbat fast approaching. She was unclear as to how she would manage and how she would find Shabbat light candles, but before she could worry too much, she received a Shabbat kit that left a lasting memory. “We saw this beautiful box in the hospital that had everything we needed to make Shabbos.
Orbach immediately brought the idea of creating Shabbat kits for their own New Jersey community to Rabbi Zalman and Toba Grossbaum, who co-direct Chabad-Lubavitch’s Friendship Circle of New Jersey. Today they prepare close to 200 Shabbat kits every week, and the additional 20 to 40 specially curated Bikur Cholim bruch bags for patients in local hospitals and those recovering at home.
