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COMMUNITY CHAPLAINCY PROGRAM

Funds Provided by The Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis through JFGI Education Innovation Grants.

Jewish Family Service is pleased to announce the implementation of a Community Chaplaincy Program with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis.

“We have heard from people who don’t feel connected, who are homebound and struggle with loneliness and other life challenges,” shared Lori Moss, Executive Director of Jewish Family Services.

The JFS program will be dedicated to senior adults in our community who are not affiliated with a congregation. It is the vision of our program to alleviate the most persistent source of distress often coupled with life challenges - loneliness.  A Community Chaplain has the potential to serve as a point of care and connection for those who are homebound or in senior care centers.

In its initial stages, we are pleased that Cantor Janice L. Roger will be working with our JFS staff as the Community Chaplain. “Having a chaplaincy position on staff at JFS has been on my wish list for over a decade and I’m so thrilled that we are able to welcome Cantor Janice to our team,” shared Moss.

“The mandate to care for others comes directly from Torah,” Cantor Roger shared. “Many times our ancestors were reminded to be mindful of the needs of the widow, the orphan, the stranger and the poor. The rabbis translated that into the maxim ‘Kol Yisrael arevim Zeh bazeh - All Israel is responsible one for the other.’ Through the ages Jewish communities have established groups to see to the welfare of the community and its members. Indianapolis' Jewish Family Service is an extension of that tradition, and the establishment of a Community Chaplain will enable to serve the Jews of Indianapolis by tending not only to their physical needs, but also to their spiritual needs.”

“Our recent Jewish community demographic study revealed a large population of the underserved and unaffiliated to whom we must reach out,” said Rabbi Dennis Sasso of Congregation Beth El Zedeck. “A rabbinic professional working with the Jewish Family Services will enhance the connections and quality of life of many of our elderly, those in hospitals, nursing homes and healthcare facilities and many who are isolated or in the margins of community.”

Jewish Family Services has begun outreach to community members all over Greater Indianapolis and looks forward to this meaningful expansion of the senior services currently offered.

If you’re interested in having a clergy member visit you in your home, please contact Cantor Janice L. Roger at 317-259-6822 or email chaplaincy@jfgi.org.

About Cantor Janice L. Roger:

Cantor Janice L. Roger came to Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation in 1979, after completing her cantorial studies at the School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College.

A native of Chicago, Cantor Roger grew up at Temple Beth Israel where she began singing in the choir at age 8.  Janice studied at Chicago Musical College, where she received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music History.  She also did course work in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the Spertus College of Judaica prior to attending HUC.

During her almost four decades at IHC, working with the Congregational Choir, 65thStreet Klezmorim, Chai Notes Choir, and other musical groups kept Cantor Roger busy. She taught bar/bat mitzvah students, and Kindermusik in the Early Childhood Center. Non-musical areas in Cantor Roger’s portfolio included the Worship Committee, Task Force on Disabilities Issues, Heritage Committee, Library Committee and Cultural Arts Committee.

Since retiring in 2017, Cantor Roger has done coursework in Clinical Pastoral Education and served as a chaplaincy intern in the IU Health system at Methodist Hospital. She is a member of the NAJC (Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains) and serves on its Ethics Committee.

Cantor Roger is married to Indianapolis native Brandon Roger.  They have two sons, Eddie and Miles.

 

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