Stein Hospice, part of the Wilf Campus for Senior Living in Somerset, recently celebrated their expansion into new offices. June 9th, staff, clergy, board members, volunteers, and business partners assembled to tour the newly decorated area and to enjoy a lavish luncheon. Bruce Birnberg, Stein Hospice Executive Director, spoke about the choice of artwork, a colorful large hamsa that graces the large conference room. “Traditionally a Middle Eastern symbol, it is believed to offer protection from harm and bring goodness, abundance, and good health. It has a recognized tradition in all three Mosaic faiths. It is also called the “hand of G-d”, representing for the hospice the holy work we do.”
Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner, Stein Hospice and Wilf Campus chaplain consecrated the new space by hanging a mezuzah on the suite’s door and saying the traditional prayers, as well as invoking the prayers for a new home. As guests gathered around the conference room table, his words of Torah inspired them: “The mezuzah symbolism is not only protection from death but it is a symbol of G-d’s protective presence. It becomes a symbol of the sacredness of life. We talk all the time about hospice being the care for people who are on their last journey of their life, not about death but about sanctity and quality of life towards the end of it, and what we can all bring to the people we care for. We bring dignity into places where there is no dignity anymore, music and sacredness, psychosocial, nursing… every little bit to give a person wholeness in the midst of their brokenness.”
Stein Hospice is a faith-based nonprofit hospice caring for patients of all faiths and cultures who reside in Union, Middlesex, Somerset, and Monmouth counties. Our caring staff of expert nurses, home health aides, chaplains, and social workers dedicate themselves to the comfort and care of patients and their families. Additional support is given by complementary therapists, who offer music, massage and aromatherapy and by trained volunteers. Information about Stein Hospice is always available. Please call Stein Hospice at (732) 227-1212 with any questions or to refer a patient.