If You Need Gas for an Empty Tank, or a Tenth for a Minyan . . .

In this column, we highlight small and not-so-small acts of kindness that happen each and every single day. 

This article was originally published in October 2022.

On the day that the Jussim family of Baltimore moved into their new home several years ago, Tova Jussim gathered her nine-year-old triplets around her and gave them some advice.

An inspector had told her that the home’s second-floor bathroom door had a rare, century-old lock that could not be opened if the door was shut tight—and should not be shut under any circumstance. The mother informed the kids. Whereupon, one of the triplet sons “promptly” walked upstairs and locked himself in the bathroom.

It was a Sunday night. No locksmith was available. The Jussims could not open the door.

Tova called the Chaverim hotline.

Within minutes, five volunteer members of the Baltimore branch of the non-medical emergency response organization showed up. For almost ninety minutes they worked to free the Jussim son, who calmly waited in the bathroom. Three volunteers outside scaled a ladder to see if the window was open or could be opened; it wasn’t, and it couldn’t. The other two volunteers, inside, tried to open the door; it wouldn’t budge.

Finally, they drilled a hole in the door; it opened, and the son walked out.

Another typical night for Chaverim (chaverimofbaltimore.org).

The fifteen-year-old Baltimore branch (one of four dozen in the United States, Israel, England, France, Australia, Canada and Belgium) of the two-decade-old international organization specializes in such calls for help. Its volunteers help people who are locked in or out of homes, children locked in a car, drivers who run out of gas or whose car batteries have died, and others who have a flat tire.

Think AAA with a kippah.

Chaverim (Hebrew for “friends”) is the Jewish community’s non-profit lend-a-hand equivalent of Hatzalah (which deals in medical emergencies) and Shomrim (which does security patrols).

“We deal with everything else,” says Zev Weiss, Unit 59, his Chaverim title. (“Unit” is the organization’s official designation of the volunteers who handle the calls; “59” is his ID number.)

With Sukkot upon us, the work for the Chaverim volunteers will probably increase, Weiss says. Its added activities are not directly related to the yom tov, but to the increased number of travelers in the Orthodox community who embark on chol hamoed travels and may require assistance when they have flat tires or other similar problems, he says.

A business analyst, Weiss has volunteered—on call three or four times a week, mostly at nights and on weekend—for two years. After the Covid-19 quarantine began, “I had time” to devote to helping other people, he says in explanation of signing up for Chaverim.

He is among some forty Chaverim volunteers in Baltimore—the growing figure includes those who go out on calls (all men), and the dispatchers (mostly women), working from home, who handle the calls and put the units in touch with the people who need help. Each volunteer carries a high-powered walkie-talkie (aka a “radio.”)

Most calls come from local residents—but the needs of travelers, far from home, also become the responsibility of the closest chapter.

Think AAA with a kippah.

“If one is stuck in a remote area, be it a shopping center, hospital, park or destination outside the proximity of a larger Jewish community, assistance will likely be delayed. At the same time, considering the extensive network of members across the spectrum of various geographic locations, it is highly likely that a Chaverim member from a different area is nearby, available and willing to help,” according to the central Chaverim website (interstatechaverim.com). “Logic dictates to call the Chaverim organization from the community you are nearest. Precious time is lost waiting for a member to make the long drive to assist you, while you may be minutes away from an existing Chaverim member belonging to a different area.”

The Baltimore branch was formed by David Bagan, a kashrut mashgiach who was impressed by the reports he heard of Chaverim work in other cities, and put out a call for volunteers. That branch has assisted some 30,000 people, says Bagan, who still goes out on calls, and interviews and trains new volunteers, and handles the branch’s fundraising.

Most of the calls come from members of the Jewish community. But non-Jews who have heard of Chaverim’s reputation occasionally call too. “We respond to anyone” in need, says Sarah Don, a volunteer dispatcher for thirteen years.

Some volunteers are available 24/7. On Shabbat, a call for a lost person or a child locked in a house is considered a pikuach nefesh emergency. Volunteers outside of radio-calling distance can be reached by text or the branch’s WhatsApp group.

Rabbi Nesanel Kostelitz, rosh kollel of the Baltimore Community Kollel, serves as the chapter’s rabbinic advisor, ruling on matters of Shabbat observance and other sheilot.

Why do the volunteers give up their spare time to help strangers?

“You know you can depend on your friends,” says Weiss.

“I really feel I’m helping people,” says Don. Hatzalah volunteers, she says, sometimes find themselves at scenes where someone has died, or is about to. With Chaverim, she says, “It always ends well.”

Chaverim volunteers have expanded the definition of emergencies they can handle—chasing a bat out of a caller’s home, directing traffic at accident scenes, pulling a car out of the mud. And dancing at people’s weddings.

And rescuing a nine-year-old child who tempted fate by getting locked in the bathroom of his family’s new home.

After Chaverim extricated the Jussims’ son from the family’s bathroom, they replaced the faulty lock, Tova Jussim says.

She says she has become one of Chaverim’s biggest boosters. “I tell the story [of the son locked in the bathroom] all the time.”

But that did not end their relationship with Chaverim. Their car died one day. Chaverim volunteers got it started.

“I’m a steady customer, unfortunately,” Tova Jussim says.

Steve Lipman is a frequent contributor to Jewish Action. This column is dedicated l’ilui nishmat Alta Sara Etel bat Alter Yechiel Mechel.  

We are seeking stories about acts of kindness that uplift and inspire. Send your brief submission to ja@ou.org with the subject line: Everyday Kindness.