Lakewood medical center unpowers an entryway on Saturdays, holy days
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/23/06
BY RICHARD QUINN
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
LAKEWOOD — When is a door not a door?
When it's an unwitting symbol of the cultural division that dogs Lakewood's
community blend.
And a nondescript Shabbos door off to the side of Kimball Medical Center's
main lobby is just that to those who view it as preferential treatment to
the township's large Orthodox Jewish population.
In reality, though, the door is just a door, a hospital entrance near
Prospect Street that isn't powered by electricity for less than 10 hours a
week.
The door requires a security card for entry most of the week, but power to
the entryway is turned off during normal visiting hours on Saturdays — and
during Jewish holy days — to allow the sizable Orthodox community to enter
during the Sabbath, also known as Shabbos.
Observant Jews cannot use automated doors because Judaic law bans the use of
electricity — except for emergencies — during the holy time from sundown
Friday to after sundown Saturday.
Activating an automatic door would cause an observant Jew to break the
Sabbath, but simply opening a door by hand is acceptable.
Before the Shabbos door — which hospital officials say first appeared about
nine years ago — men in black suits and yarmulkes often could be found
waiting by Kimball Medical Center's automated front entrance for someone
else to open the door. Kimball Medical Center's manual door eliminates the
wait.
"It's meeting the needs of our patients," said James PeQueen, vice president
of patient satisfaction at Kimball Medical Center. "It just happens to be a
special need."
PeQueen's comments — the first public statement a hospital administrator has
made about the door — were made to explain what often is termed a
capitulation to the Orthodox community, the largest ethnic group in
Lakewood.
PeQueen disagreed and couched the door as another example of Kimball Medical
Center — and the Saint Barnabas Health Care System the hospital is an
affiliate of — working with its constituent communities.
That includes a similar Shabbos door at Monmouth Medical Center in Long
Branch, bilingual staff to work with Lakewood's ever-growing Hispanic
population and a mobile phlebotomist service that visits a dozen adult
communities in Ocean County on a regular basis, PeQueen said.
But Spanish-speaking secretaries and a mobile service to draw blood from
retirees has never stirred passions like the Kimball Medical Center door.
"(Orthodox Jews) have separate entrances to the enter the hospital," read
one line in an opinion piece penned by a minister last fall.
The piece resonated with those in Lakewood who privately and publicly
believe the Orthodox community receives preferential treatment over the
black and Hispanic communities.
To hospital officials, that inference is plain wrong. PeQueen said the door
is a service to the hospital's patient pool, nothing more.
To Steven Langert, an Orthodox community member, concerns over the door are
nonsensical.
He said the door simply allows Orthodox people to walk into the hospital on
a Saturday without violating their faith.
The door also is next to a stairwell — the rule against using electricity
applies to elevators, too — which allows easy access to the hospital's six
floors.
"People don't understand," said Langert, who has used the door to visit
people in the hospital on a Saturday. "Everything boils down to education."
Langert believes if people who complain about the door see it, they would
say "Hey, it's just a door. It's no big deal."
Menashe Miller, a hospital chaplain, said the door is not preferential
treatment.
"This is a wonderful gesture on the hospital's part in showing sensitivity
to the patients of the community," said Miller, who also is a township
committeeman.
"The rumors that go about town are absolutely false. As the chaplain of the
hospital, this is just a service to the community."
And a grateful one, at that.
"We may not fly big banners" in gratitude, said Sam Unger, an Orthodox Jew
who has lived in Lakewood for about 20 years, but "definitely, we appreciate
it."
Richard Quinn: (732) 557-5739 or rquinn@app.com
Copyright © 2006 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/23/06
BY RICHARD QUINN
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
LAKEWOOD — When is a door not a door?
When it's an unwitting symbol of the cultural division that dogs Lakewood's
community blend.
And a nondescript Shabbos door off to the side of Kimball Medical Center's
main lobby is just that to those who view it as preferential treatment to
the township's large Orthodox Jewish population.
In reality, though, the door is just a door, a hospital entrance near
Prospect Street that isn't powered by electricity for less than 10 hours a
week.
The door requires a security card for entry most of the week, but power to
the entryway is turned off during normal visiting hours on Saturdays — and
during Jewish holy days — to allow the sizable Orthodox community to enter
during the Sabbath, also known as Shabbos.
Observant Jews cannot use automated doors because Judaic law bans the use of
electricity — except for emergencies — during the holy time from sundown
Friday to after sundown Saturday.
Activating an automatic door would cause an observant Jew to break the
Sabbath, but simply opening a door by hand is acceptable.
Before the Shabbos door — which hospital officials say first appeared about
nine years ago — men in black suits and yarmulkes often could be found
waiting by Kimball Medical Center's automated front entrance for someone
else to open the door. Kimball Medical Center's manual door eliminates the
wait.
"It's meeting the needs of our patients," said James PeQueen, vice president
of patient satisfaction at Kimball Medical Center. "It just happens to be a
special need."
PeQueen's comments — the first public statement a hospital administrator has
made about the door — were made to explain what often is termed a
capitulation to the Orthodox community, the largest ethnic group in
Lakewood.
PeQueen disagreed and couched the door as another example of Kimball Medical
Center — and the Saint Barnabas Health Care System the hospital is an
affiliate of — working with its constituent communities.
That includes a similar Shabbos door at Monmouth Medical Center in Long
Branch, bilingual staff to work with Lakewood's ever-growing Hispanic
population and a mobile phlebotomist service that visits a dozen adult
communities in Ocean County on a regular basis, PeQueen said.
But Spanish-speaking secretaries and a mobile service to draw blood from
retirees has never stirred passions like the Kimball Medical Center door.
"(Orthodox Jews) have separate entrances to the enter the hospital," read
one line in an opinion piece penned by a minister last fall.
The piece resonated with those in Lakewood who privately and publicly
believe the Orthodox community receives preferential treatment over the
black and Hispanic communities.
To hospital officials, that inference is plain wrong. PeQueen said the door
is a service to the hospital's patient pool, nothing more.
To Steven Langert, an Orthodox community member, concerns over the door are
nonsensical.
He said the door simply allows Orthodox people to walk into the hospital on
a Saturday without violating their faith.
The door also is next to a stairwell — the rule against using electricity
applies to elevators, too — which allows easy access to the hospital's six
floors.
"People don't understand," said Langert, who has used the door to visit
people in the hospital on a Saturday. "Everything boils down to education."
Langert believes if people who complain about the door see it, they would
say "Hey, it's just a door. It's no big deal."
Menashe Miller, a hospital chaplain, said the door is not preferential
treatment.
"This is a wonderful gesture on the hospital's part in showing sensitivity
to the patients of the community," said Miller, who also is a township
committeeman.
"The rumors that go about town are absolutely false. As the chaplain of the
hospital, this is just a service to the community."
And a grateful one, at that.
"We may not fly big banners" in gratitude, said Sam Unger, an Orthodox Jew
who has lived in Lakewood for about 20 years, but "definitely, we appreciate
it."
Richard Quinn: (732) 557-5739 or rquinn@app.com
Copyright © 2006 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.
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