Aleph Institute’s symposium shines a light on Jewish life, worship and struggle in prison
With 85,000 Jewish people incarcerated nationwide, the Aleph Institute addresses spiritual and social needs through compassion and advocacy.
When Rabbi Yossi Friedman is called into a prison, it’s typically to help a Jewish person practice their religion or provide them spiritual counseling while incarcerated in Alabama.
So when he is called into a federal prison to see a prisoner with a swastika tattooed on his forehead, he’s not sure what to expect.
But when the prisoner, separated by a thick pane of glass, tells him in Spanish that he wants to convert to Judaism for his Jewish girlfriend in Denver and asks what his first steps should be, Friedman can see the humor in it.
“Oh, let me think,” Friedman joked to a chorus of laughs in the audience, a moment of levity in what was otherwise a sober appreciation of those working with inmates in prison.
It was one of many stories that Friedman and others shared of the work that religious leaders and volunteers do in prisons, particularly for Jewish inmates, as a part of the Aleph Institute’s annual Second Chance Symposium at Chabad of Squirrel Hill on May 11.
The Aleph Institute is a nonprofit offering services to Jewish people in prison and their families, including Torah studies, arranging Jewish burials and working to find alternative sentences for those convicted.
Aleph Institute Chairman Marty Davis outlined what he saw as the four main causes of people being sent to prison: “Drugs, alcohol, mental health and poverty.”
Aleph aims to address these issues by hosting anonymous meetings for people struggling with various addictions, providing religious counseling and professional development.
Around 85,000 Jewish people are incarcerated across the country, Davis said, but Aleph doesn’t just provide services to them.
“We are a community organization here in Squirrel Hill, and we’re glad to be able to do that and provide services beyond just the Jewish community,” he said.
One of the speakers, Rev. Aaron Reitz, who works at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, highlighted how the Aleph Institute’s impact extends beyond Jewish inmates.
“It doesn’t just have an effect on the Jewish community. A lot of that bleeds over in indirect ways,” he said, adding that the publication Torah Weekly is sent out to “way more people” than just those who identify as Jewish.
Halfway through the symposium, Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, executive director of the Aleph Institute’s Northeast Regional Headquarters, took a solemn moment to read the names of four late community members: Aleph board members Barry Lembersky and Fred Landay, Aleph founder Rabbi Sholom Lipskar who died this month and Aleph volunteer Phyllis Timins.
The importance of the work they — and all people who work with those convicted — did was the theme of the night. Friedman shared a story of a young volunteer he worked with who, decades after, still appeared shaken when the two reunited at a gas station in Florida.
“It dawned on me that what we might take for granted, going to visit people in prison, should not be taken for granted at all,” Friedman said. “It’s not easy, and the chaplains really do deserve our gratitude.”
To honor the work, Vogel announced that Rabbi Zvi Perlman, who visits state prisons, would receive Aleph’s Chaplain of the Year Award.
“A young lady came into my office just last week and said to me she’s out and productive in the community,” Vogel said, “because the last day she was in the state prison in Muncy, Pennsylvania, Rabbi Perlman said, ‘What are you going to do when you get out?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know.’”
That compassion and willingness to listen and provide counsel is crucial to the work.
“That is the message of what the rabbis do in the prison: Listen. They hear the pain,” he said. “And they give them strength to push harder.”
But a rabbi’s work in prison doesn’t stop there. It extends to some of the most basic needs of Jewish prisoners.
A family once called Friedman and explained that their son was put in federal prison without access to kosher food, tallis or tefillin. Friedman spent almost four hours every day driving and giving food to the prisoner so he could eat and pray.
In an interview after the symposium Vogel urged community members to volunteer with the Aleph Institute, assisting with its prison programs.
“They need one thing,” he said. “They need a heart.” PJC
Abigail Hakas is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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