Aventura Hospital Opens Jewish Hospitality Room,

Aventura Hospital and Medical Center will celebrate the opening of its new Jewish Hospitality Room at a ceremony on Thursday, December 4, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Jewish visitors will be able to use the facility on hospital visits and especially during the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

Located on the seventh floor of the hospital's North Tower, the Jewish Hospitality Room will offer kosher food, separate meat and milk microwaves, prayer books, tefillin (phylacteries for morning prayers), comfortable furniture and attractive surroundings. Disposable plates and utensils, a VCR, television, fax machine, telephone and lockers also will be available to accommodate overnight guests.

The Jewish Hospitality Room is a joint project of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Yehuda Memorial Foundation of New York and the Gesher Tzedakah Foundation.

Miriam Alexander created the Yehuda Memorial Foundation. Ms. Alexander, a former patient in the New York health-care system, has funded Jewish hospitality spaces in various hospital facilities. "In the course of my various hospitalizations, I became aware of the need for designated spaces for Jewish families and visitors," said Alexander, whose foundation was named in memory of her father, Keren Zichron Yehuda.

The Gesher Tzedakah Foundation was founded by Efi Fixler, a local businessman and owner of Gold Coach Tours, as an expression of his commitment to the mitzvah (positive deed) of visiting the infirm. He chose the name "Gesher Tzedakah," which literally translates as "Bridge of Social Justice."

Fixler learned about the Yehuda Foundation's Jewish hospitality facilities in New York hospitals and committed his foundation's support to bring the concept to South Florida.

Director of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation's Community Chaplaincy Program, Rabbi Frederick L. Klein, praised both foundations for filling an important void for traditional Jews. He explained that he visits hospitals as a volunteer chaplain and understands the added stress that many Jews feel when they are faced with the choice of staying with hospitalized relatives or practicing their religious beliefs.

"Our partners in this project embody the true meaning of chesed, the value of loving-kindness for others," Rabbi Klein said. "I know how many people will find comfort, solace and support. I am blessed to have met Ms. Alexander and Mr. Fixler, and to work with them to fulfill their vision."

The Jewish Hospitality Room will complement many other amenities at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center that are reflective of the health-care facility's commitment to the Jewish community. These amenities include a full kosher food service for all hospital rooms, kosher food in the cafeteria, a Sabbath elevator, and candles for in-hospital room use during the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, located at 20900 Biscayne Boulevard, is a fully accredited, 407-bed, acute-care facility providing award-winning inpatient and outpatient diagnostic, medical, surgical and cancer services since 1965.

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Aventura Hospital Opens Jewish Hospitality Room ,