Rabbi Avi Sharfman, 35, lives to comfort people during their toughest moments. As a chaplain, Sharfman works to help people with whatever they need, whether it’s a comforting conversation or a dance party.
After growing up in Baltimore, Sharfman, a Pikesville resident, studied in yeshiva before receiving his master’s degree in chaplaincy and spiritual care from Johns Hopkins University. He has worked as a chaplain at Gilchrist, LifeBridge Health and now Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital.
While Sharfman isn’t currently working in hospice care, he holds a special place in his heart for that work and hopes to continue it one day.
What is a chaplain?
Chaplains are defined as people that provide spiritual care in the health care system, military and police, places that are not a local synagogue or parish. To be a chaplain, you actually have to go through a two-year program. It’s called CPE, also known as Clinical Pastoral Education, and you spend two years in a hospital setting or wherever the setting of your program is. Most of them are in the hospital; some of them are in prisons. It’s accredited by the ACPE or the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.
In 2015, I was deciding what my future was going to be. I wanted to do something with money. But I realized at that moment that that was not going to be for me. I couldn’t sit at a desk crunching numbers all day. It just wasn’t going to happen.
So, my mom says to me, “Obviously you should become a chaplain.” I actually applied to the program, and I remember going into my first interview, and they actually accepted me right away, and I was very surprised.
Do you work on Shabbat?
I have my pager on me all the time. If there is any level of crisis in the community for the hospital or if there’s an emergency where somebody needs to get in contact with a rabbi or something like that, they’ll page me.
What is your favorite part about your job at Levindale?
The gift of human connection, of being able to interact with the patients and their families. I like being able to create relationships and help people through whatever situation or struggles they may be facing that day.
What’s something that someone would be surprised to learn about your profession?
Chaplains are as much human beings as anybody else. I am a rabbi, I am a chaplain, but it’s the ability to touch people as a human being more than my titles that is special for me.
What’s something that somebody would be surprised to learn about you?
In February, I was featured on WBAL for a story called “The Rabbi and the Tow Truck Driver.”
In January, I was on my way to visit a hospice patient, and my car got stuck in the snow. I called AAA, and this wonderful gentleman named Jerome came to help me, and he had such an amazing spirit.
I felt very connected to him because he came and said, “I got you.” He really got me out of a difficult place, and I was very thankful to him. So, I wrote a letter to AAA as a thank you, not expecting anything to happen from it.
The next day, I got a message from the director of corporate communications for AAA, and she asked me if I would come in for a recognition story for Jerome.
I came to do the interview, and they loved the story so much that they pitched it to the news. We went viral.
I do believe the message that it sent was that it doesn’t matter what culture you come from, the gift of human connection can literally change somebody’s life.
Anyone who gets to know me well enough knows that I want to help people in any way I can. Being a chaplain to me is not just about all the titles that I have; it’s about helping people and giving people that sense of joy to be able to live, especially when they’re going through a difficult time.
Shira Kramer is a freelance writer.
