Mental Health and the Three Day Yom Tov

April 7, 2020

During Monday’s Q and A session, Rav Mordechai Willig said that Rabbis should be available via telephone to the members of their community who may be experiencing emotional or mental challenges which may result in pikuach nefesh and safek pikuach nefesh situations during Yom Tov and Shabbat. Those who have answering machines can listen for voice messages as they are coming in and those with mobile phones can monitor their calls and text messages on Shabbat and Yom Tov. It is important for rabbis to share their concern for their community’s welfare and their availability to the vulnerable members of their community.

Important Resource:
Free anonymous support line set up by Amudim, staffed by a coalition of mental health professionals, in partnership with Child & Adult Psychological Services, Empower Health Center, Madraigos Midwest, Naaleh Cleveland, Nesivos, Relief, Shalom Task Force, The United Task Force, The Living Room, and numerous mental health practitioners in private practice. The support line currently has over 60 volunteers answering phones from 8 AM to 11 PM EST. Calls that come in after-hours or that cannot be answered by available volunteers are transferred to a live 24/7 call center to be returned as quickly as possible.
Staff members are monitoring all calls to ensure that urgent matters are replied to without delay, even overnight, Shabbat and Yom Tov.
The line is under the joint direction of Dr. David Pelcovitz, chairman of Amudim’s clinical advisory board, Dr. Shloime Zimmerman, co-chair of Amudim’s clinical advisory board, and Myriam Lankry, Amudim’s clinical director, and will be operational over Yom Tov and Shabbos, as per Rabbi Cohen’s psak halacha. Callers can reach out for help by dialing 888-7-AMUDIM, 888-726-8346 or 718-972-3000, with caller ID disabled on incoming calls to ensure complete confidentiality; and help is also available via email at support@amudim.org.