Jill's Obituary in the Jewish Advocate

Jill D. Volk, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., who was an active member of many of the Boston area’s Jewish communities for over 25 years, passed away suddenly on April 29, 2007. She was 47. Funeral services were officiated by Rabbi Toba Spitzer and Cantor Louise Treitman. Jill arrived in Boston in the early 1980s after earning a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. She worked as an administrator of a group home prior to enrolling at Boston University and earning a MSW degree, which she later augmented with a LICSW. Following her graduation from BU she began her specialization in elder care, initially working with several agencies shielding elders at risk, often appearing in court to obtain protective orders, and securing proper medical care and hospitalization for elders who were unable to obtain these necessities for themselves. During this time, she was an active participant in the young Jewish community of Brookline, according to Lauren Brenner, Jill’s oldest and closest friend.She was also instrumental in founding Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, and was the first membership chair of the organization. According to Cindy Shulak-Rome, a past president of the congregation, even years later many members still recall that it was Jill who was their introduction to the congregation and helped them decide to become members. After leaving protective services, Jill continued her career in elder care at Creative Alliances, a subsidiary of Sherrill House nursing home, specializing in helping elders stay in their own homes, and other aspects of care management. One of her colleagues there, Helen Kass, described how Jill was a mentor to herself and so many others in the developing field of geriatric care management. A major recognition she received for her accomplishments was election to the Board of the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly.During this time Jill was also active in the development of JCDS – the Jewish Community Day School, where her daughter Avital is a student.In recent years, Jill had extended her professional capabilities to the area of hospice care, obtaining a certificate in End-of-Life Care from Smith College, and working in several hospice organizations. Jill’s many friends all commented how she loved her role as a mother and a grandmother, traveling with her daughter, maintaining a cooperative relationship with her former husband, and being a warm and open friend to everyone in the many communities of which she was an active member. Jill’s father was the late Morris Herman Volk z’’l, of Levittown, Pa. Jill is survived by her daughter Avital, of Newton; her mother, Rhoda Volk, of Levittown; her sister Caren Bosk and brother-in-law Nat Bosk and their children Steve and Katie. She is also survived by her former husband Steven Lewis of Newton, his daughters Jaime and Faye, and her grandchildren, Brendan, Ilana, Yoav, Binyamin, Rivka and Yosef-Haim.

The Jewish Advocate

An Acrostic

J: is for the Joy she brought into all of our lives;
I: is for her Infectious laughter, which in our memory thrives;
L: is for her Liveliness is ALL that she did, rooted deep within her heart;
L: is for how Likeable AND Lovable she was, seemingly right from the start.

D: is for her unwavering Devotion to family, her community and as friend;

V: is for her Vociferousness; when committed to something, on that one could depend!
O: is for her Other-Dimension, her spiritual nature, which was refreshingly straight and pure;
L: is for the Love she had for daughter Avital, whom she enjoyed more and more! (It could also be for the Love Bird they adopted, but could not fit it into the rhyme, for sure.)
K: is for the special Kisses she’d save for Avi, and for those close to her, from within her very core!

Summer 1994

Jill (pregnant with Avi), Uncle Sol & Cousin Tovah
on Tovah's Brookline Porch.

Poem for Jill

Jill Volk was a very dear person to me, and when I heard about her death I felt like I had lost a refuge. She was a person of unique gentleness and warmth. All this was remarkable, for I was well acquainted, too, with her inner struggles. She was very brave in the face of these. A few hours into my shock, amidst tears and struggling with denial, I composed the following poem. It was healing for me to write this, and I offer it on this website in the hopes that it could help others who are grief stricken with the loss of this wonderful, rare light in the community.

Jill, 2007

Jill's heart embraced grace softly.
She raised the mother in me
Not like a cross, not like a diploma
Or a purple heart – as some mothers do
But like a bit of string that ties
The rose to its trellis.
Her chorus was: thank you –
Her voice extending a peace
That escaped her.
The shadows that haunted her were dark
But she washed them in pastels
Insisting upon a May Day that never ended
(Moments of grace hovered like the tree canopy).
Her edges had no angles
She was the knight whose sword stuck in the stone
The solider with a flower in his gun.
Her soul sounded like synagogues
And that's where her mind slept.
The Great Mystery tucked her in every night
And made her bed in the mornings.
In between, God corresponded –
And Jill sighed back.

Charlotte Emerson
April 30, 2007

A fellow camper and friend of Jill's z"l from 35+ years ago

Hi,
I attended Camp Council in Phoenixville, PA more than 35 years ago with Jill z"l.
I am the same age as Jill was, 47, and unfortunately, lost touch with her many years ago, while still in our adolescence.
By sheer coincidence, I recently was trying to locate Jill after all these years, as a camp reunion was being planned, to take place this Memorial Day. I asked around, of the campers who were organizing the event and others, if they had any idea of Jill's whereabouts and if she responded to the reunion notice. I was disappointed not to gain any information of her whereabouts, after also looking Jill up on the internet and phone directories. I had no idea where she had been living, and only had her Levittown, PA hometown to go by.
As fate would have it, I have a strange habit of perusing the obituaries in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, and I was profoundly shocked and mortified to come across Jill's notice.I knew it was the same person, due to the hometown reference and her age. I was deeply saddened and still am in the disbelief and denial stage, more or less.
I subsequently googled her name, hoping to discover some details which would enlighten me as to how and where she lived her life since our early friendship.
Luckily, I came across your congregation's tribute blog and was extremely moved to read all the loving and admiring memories posted there, as well as the rabbi's beautiful eulogy.
I now know that Jill had married and had a lovely daughter, became a successful social worker (ironically in the hospice field), and judging from the tributes, had clearly turned out to be a "tsadikah", i.e., righteous person, an extraordinary woman, mother, cousin, congregation leader, etc.
Coincidentally, I attended Brandeis University for undergrad school, which is where she made her residence after studying in Bostons. If only I had known when I made several return visits to that town, I would have been overjoyed to reunite with her after all these years. It doesn't surprise me in the least that she made a huge impact on many people, in the congregation and in her social work. She was a kind, loving and nurturing person even back then, in our early years.
I lived in northeast Philadelphia and Jill's family was in Levittown, and back in those days and at our age, this was very "long distance!" We kept up a spirited penpal relationship and exchanged weekend visits to our "far-off" towns, even though today they seem like they are a short drive from one another.
She was my dear friend from camping times which I loved, and I was delighted to keep up our friendship. I cherished our friendship, as it opened new vistas for me.
I cried when I read your congregation's memories of her, and will keep them as a lovely document to help me fill in the blanks of her life after those early years.
Indeed, she appeared to be a truly outstanding "guten neshamah" - wonderful individual, mother, spiritual leader and friend to many. I grieve that I will never have my camp reunion with her, and that her days on this earth were all too few. I know her memory will be for a blessing to all whose lives were enriched by her amazing spirit.

Adrienne Berger, gingit6@yahoo.com

Jill's Last Seder

A week or so before Passover, Jill asked me to help her fix a problem withher computer, and while I was at her apartment doing so, we shared our Passover plans with eachother. "Would you like to come over for dinner one night during the holiday," I asked.  "I don't do very much entertaining," she replied, " but why don't you come over here, and I'll make something?" Fine with me.

 

A day or two before I was invited to dinner she called and said that she hadn't been feeling well earlier in the week.  She had missed both Seders, but was doing better and wondered if I would mind if we read through parts of the Hagaddah together before dinner, so she could feel as if she didn't miss out the seders this year.  It was fine with me.

 

And so it was when I went to Jill's place on the seventh night of Passover. Avital decided that two seders were enough for her and she didn't want to say the four questions yet again, so she waited in her room and came to the table for dinner.  The table was set, with candles, 3 matzahs,  a seder plate, haroseth, and cups for Elijah and Miriam. We read eachother the highlights from different Hagadot, and sang a few songs.  She smiled, grateful that she was able to retell the story of freedom for another year. It had meant so much to her to be present at the seder, and she seemed to like the idea of having company. I was happy to share this special seder with her.

 

Now we are all shocked that this was her last seder.  May the One who brought us from slavery to freedom accompany Jill on her journey to everlasting freedom and peace.

 

Mark

Waltham,MA

Jill's gifts to me

Like many people, I had the experience of being welcomed into Congregation Dorshei Tzedek by Jill. More importantly, she kept me from fleeing. This was early in the congregation's life and before the Reconstructionist movement published our abundantly transliterated siddur. Even though I was deeply attracted to the warmth of the people and the vibrancy of the services at CDT, I couldn't read enough Hebrew to participate. Jill helped me find my place in the service, praising me for the smallest gains: "Look, you didn't get lost!" Having Jill witness exactly how pitiful I was and still support me so warmly was absolutely necessary for me to get past my feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment. Not so many years later, Jill saw me leyn from the Torah when I became bat mitzvah along with a group of other adult women. I don't think she had any idea what a crucial role she'd played in my reaching that day.

Karen Arnold