The Lazowski/Kiely Multifaith Chapel is located on the first floor of the hospital by the gift shop and is always open for prayer or meditation.
There is a space in the chapel for Muslims to pray. Prayer requests can be added on the bulletin board outside the chapel, or by calling your chaplain.
Multifaith Community Prayer Service:
Weekdays at Noon
Roman Catholic Mass:
Sundays at 3:45 pm
Special Services will be announced
All services are broadcast on channel 17
Rabbi Philip Lazowski, the Rabbi emeritus at Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, was one of four people to be inducted into the Connecticut Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame (IHHF) at its 7th Annual Induction Ceremony in 2019.
The remarkable journey of Rabbi Lazowski from Holocaust survivor to spiritual leader has inspired countless congregants, families, and communities for decades. Born in Poland in 1930, Lazowski was 11 in 1941 when the Nazis invaded his hometown, destroying his family’s home and possessions. For four years he survived in desperation, being saved by a stranger who claimed him as her son, narrowly escaping execution by being tossed by his mother from a second story window, and living in the woods for two years.
In 1947 Lazowski made his way to America to pursue a life dedicated to faith and to ensuring the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten. He attended Brooklyn College and Yeshiva University Rabbinical School and relocated to Hartford, where he married the daughter of the stranger who had saved him from certain death years earlier.
The chapel at Hartford Hospital is named in his honor. He began working as a chaplain over 40 years ago at the Institute of Living, before it was a part of by Hartford Hospital. When he started, there were three chaplains – a priest, a minister, and a rabbi. The priest, Fr. John Kiely, worked closely with Rabbi Lazowski.
At the Hartford Hospital Clinical Pastoral Education program, they teach two important concepts in counseling people: faith and hope – or, comfort and optimism. Faith is a kind of confidence in something and hope is a kind of optimism in the future. The power of faith is a Jewish concept; hope flows from feelings of faith, and whether you call it “faith” or “confidence,” it can give you hope and optimism about the future. Faith can be broken down into three components: faith in God, in humanity, and in self. Each of us has a spark of holiness that animates us with life.