Superman Sam

Throughout the last two years, I have watched my Rabbi's eight-year-old son Sam Sommer fight an endless battle with cancer. On December 14, 2013, this battle was won by "ninja leukemia" as Rabbi Phyllis Sommer called it in her blog. Although I could write hundreds of blogs depicting inspiring stories of Sammy, I wanted this post to focus on the power of Rabbi Sommer's blog and her other social media platforms. 

For years, Rabbi Phyllis, a person of generation X, has been huge into social media. She was the first leader of the synagogue to have a Facebook, a Twitter account, and her very own blog. Up until about 18 months ago, she used these platforms to expand her reach into the congregational community and to connect with the younger synagogue goers. She used it as a light, spontaneous, easy way to communicate and stay informed about Jewish life in the city and beyond. Once her six year old son was diagnosed, she saw a power in social media that went beyond her prior use. 

A Rabbi of a 950 family congregation dealing with a personal tragedy must have asked herself how to keep people informed without responding to the thousands of emails, calls, and texts she was receiving. She chose to start the Superman Sam blog. In this way, she could tell Sammy's story while expressing her own feelings. This blog went viral. So viral that she started receiving gifts, letters, and prayers from all over the world. Each blog post she wrote was commented on by people she had never met, telling her how brave she and Sam were or sharing their own personal stories of Pediatric Leukemia. 

The blog spurred a lot of emotional connection to the Sommer family, but also an incredibly strong community reaction. Am Shalom members banded together to create meal plans, run activities for Sam's siblings, coordinate special events based on his wish lists (posted on the blog), and even sent the whole Sommer family to Israel and Disney World (twice). All of these actions were inspired by the knowledge gained from the blog. Viral emotion on the internet lead to hundreds of actions on the ground. This could only happen in this age.  On Sammy's funeral weekend, Rabbi Sommer, true to form posted, "need a cake for my Aunt's birthday " to Facebook. 52 cakes showed up at her door within the hour. 

People often bash social media sites for being too addictive, or dangerous. Small Business Chronicle released an article about the negative effects of social media. Author Brian Jung says it creates false connections between people while limiting privacy.  Not to say these aspects of social media don't exist, but there is absolutely another side to the debate. The Sommer family would've gone through this catastrophe alone if it weren't for the blogging and Facebooking Phyllis did. Social media did wonders for this family, and Sammy felt it. During one of his final days, his Mom told him hundreds of people are praying for him right now. He responded "I think it's more like thousands". Social media made Superman Sam the only thing he wanted to be. A world renowned Superhero.