PROVIDENCE – Rabbi Janie Hodgetts joined The Miriam Hospital’s spiritual care team last month as a part-time chaplain.

The first Jewish chaplain on staff at the hospital since 2004, she and the other two hospital chaplains serve people of all faiths.

Hodgetts, who worked in organizational, career and leadership development for years, finds similarities in the work of the business world and the work she does now. “The [common] thread is working with people in different life or organizational transitions,” she said in a phone interview with The Voice & Herald. As a chaplain, “I work with people in times of crisis and during serious life transitions.”

When her twin boys, now 22, were studying to become b’nei mitzvah, Hodgetts grew interested in becoming bat mitzvah – as an Orthodox girl growing up in the 60s, that option was closed to her. The adult bat mitzvah, she said, “was transformational. I had a dream right before I started [studying to become bat mitzvah] that said, ‘Find in your place in the Torah,’ and I’ve been following that directive ever since.”

It’s not too late to do what you love – Hodgetts, who started rabbinical school at age 49, was in the second graduating class of rabbis at Hebrew College, only a few minutes from her home.

“I had a strong connection with my great-grandmother whom I never met but was named for,” she said. “The family story was that she was a closet Talmud scholar – she would listen to her brothers and father study Torah and she would answer the questions.”

In a prepared statement, Arthur J. Sampson, the hospital’s executive director, said, “We’re committed to maintaining and honoring the Jewish heritage and history of The Miriam Hospital. Rabbi Hodgetts brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and passion to our team and will be a valuable resource, not only to our staff, but also to the community that we serve.”

A member of the Rhode Island Board of Rabbis, Hodgetts said, “As a Jewish chaplain I hope to be of special help to people of the Jewish faith, to be an in-house resource for staff at The Miriam Hospital around Judaism and the special needs of Jewish patients. I would love to find a way to acquire a small Torah [to] bring to Jewish patients as this can be very comforting and healing at times of great distress.

A graduate of Cornell University, Hodgetts received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and worked in the field of organizational behavior and human resource management. In May 2009,

Hodgetts received her ordination as rabbi from Hebrew College Rabbinical School. She completed several chaplaincy and rabbinic internships at organizations throughout New England, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.