What is "helper"

Helper \Help"er\, n. One who, or that which, helps, aids, assists, or relieves; as, a lay helper in a parish.

Thou art the helper of the fatherless.
--Ps. x. 14.

Compassion . . . oftentimes a helper of evils.
--Dr. H. More.

mid-14c., agent noun from help (v.). Helpestre "a female helper" is recorded from c.1400. The Old English agent noun was helpend.

n. 1 One who helps; an aide. 2 (context Singapore English) A person who does cleaning and cooking in a family, or in a market.

1. n. a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose; "my invaluable assistant"; "they hired additional help to finish the work" [syn: assistant, help, supporter]

2. a person who helps people or institutions (especially with financial help) [syn: benefactor]

Helper may refer to:

• Assistant, a person or device that helps someone
• Guardian angel or Guardian spirit, a personalized soul protector
• Hamburger Helper and similar food products
• Helfer (rank) ("Helper"), a Nazi Party paramilitary rank
• H.E.L.P.eR., a supporting robotic character on The Venture Bros. TV show
• Helper locomotive, coupled to a train to temporarily provide extra power
• Helper (personality type), one of the types in the Enneagram of Personality
• Helper (Subud), a person in a supporting role within the spiritual association Subud
• Helper, Utah, a city in the USA
• Helpers at the nest in birds
• Helper, the companion to Gyro Gearloose
• Helper class, a programming term

Helper is also a surname related to the Jewish name Halpern. People with this surname include:

• Hinton Rowan Helper (1829–1909), southern author and critic of slavery
• Joe Helper, a Labor politician serving in Victoria, Australia

Within Subud, a "helper" (, meaning “helping to train” or “assistant trainer") is a person who fills a certain support role. The nature of this role, and the actual performance of those who fill it, are subjects of some controversy within Subud.

Most Subud groups have helpers, who are responsible for assisting other members in various ways, as well as simply timing the latihan. Helpers exist at the local, regional, national, and international levels within the Subud organization.

Ideally, a helper should have at least seven years of practicing the latihan and to be generally 'loved and respected' by their fellow members. One becomes a helper by asking the helpers to "test", or receive, whether the person has the capacity to fulfill the helper job at that point in time. That is, the helpers make a decision based on what they receive in their testing, and with as little mental thought and personal opinion as is humanly possible.

A focus of criticism is the role some helpers adopt as spiritual and personal counselors. Their ability and understanding apparently vary considerably. Reviewing the internet one can see a whole variety of balanced and not so balanced opinions of helpers. Helpers are as imperfect as the next person, and as is natural in any position of 'authority' interpersonal clashes involving helpers and other helpers and helpers and members do occur.

According to the Subud USA National By-Laws (posted at www.subudusa.org), Helpers serve six main functions. Note that these functions apply only to the By-Laws, and that other functions are specified in other places, such as Bapak's "Advice and Guidance for Helpers" (see link below)):

1. Verify that members are active in the national (not-for-profit) organization, thereby giving membership status (Article 3, Section 1);
2. Removing membership status (Article 3, Section 2);
3. Reinstating membership status (Article 3, Section 3);
4. Supervising the national census (Article 5, Section 2);
5. Serving as members in standing national committees (Article 6, Section 6); and
6. Consulting with the National Board of Directors in certain situations regarding filling vacancies of the Officers of the Corporation (Article 7, Section 3).

Note that the relationships between the Helpers (but not the duties and responsibilities of the Helpers) are found in Article 11.

Officially, helpers are there to help Bapak, the founder of Subud, by supporting the Subud association in his absence. They have the responsibility to explain what Subud is to any interested person, to facilitate a person's first receiving (opening), and to serve members in deepening their receiving and applying it in their lives.Bapak has said frequently that being a helper is absolutely not a sign of spiritual superiority and that it is possible that some non-helpers are spiritually superior to the helpers. Similarly, there is no spiritual hierarchy of helpers: international helpers, national helpers and local helpers are simply designated as such for practical purposes.