Professional Advice

In my professional meeting with Avital Moshe, the director of youth and young adult programs at the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, I started thinking a lot about what are the ultimate goals of getting different types of peoples together. When we are raised from such a young age to believe certain things about a particular type of person, is it actually meaningful to have an encounter program? What impact will it really have? Or is the goal, like Avital put it for the ICCI, for Jews and Arabs to see that they are capable of working together to create something? While I think this goal is the most practical and optimistic, I would really like to see someday what, if any, impact their efforts have. How closely do they stay in touch with their participants following the program? It doesn't seem like they really do. While there is so much working against the ICCI and other groups like it, it's admirable that they try so hard.

This issue made me think about the program I'd like to create. My initial "social action" issue was really the low state of Jewish literacy among American Jews. I initially thought about doing an interfaith program because I thought Jews (and Muslims probably too) would be attracted to such an environment out of curiosity and they would be more likely to absorb more information because they are looking at Judaism and Islam in contexts of each other and zooming in on certain issues within the faiths. Less useful I think is a goal that these Muslim and Jewish teenagers in America see that they can work together. While that is important in any context (and they will co-teach at the end of the program), cooperation and coexistence are much more applicable in Israel where it's literally a life or death situation if Arabs and Jews don't figure out how to live together.

Avital recommended I really think about and get plenty of advice on how to handle text study with Muslims and Jews. From her experience--they do some text study with young adult groups at the ICCI--Muslims and Jews approach their texts in very different ways. While Jews, she says, are comfortable with the chevrutah model and with debating and questioning what they are reading, Muslims are less familiar with this style. Believing Muslims hold steadfastly to the idea that the Qur'an is the direct word from G-d to the angel Gabriel as told to and transcribed by the Prophet Muhammad. The Qur'an is unchanging throughout history. This philosophy is in contrast to the way many Jews approach Torah. While some Jews believe the Torah is unchanging, divine word, many believe it to be divinely inspired or written by human beings over different periods of time who have edited the text.

For this very crucial point, it is essential that the Muslim co-facilitator and Jewish co-facilitator take the program and make sure text study is done in a comfortable or at least non-offensive way for both Muslims and Jews.

Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel

I had a terrific meeting recently with Avital, the director of youth and young adult programs at the ICCI. I want to share a few aspects of that meeting.

She is currently running a dialogue group for young adult Jerusalemites--Christian Arabs, Jewish Israelis, Muslim Arabs, Arab Palestinians and Arab Israelis. Pretty clear how complex these groups can get. While the program I'm creating is simply about bringing two different religious groups together, Avital told me in Israel people simply cannot separate their religious identities from their national identities. These identities are wrapped up in one another here.

I wonder how complex our identities are in comparison. For myself, I am aware of my identities as a Jew, as an American and as a Zionist, and while these come with their own intricacies, it seems enormously different from the identity struggles of Jerusalemites. In a city that has changed hands so many times and is so religiously and politically polarized, in a city in which not all of the citizens feel at home or at all identified (or identified as anti), it's very different from political/social/religious identities in American cities.

The Jerusalem dialogue group takes tours in Jerusalem of problematic areas like East Jerusalem, the group talks about troubling political and religious issues they face in their communities, and designs a program together as a group to do for their communities. For example, groups in the past have run film festivals or cultural events that incorporate common themes of Jerusalem or bring to light all of their identities. Avital says it's important for the group to see most of all that by working together they can accomplish something. Initially this sounded pretty cheesy to me. But then I remembered where I was. This isn't Palo Alto, CA. It is actually extraordinarily difficult to get groups to work together in Jerusalem. Participants walk away with new understandings of the other groups in Jerusalem and might even continue some of their new friendships. The ICCI selects people to participate in the group who plan to work in dialogue, peace, religion, politics or social work. The experience of really facing the city in which they live is an important step on their way to whatever professional goals they have. It surprised me, but Avital said that for many of the group's participants, when they take tours of Jerusalem, it's the first time visiting many of the sites. It just really shows how segregated the city is.

I love the idea of participant voice and choice, and especially in the context of this dialogue group. These young adults need to be empowered or nothing will ever change here.

Something that has challenged me this year in this class is...

Easily, the physical distance from the JSL class has presented some challenges. What comes to mind is a Martin Buber text from Between Man and Man that Jenni sent me back in March: "We are to converse with one another and not at or past one another...There are no gifted and ungifted here, only those who give themselves and those who withhold themselves."

I haven't been able to physically face my colleagues and converse with them the last several months. It has not felt like the "I-thou" relationships I feel like I formed in the fall. That is, last semester I learned from my colleagues and I felt as though they also were learning from me. I developed tremendous respect for them, their views and the work they do in the Jewish community. It was not a utilitarian relationship. I got to know them as people also, not just for their resource potential. This semester I haven't had much contact with my fellow students. I miss the class time and discussions from the fall. I know I lost a lot of what is great about being part of a JSL cohort because I was not in the Bay Area. Still, being in touch with Jenni and Mara has made this experience a valuable one. I have continued to learn and make progress in this class because of their feedback, resources and reflection prompts.

I feel like I gave of myself this semester, but probably not to the extent that I could have had I physically been present in the class. The opportunities to give of myself are just different. I give of myself independently of others, whereas last semester I gave my thoughts and work to those around me. By writing on this blog, I hoped to give something of myself to others. I wonder if anyone has read this?

I know my fellow students have not withheld themselves, but I'm a little saddened that I have not seen or really heard anything concrete they have done this semester. Certainly via Jenny's emails I have been kept up-to-date on what topics are being discussed. I should have reached out to my fellow students, but I wasn't quite sure how best to do this. I would have loved to know more about their capstone projects, the session discussions, the teaching they have done this semester, ideas that came up, just generally their contributions and progress in the class. I know it will never be as if I were there, but I wonder how I could have been more in touch. I missed the connections we formed as a group last semester.

Everyone in this class is gifted. I guess the distance factor presented new challenges that I hope future distance learners can work to improve for themselves and for reaching their colleagues.

Identity in group dynamic

"Nothing stands before [the duty of] saving life except for idolatry, incest and murder."
Source: Talmud Bavli, Yoma 82a (AJWS translation)

Today in my Women and Mitzvot course this text came up in discussion. If a Jew is faced with either committing any of these acts or dying, the Jew should choose death. Why these acts in particular? I suppose they represent the worst things a human being can do. They are uncivilized, really dehumanizing and they violate basic laws the Torah says must be part of a society (the Noahide laws).

If a Jew has the choice of violating Judaism in any other way or death, he should transgress and save his life, the rabbis teach. My teacher in Women and Mitzvot said there is an additional specificity added to this halacha. If the Jew is around only non-Jews at the moment of decision he CAN violate the mitzvah (excluding the listed three). However--my teacher thought it was the Rambam who wrote this--if there are other Jews present he cannot even agree to tie his shoes in a way that violates Jewish law. If there are other Jews present he cannot violate even one mitzvah and must choose death even over tying his shoelaces un-halakhically. Even seemingly innocuous laws cannot be violated if Jews witness it.

This is a pretty extreme attitude. It's pretty shocking to me, but in some ways makes sense in the medieval context. With Judaism constantly being challenged, staying firm in one's Jewish values could have larger, group-wide implications. If there are other Jews around when the Jew in question is faced with the decision, the rabbis want him to keep the emotional and physical welfare of Jewish peoplehood in mind at all times. The Jews were vulnerable and were on the defensive frequently about Judaism. If a Jew sees his fellow Jew violate the religion, it hurts the group as a whole because it lowers Jewish self-worth in the Jewish people's eyes and shows Judaism as a weak religion. Also, I guess it sets a bad example for future behavior.

After this discussion, I started thinking about the Jewish service learning programs we are putting together. At its core, the Talmud Bavli's text is about always keeping in mind what is essential in Judaism and not deviating from our values and beliefs. Our programs of course are about service, but even more than that, it's about teens having an experience of Jewish learning and Jewish service. I, as a program leader, along with the group have to keep our collective Jewish values in everyone's consciousness at all times so we remember why are we doing what are we doing. If the service has been firmly rooted in Jewish values and text (the learning), then the service will automatically be framed in the group's minds as a Jewish act.

When I was a teenager, I think I found it easier to remember my "Jewishness" (what makes me different) when I was in situations around by non-Jews. I could easily remember my identity and my limits (ie keeping Shabbat and eating kosher foods). When we are around our fellow Jews, sometimes I think we relax when it comes to gossiping, let our guard down and feel freer to be less strict with ourselves. There's no one here I have to impress or show what Judaism's all about. But of course this isn't true--we are all role models for each other and our behavior around Jews should mirror our behavior around non-Jews. The teens in a JSL program will work through the tension of being in a group of Jews working in a most likely non-Jewish service agency. How do they behave as Jews, eager and ready to remember and express to others who they are, while also being aware, appreciative and energetic to meet people of different values and ideas?

"You will love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19.18). "You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you" (Lev. 19:34). Jews live with these dual commandments both to love and treat respectfully their fellow Jews as well as non-Jewish people among them. Within the JSL context, the group can strike a balance between creating a strong Jewish group and forming a group that is comfortable with and eager to learn with non-Jews and perhaps from foreign customs.

The Pardes Approach

Pardes has a Jewish Service Learning track in the making. It's very new. The first and only time it was offered was last fall. It is the Pardes Social Justice Track. Here's the description:

We all want to build a better world, but how should that world look and how should we get there? The Social Justice track combines the study of social issues such as the environment, gender and minority welfare, through classical and modern Jewish texts. In addition, students will be learning about the state of the field and specific challenges in Israel with the help of guest lectures from the governmental and non-profit sectors and field visits. The track is aimed at giving current and future activists the tools to use Jewish text to inform and inspire their work.

The theme throughout the course was connecting text to real problems in Israel. The students weren't required to do any actual hands-on service, but they visited and heard from agencies in Israel that work on certain issues, ie the environment and poverty. I spoke with a student who took the class who said it was much more of a text-based class than a hands-on learning experience. She said she would have preferred more service work. I think the track is going in the right direction, but needs to incorporate service time. Without service students feel much more powerless in the face of social problems. Without a service element students don't see that they are capable of fixing the problem. They don't get inspired to act in the future. They may not know how to act on the issue. It's one thing to talk about social justice, but what really gets people motivated and impassioned is service work itself.

This is difficult to do in a setting like Pardes, which is so focused on building students' text literacy and learning skills, however I feel that it fits in with Pardes' goals and certainly with the student body. Many students at Pardes are in the middle of rabbinical school, about to enter or are already rabbis. Many care deeply about social justice causes, are involved in or lead programs in their home communities or want more experience and knowledge about how to lead such a program for their communities. Students also care deeply about Israel not as an abstract idea but as a real country and homeland with problems. Providing more service opportunities fits in with the personal and professional goals of the students.

Once a week many students dedicate an hour or two to volunteering with an agency. Aside from Peace Players, I like to go to a soup kitchen on Fridays and for the first time today I went to a meals on wheels program in Mea Shearim called Avot Ezra. I enjoy these experiences, and generally feel positive about the work I'm doing. But they are totally disconnected from my learning at Pardes. The service feels random and thrown in. At the beginning of the semester Pardes staff says it's important that we interact with Israeli society during our time here, that we contribute in some way to the outside community. Aside from that speech, we did not have any learning sessions on service or the different opportunities.

A couple months ago Pardes had its annual Yom Iyun Shel Chesed. It was a wonderful day. We volunteered at different organizations for a day. I went with Leket to some orange orchards and picked fruit for the hungry. Prior to the service we had a short program about two Pardes alumni who died in the 2002 Hebrew University terrorist bombing. Speakers said it was in their honor that we would do community service today. One said that the way to respond when light is diminished in the world is to bring more light into the world. It was beautiful, but I didn't learn anything about hunger in Israel or the work Leket does. I chose Leket because it was a lovely day and I wanted to spend it outside. That shouldn't have been the basis of my choice. The agency rep who took us out to the orchards spoke for a few minutes but didn't really have time to go into any depth because we had a lot of work to do. I did feel good after the service. I knew that what we picked would go to soup kitchens and food banks to feed the hungry. But I didn't really have a concept what I had just done.

Every Tuesday we have a community lunch. Sometimes during lunch we have a speaker. Speakers have been writers, entrepreneurs and yonce a representative from a social justice agency. The agency was calling on the Pardes community to collect household items for Ethiopian immigrant families. The speaker talked to us about the disparity of wealth in Israel, the challenges Ethiopians face here and what we can do about it. Then he gave instructions for what we could do to help. This was inspiring but lacking in Jewish content.

There are a lot of pieces of JSL here and my hope is that Pardes can bring these pieces together in a cohesive program. Judaism is all about connecting our beliefs to our actions. They should be in sync with each other. What good is Torah study without acting on the Torah's directives, and what good is action without a basis for it?

"Im ain kemach, ain Torah; im ain Torah, ain kemach." If there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour" (Pirke Avot 3:21). This teaching can be understood as saying if there is no earthly action, there is no higher learning, and if there is no higher learning, there is no earthly action. Like flour, service sustains a community. But without guidance (Torah) our actions are not substantial, they are not flour.

Building moral character

I resonate with William Damon's central argument in his article "The Bridge to Character." Schools should never be afraid to teach right from wrong and what it means to be an ethical human being. Perhaps schools worry that they are stepping on parents' toes or that they don't have time to teach this kind of subject, but it's actually something that can be incorporated into many classes. Like Damon's example of an 8th grade civics class, ethical questions from American history and in politics today help students relate more closely to subject material and allow them to apply these questions to their own lives.

My high school has five core values: Charity, Courage, Character, Conscience and Community. Despite this, I never had a class or anything that dealt with what the 5 Cs are all about. I think it means something that I remember what the 5 Cs are--when I graduated I also received a key chain with the 5 Cs logo--but beyond that, I never connected to the 5 Cs or applied them in a practical or academic sense during my high school experience. Students certainly violated school rules and they received "demerits" or study hall or suspensions. But the 5 Cs were not utilized as a teaching tool or discussed in a "what do these values mean to me" way.

At my middle school I remember we had an honor code. On every test or paper I turned in, I had to write on the back of it, "On my honor this is my own work" and then sign it. Though this statement is simple, it had a major impact on the way I thought about my work. I took pride in what I produced and never felt a desire to cheat. Also, signing your name to something is significant. I never wanted to lie if my name was attached to it.

Overall though my moral education really has come from my parents, synagogue and Jewish community programs. Jewish and secular service learning programs have such an opportunity to teach these lessons that schools often miss. By placing students in service opportunities outside of their comfort zone and with people they don't normally interact with, they can learn compassion, civic duty, respect for the dignity of all human life and a host of other values for leading an ethical life. Also, Jewish service learning programs teach what Judaism specifically has to say about how to lead an ethical life. JSL programs can help shape a student's identity and tie a student's identity directly to his/her behavior. IE "I plant trees because this is a Jewish thing to do." And even better, the student can remember a text or a value like Ba'al taschit that goes along with the behavior to explain it. The possibilities are vast.

When schools, as Damon writes, shy away from elevating students' moral character and instead stoop to their level, they not only miss an opportunity; they don't fulfill their mission. Schools should teach students these lessons through service learning programs. This would be the most impactful way--get students out of the classroom for service but bring the reflection and ethical learning pieces back to the classroom.

Recently I learned the difference between the Hebrew verbs "l'chanech" (to educate) and "l'lamed" (to teach). L'chanech is not book learning--it is life learning. It means teaching students about behavior and ethics. L'lamed is more about academic studies.

It takes a school, family and community to provide a student with a "chinuch." All parties must contribute to this.

What can we do to change history?

In "Visioning Justice" Daniel Sokatch (then Executive Director of PJA, now Exec Dir of New Israel Fund) said, "So much of Jewish history is about what people did to us. In Jewish social justice we say: What can we do to change history?" What is your response to this quote? What history are we changing or making?

I disagree with Sokatch that Jews were somehow passive figures in their own history. Our history, for me, is not about what others did to us, but rather how we responded during these times, what our values were, how we built communities and not only survived, but managed to thrive culturally, religiously and intellectually. Jewish history is filled with our engagement in social justice. Just because Jews weren't in power does not mean they were not impacting their own societies and their broader societies. It's a very narrow definition of social justice to say just because Jews didn't have the Progressive Jewish Alliance they weren't changing the world. Even when the Jews went out of slavery in Egypt, they took a stance for freedom. Rabbis in Talmudic times worked to uphold the Torah's order that we always remember the most vulnerable in our society; the stranger, the orphan and the widow. Though the Jews were kicked out of many countries and passed around, they never let go of their beliefs and values to educate their children and help the needy. Of course, American history is filled with Jews working to build a better society. Sokatch implies that you can only be an agent of change if you have money and/or are in power somehow. Does it become easier to make change when you have more resources? Possibly. But I think when a people has greater financial security, they have more distractions, more problems and less focus on real change.

In terms of the history we are making, since I'm living in Israel I find myself thinking about this issue all the time. In Israel Jews are the ones in power, so you could say it's much easier for us to control our destiny and shape our society. But a main struggle I see is Israelis wanting to build and create a just society but being too occupied with maintaining their physical security to do that. We are more captive than ever to another people. We are not nearly as free as we should be to make and change our history here. This is not to negate all of the change work that goes on here in civil rights, dialogue, poverty and hunger, but this work is not where it could and should be. The gap between rich and poor here is astounding.