In honor or Dr. Martin Luther King my synagogue holds a Tikkun Olam (repair the world) weekend in which an important social justice issue in our society is highlighted. This year "Crisis in Homelessness and the Lack of Affordable Housing" in our community was the theme. On Shabbat (Saturday) there was a program after services and I went over to listen. I sat on the floor and heard suggestions of what needs to be done, what is being done and ways to get involved. I thought about how little I do in the area of social justice other than giving money and wondered what I could take on that wouldn't be overwhelming. Then I turned my attention to who else had come over to listen and wondered why there weren't more people. A friend sat on the floor with me suggesting we take charge of the weekend next year and get more young people involved. I don't know about you but this is one of my normal responses to anything that doesn't quite suit me. I agree to then take on way more then I can handle. I decided to just think about it for the week, make a plan but not do the overload thing which is guaranteed to fail.
Here is part of the article in the Adas Israel Chronicle
First I reflected on how my days were being spent and how much time I could dedicate to social justice. Except for teaching in the pre-school and leading tot services I haven't taken on ownership of a shul project so agreeing to help lead next year's program wasn't totally out of line. After all I would have 52 weeks to work on it. 52 weeks to think and plan what actions to take. I rolled the phrase around on my tongue realized I was having one of those ah-ha moments. 52 weeks and 52 actions. How about I take one of my seven days per week and dedicate it to social action. I wouldn't have to do the same thing each week. I could divide my time between going to meetings (planning) as well as making sandwiches or such (actions). I could even document everything I did to show what a simple single person was capable of doing as a part of the rest of your regular life. Yes it would be 52 Weeks=52 Actions. In this heat of creativity I sent an email to my friend suggesting how we do it together and involve his kids as well. Maybe they could be the ones to search out meetings to go to or look over the activities my synagogue was already involved in that I/we could volunteer for before looking for anything new.
The trees you see from the Quebec St. entrance of our synagogue
The Jewish holiday approaching the next Saturday was Tu BiShvat, an agricultural holiday which has developed into focusing on trees and environment. It was a perfect image for me. I was imaging and developing the roots of my project. My 52 Weeks=52 Actions would become my trunk, branches and who can say what fruit might develop. I had taken whatever printed information from the speakers the previous week and using that as my jumping off point starting going to the websites of their organizations. I also went to the section of my synagogue's website that showed the different programs we are part of. I was filling my head with ideas and realized I would need a notebook to keep track of what I found. So let's consider this the introduction or the preface. I intend to blog after each four weeks and report on what I do. Who knows but that others will be encouraged by me.
