Social Action/Tikkun Olam VP

2010-2011 Social Action/Tikkun Olam Vice President: Becca Richman

Email: sato@hagesher.org

2010 REB Elections Speech:

“The consequences of our actions are so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is very difficult business indeed.” This phrase, uttered by the wise Albus Dumbledore, is as true in our world today as it is in the Wizarding one. After all, who are we to truly understand the kind of difference we can make by donating just one dollar, two dollars, or six dollars and thirteen cents? As a community, we are very lucky, and this small amount of money may not make a difference. We live comfortable lives, never questioning our next meal, or if we will have a place to sleep. However, we must look past our lucky community. Look past our immediate family, past our USY friends, past the kids at school with whom we hardly ever talk. We must look past all that into a universe that we hardly even know.

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to attend the Panim el Panim seminar with my school. There, the founder, Rabbi Sidney Schwartz presented us with a term for this, he called it a “Universe of Obligation.” Your personal Universe of Obligation begins with a dot in the center representing you. As you move further and further from the middle, you are passing family, close friends, acquaintances, and strangers, until you reach the furthest possible corner of your universe. This may be homeless woman in California, or a dying child in Darfur. It is hardest to relate to these people.

As the name explains, your Universe of Obligation contains the levels of people to whom you feel obligated. For example, you would obviously help a family member in need, and you would most likely help a close friend. But where does this sense of obligation stop? What makes that child dying in Darfur less of your problem? Concepts such as b’tzelem elokhim, man made in the image of G-d, and lo ta’amod al dam re’echa, not standing on the blood of your neighbor, mentioned in this week’s parasha, teach us that the child dying in Darfur belongs in our Universe of Obligation simply because he is a human.

My goal as your regional Social Action/Tikkun Olam Vice President would be to help each of us expand our personal Universe of Obligation through events, projects, sessions, and other types of programming. I want to help all of us realize the power of one simple action, such as donating a dollar or joining the 613 Mitzvah Corps. I want us to see the importance of choosing a main SA/TO project for individual chapter, of setting a goal, of reaching that goal, of surpassing that goal! I want us to know that the consequences of our actions are complicated, and we should not hold back because we think they will have no effect – predicting the future is very tricky business indeed.

Hagesher, we had a spectacular year. I saw our unbelievable potential as a region when we got psyched about the coin challenge, and when we had a dance specifically for SA/TO. I see our ability when we participated at the carnival at IC, went to service projects at Heschel, and attended Turkey Trot, where profits go to SA/TO. I believe in your ability to make a difference. I believe in my ability to help guide you. I believe that we, as a region and as a community, have the power to change the life of not only that child from Darfur, but the life of anyone within our Universe of Obligation! Once we set our minds on a goal, I believe that we can reach it! After all, and the great Albus Dumbledore is right here once more, “Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.”