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January 11, 2015

Even though humans share 99.9 percent of our DNA with one another, we find the smallest differences to divide us. When we hide away in cocoons of our own making, we risk becoming afraid of others, distanced from the realities that others live with every day. In this more complex interconnected era of humanity, we have to transcend some of the personal and parochial boundaries we may still hold, connecting the whole world in increasingly intentional and thoughtful ways. When we volunteer for strangers, for example, we have the best opportunity to gain even more than we give.

Typically, we understand giving in a strictly financial sense, but Rabbi Moshe Feinstein taught that in addition to giving a tenth of one’s income to charity, so too one should give one tenth of one’s time with volunteering. The Torah describes volunteers as those who are kol nediv libo, someone whose heart is generous; we don’t merely give our time and money, but also from our hearts. When we are present with others, we don’t merely check the box that we showed up. Instead, we show up with our full selves. We seek to listen empathically, walk humbly, and act compassionately.

Our theologies and worldviews must evolve as humanity becomes more technologically sophisticated. Joseph Campbell taught that in ancient times we all lived in tribes and the broadest perspective we could imagine was from a mountain top. Enlightenment and spiritual achievement would be found at that pinnacle. Today, however we can see further, a view from outer space where we can see the entire earth. We cannot go back and attempt to merely see the world from the mountaintop. Our moral and spiritual imagination has expanded drastically. We can’t merely stay on our isolated mountain tops anymore once we realized the galaxy is much more complex, beautiful, and interconnected. Indeed, we can’t hide in Plato’s cave, staring at shadows when we can walk into the light and see actual images. This is the goal of religion when practiced correctly: to shake us up and force us to go deeper than we ever have. It is too scary for most, so they stay in the cave. But the spiritual journey is about going deeper within us.

Judaism, in ancient form like other religions at that time, prioritized sacrifices. But after the destruction of the temple, acts of kindness became the locus of interpersonal action.

Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai was walking with his disciple Rabbi Yehoshua past where the Holy Temple had stood. It had just been destroyed by the Romans and they had witnessed the destruction. Rabbi Yehoshua started crying. Rabbi Yochanan said to him, “Yehoshua, my son, why are you crying?” “Because the House that gave us atonement for our sins no longer exists.” “You don’t have to cry. It says in the prophet [Hoshea 6:6] that G-d says, ‘I want kindness, not sacrifices.’ That tells us that every time that someone does a chesed (act of kindness), G-d furnishes as much atonement as the sacrifices of the Holy Temple. Chesed is just as effective as the sacrifices to achieve atonement (Avot D’Rebbi Natan).”

For many, religion has prioritized ritual and dogma, in this case, the sacrificial practices so vital to traditional identity. A closer reading of the passage above, though teaches that we have to transcend certain practices of the past to focus on the more present realm of kindness and service to others. Some mourn the past when the world seemed so much less complex, much simpler. We should comfort these people; help them wipe their tears. But Rabbi Yochanan’s example shows us that we must keep our eyes on the present, cognizant of the future, and keep building: if we are committed to giving to others, there is a bright future.

Recently, I was reading an interview that featured Vivek J. Tiwary, an award-winning Broadway producer and author of The Fifth Beatle graphic novel. Even though I don’t attend many Broadway shows or read comics, I was very much taken with Tiwary’s volunteer work. Using the same skills he’s applied in his professional life, Tiwary started an organization called Musicians on Call, which brings the aforementioned musicians to hospitals across America to play at patients’ bedsides. This program has affected thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people in a positive, uplifting way; it was inspiring to read about his work. His summation of his volunteering philosophy was simple, but powerful: “Find something that speaks to you, that you are passionate about, and start there.” Each of us has a passion and a talent that we can share in our own unique way.

We are gifted a mere 86,400 seconds each day. And in that time, think about how many of those seconds are about our own needs and wants versus how many of those seconds can be geared toward others just by offering a friendly, outstretched hand. Regardless of our religious affiliations or worldviews, we can all agree that a commitment to volunteering and to giving ourselves to others in need unites us as human beings.

Primo Levi, the prominent author and Holocaust survivor, told the story about his final days in Auschwitz in If This is a Man, in which he wrote that the worst days were those after the Nazis left and before the Soviets arrived, when there was no food to be found. Then a man found potatoes and rather than merely feed his starving belly, he shared them with the other survivors. From this first opportunity in the concentration camp to share food an insight about the human condition became clear: It is through giving from the little bits we have in life that we find our individual and collective liberation. It is through sharing that one is transformed from slave to human.

Each morning we wake up, and God has chosen us! We have been reborn with a new beginning and charged with a mission. Our gratitude is expressed (and our existence warranted) by demonstrating in action that God made a smart investment!

In 2015, indeed, into the future we can’t even see yet, we need to live in the world as it is. But we also need to start living in the world as it should be: If we continue to strengthen society, through our words, deeds, and action, focusing on the virtues of volunteering and giving to individuals and organizations without expecting anything in return, we will give a remarkable gift to our posterity. A world built on selfishness where self-interest is the top priority cannot be morally sustainable. Instead, may we all, together, instigate positivity, charity, and justice so the world of our dreams becomes the world in which we live.

 

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Executive Director of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute and the author of seven books on Jewish ethics.  Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America.”

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