Shabbat Shalom.
As I sat down to write this email, I started thinking about what I could share about Jewish life that is inspirational. I thought of the sources to go to - obvious ones - Torah, text, midrash - but my usual references were just not doing it for me today. Then a giant bolt of lightening came down from the sky, well, not really, but metaphorically, and I realized that my inspiration comes from Federation - every day. Our work has a holy and spiritual mission, but I am really talking about the practice of what we do being inspirational. Here are the examples that come to mind:
Volunteers: Federation provides opportunity for leaders to connect to the Jewish community in a variety of different ways from many different points of entry. Our dedicated volunteers raise money for the good of the Jewish people. This means that we can provide a myriad of services for our global Jewish community: food, education, shelter, advocacy, safety and much more. The time that our volunteers give to make sure that we as a Federation do the best job possible to raise as much money possible for all of these important services is almost unfathomable. Our dedicated volunteers spend countless hours providing for the Jewish world and that alone is inspirational. Yet, there are other examples.
Donors: Approximately 2000 people, every year in the Pioneer Valley, contribute to Federation's annual campaign. All of these people perform the mitzvah of tzedakah and give money to Federation. This money goes into an allocations process that distributes funds through an allocations process that allows our beneficiary agencies in Israel and around the world to provide the services mentioned above. Our donors trust that they money is used well and this is inspirational.
Missions: Federation takes people to Israel for them to see, touch, taste and hear our past, present and future. We travel to countries all around the world to connect with other Jews. We go to Israel to see where our dollars go and to participate in the joy of visiting our homeland. While there are many opportunities to travel to exotic lands, we go to Israel over and over again and this is inspirational.
Staff: I am fortunate to work with an incredibly dedicated and hard working group of people who truly care about being the best stewards of our community's dollars. This is a committed group of people that with whom I spend my day and this is inspirational.
In Perkei Avot 4:1 Simon Ben Zoma wrote:
"Who is wise? The one who learns from all people...
"Who is mighty? The one who subdues the evil inclination...
"Who is rich? The one who who rejoices in his portion....
"Who is honored? The one who honors other human beings...."
While Ben Zoma was speaking of people, his quote can be applied to Federation:
We are a wise organization that learns from our volunteers and donors.
We are mighty as we take the path of creating good and positive relationships with our donors and are honest stewards of the community funds.
We are rich as we rejoice in all that our Jewish world offers to us. And, most certainly, we are honored as Federation provides honor and dignity to all of those people served by us.
Meredith
