January's Big Question

January 2014 

Big Question!

Rabbis Rice: 

"Our Big Question this month at Micah is: What would you sacrifice to repair the world? We suspect that each of you will have a response that is deeply personal, and perhaps even private. We also ask that you consider a more public sacrifice for a communal cause. There are Holocaust survivors living below the poverty line and this is wholly unacceptable to us. Micah is launching a congregation-wide initiative called Six Million Coins, to raise money to support those so deserving of our love in the Jewish community. You will find and can take home a small, black tzedakah box with the words “Six Million Coins” to start your own collection. The boxes will be around the synagogue, on our oneg tables, in our classrooms. Please drop a coin inside. Help us collect Six Million Coins to honor six million lives that were cut too short. Repair a piece of the world. The survivors deserve better.              

What would you sacrifice to repair the world? A few coins? More? Please share your thoughts with us!"

Leslie Kirby:
"I talked about this month's "#MicahAsks BIG QUESTIONS" topic with my 9th grade class at religious school this past Sunday. They had some really interesting insights on what they would be willing to sacrifice to repair the world. Their feeling was that they get asked questions like this a lot (not just from Micah, but from school, friends, family members, etc.) and they find it overwhelming. They weren't sure they really wanted to sacrifice anything to save the world, simply because they had a hard time making sense of the scope and understanding what was possible. So they can't personally make peace between Israel and the Arab nations. And they can't personally solve world hunger or end wars or improve education in this country. They feel pressured to change the world, but they feel pessimistic about the prospects, and have no idea where to begin.

I am sure there are multiple ways to handle these issues. I chose to talk with them about changing the world in small ways - seeing someone at school who looks sad and taking time out to talk with her/him, helping an elderly person with their groceries, paying compliments to someone they know is insecure, holding doors open for people who are laden down with heavy loads ... even just saying please/thank you. Don't get me wrong, I know these things don't always snowball, but sometimes they really do. And there's no way to predict when it will. So I encouraged them to seek out small ways to make someone's life a little better, even if just momentarily. 

My message, ultimately, was not to try to save the whole world all at once, but to try to save one person's world just a little bit at a time. We'll see what happens, and if they actually follow through. But not only did they seemed relived at my advice - since it took the onus off of them of saving the world all by themselves - they also seemed excited to try to come up with small, clever ways to save the world."