Recently I attended the International Convention of USY. Seven hundred teens,
100 college students as staff and more than 100 adult volunteers converged on
New Orleans for a week of fun, study, service, and prayer. It was a transformative experience for
everyone, including me.
On Monday, the USYers spread out across New Orleans to
participate in the city’s ongoing efforts of rebuilding. I was touched by their energy, enthusiasm,
seriousness, and commitment to tikkun olam, to repairing the world. That evening I was inspired by the weekly
Torah reading and shared with them the following thoughts. That I continue to reflect on this moment
demonstrates how deeply their actions transformed me. And that’s why I share them now with you.
This week’s Torah reading begins in a somewhat odd way. God says to Moses that to Israel’s ancestors
God appeared as El Shaddai (God Almighty), but by His name Y-H-V-H
(pronounced Adonai, meaning my Master) God was not known to them. What’s odd about this is that any reading of
Genesis clearly shows that God’s name Y-H-V-H was clearly present. So what then does the text mean when it says
that “by My name Y-H-V-H I was not known to them?”
Our sages suggest that it was God’s attribute of rachamim,
mercy, that was not known because the promise of redemption was not
fulfilled. It’s only now that God hears
the cry of the Israelites and through Moses comes to redeem them that this
element of God’s name, His attribute of rachamim, becomes known.
Today USY, this attribute is well known to you for YOU made
it known to each other and to others through your incredible acts of rachamim in New Orleans.
Today you formed a band and played music to the elderly in a
home for the aged. You lifted their
spirits with song. You fulfilled the
mitzvah of honoring your elders. You
brought rachamim into their lives
Today you, USY, cleaned up a lagoon. And when you got there and realized the
challenge of how to get into the water to do the job right, you didn’t
hesitate. You created wading pants and
shoes taking garbage bags and wrapping yourselves in them. Then you waded into the cold water and did
the job that had to be done. You did
this because you know that shomrei adamah,
that caring for the Earth is more than is good deed. You know it’s a mitzvah, an expectation of
God. So you brought more rachamim into
the world.
And today, USY, some of you went to a woman’s house and
worked to complete its repair. You laid
insulation, drywall, flooring and more.
And then, at the end of your day’s work the woman who owns the house
came to greet you. And you learned that
the reason it is still not livable is because her husband while working on it
suffered a massive heart attack and died.
You brought rachamim into her and her children’s lives today;
rebuilding her home so she is that much closer to reoccupying it. And when she does; you will have played a
role in her rebuilding her life. That’s rachamim.
And USY, tonight as we celebrated a Taste of Bourbon Street
here at the hotel, I happened to go to the vendors to thank them for coming and
adding to our evening. In so doing, I
met a man, a jewelry maker, who said to me, “No rabbi. It’s me who must thank you. Let me tell you my story.” So he told me how his wife died in his arms
during Hurricane Katrina and how at that moment, his middle class life was
washed away. It’s been a long haul
rebuilding his business, rebuilding his life.
This year, he said, has been a particularly tough one economically. “So, Rabbi,” he said, “it is I who must thank
you. And these wonderful young people
who have been buying my jewelry and more importantly, I am so moved by how
respectful and kind they are to me.”
USY, this is the definition of rachamim. When we read the Torah this week and we come
to its opening verses in which God reveals his attribute of rachamim lift
your head and say God’s name. For unlike
our ancestors, this week, you KNOW this name.
You lived it. And you shared it
with all of us. This week, New Orleans
knows God’s name. Thank you for making
this world that much better!
That evening we honored our USY teen change makers. We heard from Jessica Abo and Andy Fickman,
USY alumni who though extraordinarily successful in their careers, continue to
be change makers, inspired from their time as USYers. They inspired and charged our USYers to do
the same. And we celebrated USY’s 18,000
hours of community service challenge -- a goal they far exceeded with more than
32,000 hours logged!
You can view Jessica and Andy’s talks, and the USY
Changemakers video, here.
The power of USY is that we teach
that tikkun olam is not simply the performance of good deeds –
Tikkun Olam is a mantra and a lifestyle.
The enduring power of our International Convention is that takeaway. The
committed, impassioned teens of USY go back to their communities, infusing them
with vital energy. In New Orleans, I have seen the future of Conservative
Judaism and it is bright; it is our youth, the next generation coming of age.
They hold the secret to the Jewish tomorrow: Tikkun Olam is a verb.
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