Silence

Today I stopped to listen to the city. What's the tune of our town?

I'd say closest to a jackhammer.

Repetitive, loud, defeating actually: A combination of work being done, masses of people and more than anything else, incessant cars.

I had to will myself to stop listening, which is actually possible as it turns out.

In fact, willing yourself to not see things and not to hear things has a bad rap. It's used as shorthand for immorality or an immoral amorality. 

Actually, in very explicit ways, it's how we get through our day. Without being able to funnel stimuli out, we wouldn't be able to prioritize certain sites and sounds over others. If we insisting on taking in and responding to everything, we wouldn't be able to dedicate ourselves to anything at all. Overstretch= complacency. 

But whereas in some other places selective blindness and deafness may be the prerequisite for a decent level of focus, in New York, it's a prerequisite for keeping your sanity.

That's the reason this city wears on people - or at least on me. After a week here, I literally crave silence. 

I love the fresh smells, the pretty base color green, but more than anything else- it's the lack of noise, the ability to stop filtering out sounds and do something else with that dose of attention. It's energizing to leave New York. Recuperative....

There is increasing research on noise polution leading to stress, hypertension, further health problems, bad decisions, divorce, meanness, ugliness- you name it. I channel those studies personally.

Cities make noise- so is the answer to decrease cities, or just get out oneself?

There are other ways. Bikes- for one.

The best recent thing to happen in NY has been citibikes ... Let's see how pre-k compares.

And of course forays out of the city and into the silence.

Abundant nature

One of our family members just took a tour around Central Park with the "Wildman" Steve Brill and came home all excited. 

No, he said in the evening, he couldn't bother with ice cream, instead let's go outside. He was keen on eating little clovers, which have a delicious light lemony flavor. He wanted me to see and to try.

He also noted that their leaves are shaped like hearts, and showed me the big ones and the little ones- all carefully crafted.

And did I know there are wild strawberries growing behind the playground? And sassafras?

It was a mild and beautiful evening, and as he observed, there was a nice light.

Was that a sparrow or a starling singing?

Kids can amaze, and nature, but one of the best combinations is when nature amazes kids-- so moving and wonderful.

Does everyone believe in equality? Anyone?

I was raised to think people are basically equal and that diversity was a positive. I don't think I'm unique in that- not by a long shot. At the time, I felt it represented the norm. 

Or maybe it's better to state in a religious language- that all human beings are created in the image of God, and therefore each person has fundamental goodness in them, and value, as well as some basic needs and aspirations we all share. And then there are differences; they are important but not fundamental, opportunities but not prisons.

In fact, I don't doubt that religion played into this. The focus on learning about the Holocaust made me very sensitive to prejudice- anti-Semitism, racism. 

That's one of the reasons that traveling was so eye opening. I remember new friends in Europe spending hours of drinks and conversation trying to nail down just how the French were different from the Russians, or some other "people" from another... It was a favorite mode of conversation, a pasttime.

Of course when it took on a slightly anti-Jewish tone I bristled a bit, but it was always presented in good fun, which made it hard to take up arms.

It was hard to condemn this recognition of difference, in part because it felt like the antidote to political correctness gone crazy in the U.S. I didn't know to urge a slightly different angle - a frame of cultural context rather than a sort of absolutist characterization would have turned stereotyping into sociology.  

But even if the language was sloppy or reactive and might have been fixed, were the underpinnings about fundamental human value the same? 

I've come to think they were not and are not in much of the world, and to see that they are in question sometimes even here at home. This is an ideal that is minority opinion- not recognized wisdom. Even political correctness, which sometimes seemed to represent tyranny of the majority here- is a battle against the odds in the larger world.

What seemed to me to be accepted wisdom, almost trivialities about human equality, about the richness of diversity, are actually the product of a very specific time and place. And I'd argue an important, enlightened one. 

Is there a lot to criticize about the implementation of this ideal? Yes- if you look at the shocking statistic of New York of all places having some of the most segregated schools... Not by law, I should add, but in practice, which is the bottom line. Even if you look at how many, and me too at times, choose to group by background rather than taking advantage of the incredible differences and crossing boundaries. And so much more to add....

But I don't want to lose the fact that the ideal is still solid. And it's a lot more precious than I ever thought... A lot more worth defending. 

I'm grateful for being brought up with that, and for living in a society that at very least still articulates this ideal. It's not to be taken for granted- it's to work on and share. 

Not being jaded

Feeling sort of lucky today that though things can be frustrating and I am tired (!)- I'm not really jaded. Which means I honestly think things can be fixed and that it is worth trying.

I had a friend in Berlin who used to say that he believed half of the men he passed on the street would want to kill him of they could- not literally, but he felt this deep competition/hatred/ sense that our lives are a zero sum game with winners and losers.

I remember being shocked because I was under the impression often when I took walks that people would smile if you caught their eye. For no reason at all. Just human solidarity. A pleasant acknowledgement....

I've retained that base trust in our world.  It isn't that I haven't seen bad things and know about much worse. But I think things don't need to be bad. There are ways to inspire people to be better.

I think schools can be fixed, housing, basic levels of respect for people can be achieved, community can be strengthened, resources can be saved, values can be improved in our personal lives, etc etc.

In the end, I'm grateful for that belief and worldview. I think it gives me strength.

Seeing real change

This is a great model -- and a vehicle for leaving something good behind.

Reprinted from the JDC blog - jdc.org


In Argentina, a JDC Model of Local Empowerment

In recent years, it’s come into fashion to press social service providers – whether government or non-profits – on the long-term sustainability of their efforts to improve the lives of people in need.

The question is acute when we think of philanthropic dollars: How can we ensure that limited resources are maximized and that donors understand the incredible ability of their funds to make real and lasting change?

 

For JDC, our work in Argentina is a case study and a story that should be more widely appreciated.

Until 2001, Argentina’s approximately 240,000 Jews were largely middle-class, hailing primarily from Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the early 1900s and, more recently, mainland Europe as Jews sought refuge from the ravages of World War II.

 

Honest, but gentle

How's this for a Mother's Day poem?

I see my mom cooking.

I taste her yummy turkey.

I touch her long black hair.

I hear my mom say, "Stop it!"

I smell the cake that she made for my birthday.

I'm grateful that the criticisms are couched gently. 

Jewish idealism

At today's Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) ceremony at work, I was so moved by how moved everyone was.

People spoke with tears about how meaningful it is to have the day of celebration following immediately on the day when Israel remembers those who have fallen. They spoke passionately about their continued resolve to work for a strong and decent Israel, one the exemplifies the highest ideals.

It's late and I need to be short, but today I wanted to pay tribute first to the existence of the State of Israel, the miracle of the rebirth of an extinct language, the incredible Jewish journey in the 30s and 40s from annihilation to building a new state and a new Jew, and a country today that has so many wonderful people, so much incredible beauty and talent.

I also am grateful for the strong vein of idealism that runs through so much Jewish activism, including the American Jewish passion for Israel. For almost a decade and a half I've been working in an arena where many people view their work as a life project and not a job, one connected with their history and their aspirations both.