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Have you ever felt as if there was so much more to stand up for in past generations? Have you ever looked back at the previous generation and envied the various issues activists could stand up for, feeling our generation is does not have space for activists anymore?

The truth is that our generation has just as much problems to solve. We have just as many issues to stand up against. The problem is not the issues but our very own apathy. In order to dispel the notion of all our problems being already solved, I have gathered a list of causes which I believe urgently need to activism of Jewish Students worldwide. You might not agree with every single one of these causes. Still, I made this list not in order to convince anyone of the value of these causes, but rather of their existence. I have included first a list of Jewish causes followed by a few Universal causes which Jews should also take part in for the greater good. Again, I want to emphasize, I hope this does not turn into a discussion on the merit of each of these causes, even though I truly believe in each of them. Rather, I hope everyone will note the strong need for Jewish Student Activism which is just as great as it has ever been.

Protecting the People of Sderot

The number one responsibility of a government is the protection of his population. The current Israeli government has failed in doing to for the people of Sderot. To most people, Sderot is a city in the middle of nowhere which is going through a rough time… most people will ask “who cares?”. However, the previous generation of activists could have also asked “Who cares?” about the Jews imprisoned in the former Soviet Union. They could have asked “Who cares?” about the rights of the African American population in America during the Civil Rights battles. The role of an activist is to feel the pain of the people he is fighting for even when he is not under personal attack! Our role is to feel the pain of the people of Sderot who wake up every morning knowing they will need to hide a few times under some desks with the always present fear of a missile killing them at any moment.
Every attack on Sderot is an Act of War. Sderot is unquestionably part of the State of Israel. The citizens of Sderot are not settlers. They are, according to all accounts, regular civilians. Every missile thrown at them is a breach of international law. Where is the public outcry against such a blatant violation of our dear international law?

See this post by Tamar on the issue.

Freeing Jonathan Pollard

Jonathan Pollard has been in jail for 23 years. He has been convicted for spying for an ally. The information he provided to Israel was critical to its safety. Israel has repeatedly demanded for his release. While people are allowed to believe that he ought to be punished for what he did since he did break the law, it is not acceptable that he be held to a double standard. His life sentence is much longer than the sentences served by many of America’s worse enemies! (http://www.jonathanpollard.org/sentences.htm )
Public outcry and activism is the only thing which will bring Jonathan Pollard out of Jail. Most people will agree today that his help towards Israel ended up being beneficial to the United States, since Israel was able to properly deal with Iraq based on that intelligence. While he might have broken the law, his actions were those of a hero. While he might need to serve some time in prison for breaking the law, his life sentence is way too harsh. 23 years have been way too much! It’s time for Pollard to be brought home. Activists have been the ones who brought issues out of public apathy into public empathy. This is one of those issues which needs to support of a new generation of activists.
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/facts.htm

Stopping the Double Standard when it comes to Transfer of Populations

I have consistently disagreed with Rabbi Meir Kahana’s approach to the Middle East conflict which encourages forced deportation of the Palestinians. I am more open to the ideas outlined in MK Rabbi Benny Elon’s Plan known as The Israeli initiative (http://www.hayozma.org/ ). However, I believe even those who believe in a land for peace formula should be agreeing with me on this cause.
If we oppose the forced deportation of Arabs from the State of Israel on human rights grounds, we should also oppose the forced deportation of Jews from Judea, Samaria and Gush Katif. At the very least, even those who see it as a necessary sacrifice should be doing it with a lot of compassion and understanding that you are going against the basic human rights of those people you are deporting.
After the disengagement, my greatest deception was not the actual deportation of the Jews from Gush Katif. This was very painful, but it was not the most painful thing. The most painful fact was the way these Jews, who were being expelled from their homes, were being portrayed. I couldn’t stand watching these people, who were and still are Israel’s greatest asset, being portrayed as criminals in order to facilitate the breach of their human rights. These people were sent to their communities by successive Labor and Likud governments. They went there because they believed they were protecting the Jewish People and every government, at that time, agreed. It is one thing to change your opinion, it is something else when you destroy the reputation of the most incredible sector of Israel’s society in order to further your political ambitions.
I yearn for the day where left wing and right wing activists will rally together not for political reasons but rather in order to show tribute to the acts of these Jewish Heros. I yearn for the day where those who find the breach of human rights a necessary step towards peace will recognize it as such. I yearn for the day where it will be the Left Wing Activists who will contact me in order to organize a rally thanking the settlers for all their sacrifice.
Until people recognize the fact that deporting Jews is as much a breach of human rights as deporting Arabs, I will not be able to even show respect their solutions to the peace process which are based on faulty, racist principles. If you want to support a land for peace formula, and still gain my respect, you need to first recognize the human rights of all the involved sides.
Until then, it will be our jobs to be active in reminding the world that even Jews, and even Jewish Settlers, have human rights!

Israel Activism

Before I move on to activism outside the Jewish community, let us just note that the most obvious form of activism still lies in defending the Jewish State from all the negative portrayal it gets overseas. This is a fight which has not yet been won and which requires the active involvement of all the Jewish Activists of this new generations. The many problems with Israel’s portrayal are well known and therefore I will not be addressing them here.

(To be continued with universal causes which transcend the Jewish world but express strong Jewish Values such as Saving Darfur, the environment, Free knowledge etc…)

For thousands of years, Jews have positively influenced the world in all areas of life: sciences, philosophy, art, morality etc… It is well known that the mission of the Jewish People is to be “a light unto the nations”. However, what is our way to shine our light? What is the Jewish Way to influence the world?

There has been much discussion in the world as to what constitutes the base of Jewish Thought. Some people consider Judaism to be a religion. Others consider Judaism to be a Nationalistic Message of belonging to the Jewish Nation. Finally, others also considered Judaism to be a Universal Message of Morality. In the eyes of Rav Kook, all of these 3 values are included in the Jewish Message. We have a message of Godliness, which is to be brought out by our nation, and this message is for the universal good.

If this is so, how exactly should these seemingly contradicting messages interact? The Religious aspect seems to concentrate on the individual, the nationalist aspect concentrates on the nation while the universal message is to the whole world!

The answer lies in the blessings God gave to Abraham in Parashat Lech Lecha. After telling Abraham to go to the land of Israel, God tells him: “I will make you into a great nation”. Clearly, from this we see that Judaism is first and foremost a Nation, not a religion. Rav Kook teaches that the particularity of the Jewish Nation is that we look at the world with Godly Lenses (Introduction to Shabbat Haaretz). In other words, we are first and foremost a nation. Still, every Nation has something special: Americans are particularly found of Freedom, the Arab Nation is particularly passionate, the Jewish Nation’s particularity is its message of Godliness which it brings to the world.

We now understand the place of the Nationalist and Religious messages of torah, but what about our universal messages?

In the next passouk, God continues blessing Avraham and says: “all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you.” The Goal of our Jewish Nationalism is to bring our a light which all the nations will be able to gain from.

In order to simplify these complicated concepts, let us define 3 words: Prat, Tsibbour and Klal.

The Prat can be translated as the Individual.

The Tsibbour can be translated as a group of individuals. When many individuals come together, they create a Tsibbour.

Then, there is another concept called Klal. The Klal is more then just a group of individuals. It has an overarching theme. It’s a concept which englobes all individuals into one unit giving out one message. Klal Israel’s message is Godliness.

The Goal of Am Israel is to take the Tsibbour of individual Jews and to turn it into a Klal.

One of my friends gave me an amazing metaphor once.

It is like a nice painting. When you look at a painting, there is an image which comes out. This image is the klal. Each brush stroke is a prat, an individual. All the brush strokes together on the canvas is called the tsibbour. If each brush stroke gives out the right color in the right place, then the right image will come out: The tsibbour will be a klal. If any individual does something wrong, it will hurt the representation given by tsibbour on the canvas but the image (conceptually) will still be pure, the image is always pure. It will just not be well represented on this canvas.

This image which needs to be brought out is a universal message of morality based on Godliness. This is how we improve the world. Each individual joining into the message of Godliness in the Klal in order to bring it out to the world.

This is an extremely meaningful teaching. There are a few conclusions which come out from this which I want to outline.

First of all, even when we do individual actions such as wearing tfillin or lighting candles for Shabbat, we do it for the whole nation. We do it for the painting to come out right! Not only do we do it for the whole nation, we do it for the whole world!

Second of all, we can see that the religious level of Judaism only makes sense when you look at it from a national point of view. Therefore, how can we close ourselves up and work on personal growth when other Jews need us?

Third of all, we need to realize the incredible level of responsibility this creates. If we do not shine our light the right way, the whole world looses. It’s all in our hands! We are the ones, each, individually, who decide if the picture will come out accurately or not! It is our responsibility to “save the world”! No one else can shine the color we need to shine. No one else can take the position on the canvas which we need to take. It is all up to us. Are we going to stand up and do our job, or will we just stay passive and stop the full picture from coming out?

As a law student in a few classes on international law, I learn a lot about all the different crises in the world. I also learn that the main reason why these are not resolved is because people do not care to do something about them: Why should America go into another country to stop a genocide? Why sacrifice our own for them? Why should I care?

Judaism gives you the answer: You have to do your role because no on else can, and because the whole world is dependant on you doing it. Now, I’m not at all saying that what we should do is encourage our government to do so and so. No, as we saw, even wearing Tfillin with the right intention or lighting candles with the right intention becomes a nationalist message.

Sepharadim and Hassidim have the tradition of saying Leshem Yichoud before each mitzvah. In that prayer, we remind ourselves of the kavanah we need: We say we come in order to unite the name of God in this world (universal message) in the name of all of Israel (national message). Each individual action contains all of these aspects.

May all our actions, the individual, national and universal ones, contribute to the shining of God’s light into this world.