The UJC Heroes contest – it’s about time!
Who wants to be Jewish nowadays? I mean, we swindle billions of dollars (and from nonprofit organizations, no less), we throw lavish parties in jail, and our religious leaders get caught in stings involving money laundering and organ traffiking. I mean, geez, we should be throwing away our yarlmukes and flushing our Chanukkah menorahs down the toilet.
… Oh. Wait. Remember that old adage, “don’t confuse the Jew with the Judaism”? Well, while it can easily be argued that these scandals are rooted in internal communal problems, we need to remember that Judaism is at its heart a religion steeped in ethics, social justice, and moral responsibility. Yes, there will probably always be people who forget that fact. But in the end, we would do well to realize that Judaism does a great job encouraging and nourishing those ethical values. Every year, hundreds of Jewish students participate in programs organized by the American Jewish World Service or AVODAH. There is a growing trend among bar and bat mitzvahs to do some sort of service project in honor of their big day. And many, many Jews who self-identify as secular still look to Judaism for inspiration to lead moral, ethical lives. So actually, we have quite a lot to be proud of.
That’s why it’s so great that the UJC – the umbrella organization for the Jewish Federations of North America – has just launched the first Jewish Community Heroes Award. We need a reminder that there are still wonderful, passionate Jewish leaders who are doing incredible things. The award is a grassroots effort – anyone can nominate a hero, and voting is open to all. When the polls close on October 8th, the winner will be honored with a $25,000 reward to go to his or her cause. The nominees are an incredible bunch – they run the gamut from the founder of Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice organization, to Hebrew language teachers, to soup kitchen volunteers and rabbis. They’re professionals and lay people, of every age and denomination. It’s really inspiring to read through the list.
As a side note, the Darim Online blog has an interesting take on the award:
Using this open forum, Jewish communal institutions will be able to listen unfiltered to leaders on the ground. The issues that are most important to the institutions may or may not be the issues that individuals are most passionately working on. For that reason alone, the Jewish Community Heroes Awards will be fascinating to monitor.
Further proof that Web 2.0 – and its underlying grassroots values – is changing Jewish communal institutions (for the better, I think).
