In a world where the needs are great we sometimes can feel powerless to make an impact. Although we may not be able to do everything, we still hold the power to do something and the time to do it is now.
In a world where the needs are great we sometimes can feel powerless to make an impact. Although we may not be able to do everything, we still hold the power to do something and the time to do it is now.
Alexander Jewish Family Service Friends –
In Jewish tradition each week there is a portion of the Five Books of Moses that is assigned to be read and -over the course of the year - we complete the cycle of reading all five books and begin again. This week, the portion that we are reading is in the book of Numbers, Ch1:1 – 4:20. In it we learn that Moses is commanded to take a census of the people.
The question gets asked, why was so much importance placed on counting the people. I think it teaches us a lesson that in society every person is unique and important and needs to be counted, valued and seen. Dr. Jonas Salk, who is most well known for inventing one of the first effective polio vaccines expressed this idea beautifully when he said:
“I look upon ourselves as partners in all of this, and that each of us contributes and does what he can do best. And so I see not a top rung and a bottom rung - I see all this horizontally - and I see this as part of a matrix.
And I see every human being as having a purpose, a destiny, if you like - the destiny that exists in each of us - and find ways and means to provide such opportunities for everyone.”
Each of us has the power to make a difference. The American author Edward Everett Hale put it beautifully when he said:
“I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”
In a world where the needs are great we sometimes can feel powerless to make an impact. Hale reminds us that although we may not be able to do everything, we still hold the power todo something and the time to do it is now.
Business coach Rasheed Ogularu builds on this idea of not waiting to take action when he says:
“Legacy is not what's left tomorrow when you're gone.
It's what you give, create, impact and contribute today while you're here that then happens to live on.”
The contribution that each of you makes to building a stronger more resilient community is seen, noticed and appreciated. Your unique contribution counts as an important part of the impact Alexander JFS has in our community.
Thank you for all that you do.
Shabbat Shalom,
Carl E. Josehart, MSW (he/him/his)
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