Stop me if you've heard this one:
Two dudes and a lady are walking along a river bank when they look down at the water and notice something peculiar: there are babies floating downstream. Like, actual babies. All three of them run into the river and start plucking the babies out of the water and placing the little tykes on dry land. All of a sudden, the lady stops mid-pluck, turns to the two dudes and tells them to keep fishing the babies out of the water while she goes upstream to find out how the babies are getting put in the river in the first place.
I don't know about you, but I've heard this story told in a million ways, sited from multiple faith-based traditions, all over the country, during professional conferences and during volunteer events, while eating bacon and while not eating bacon, by day and by night, on a plane and on a...uh, well...you get my point. And what is pivotal about this story is not the part about the babies floating down the river. What is compelling about this story is its ability to so clearly identify the roles that the acts of both service and education play as vehicles to achieving justice.
Let me explain myself. As a professional working in the field of service learning, I'm often asked to clarify the difference between service learning and social justice. Out in the universe of Bad Jewry there are various differing opinions on this particular topic. It's been told to me that social justice is really the "cure" for the world's ailments while service learning is "merely" a method to meeting immediate community needs. UMMMM...ok. So let me get this straight: service learning is a band aid and social justice is the only authentic way to achieve tikkun olam, a repaired world? I'm sure I'm not interpreting that correctly. I must be hearing this wrong. Are my ears still clogged from when I was taking those babies out of the river?
Speaking of the story of the babies in the river, I see this excellent anecdote as a prime example of the intersection of social justice and service learning. Both involve education and action. Both impact the community in order to affect systemic change. Both feed the hungry and clothe the homeless. Both stop social injustices at their roots because we are educating ourselves and others AND we are also serving urgent, immediate needs.
To create social justice, to repair our broken world, to right the egregious societal wrongs at which we Bad Jews hurl our super powers, we don't have time for semantics, my friends. Global warming is endangering our planet, our public school system continues to crumble before our very eyes, citizens of our country are being denied equal rights...and we're having a battle of righteousness? Like I said, I must be misinterpreting this.
My humble, yet loud, opinion has me shouting at the top of my lungs that service learning and social justice are equal players on the Bad Jew Scene. To put it simply, I choose to see Service Learning as my method, as my costume with the colorful spandex leotard and shiny black boots, and Social Justice as my mission, as the logo emblazoned across my chest. And I'm pretty sure our costumes are all manufactured at the same place, my fellow Bad Jews. At that place deep within each of our souls that burns with tradition and tzedek, Justice.
We learn in Pirkei Avot 2:21 from the wise Rabbi Tarfon that it's not up to us to finish the task, but neither are we allowed to desist from the task. So being that each and every one of us is right here, reading this blog post, thinking about what we must do next to fulfill our Jewish destinies as citizens of the world united through the fuel of passion and chutzpah to make the world Just, let's agree to drop the semantics and get back out there (talk about a serious Justice League, huh?). Service learning, social justice - interpret them how you may: volunteering at a homeless shelter, voting on November 2nd, community organizing to empower those who have no voice, raising money for cancer research, raising awareness about gay rights, and so on, and so on. It doesn't matter as long as you DO IT. It doesn't matter as long as you TEACH OTHERS TO DO IT.
So where does our reflection lie this time around, my fellow Bad Jews? It's right here, deep in the heart of what feels authentic to you: How do you live your Jewish values - is service "just service" or is it "Just Service?"
