Inspiration and Social Justice
 |
Becky Schiff was a participant at last weekend's HUC social justice weekend in Cincinatti. |
I found my inspiration for this entry while watching the RAC Rabbi jump on a giant inflatable disk during our evening program tonight. I realized that just as Rabbi Namath took the chance to be immature with us, our group took the opportunity to look to the future and discuss an issue most teenagers our age would never think to consider.
We spent this weekend at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati studying and debating about health insurance in the United States. Some of us took on the role of elderly people on Medicare, while others pretended to have no insurance coverage at all. One of our main study sessions (with Dr. Mark Washofsky, chair of the CCAR Responsa Committee), revolved around the question of whether Jewish doctors should treat patients who have no means to pay. It was interesting and powerful to see such a huge issue in society today in a Jewish light.
I realize now that all issues are Jewish issues, and it is my obligation to intercede when injustice occurs. Whether or not I become a Rabbi or an educator or work at the RAC when I’m older, I pledge to never stop debating these issues and raising my voice. It was good to take a weekend to act thirty years older, but like Rabbi Namath, I’m content being a teenager for now. I know that won’t hold me back from repairing my world.