On Volunteerism

I am filled with awe when I think of a particular group of people at Temple Emanu-El. There are many among us who lead busy lives, spending hours at work, occupied with family and friends, who somehow find in their schedules more time to give to our community. I am in awe, and so grateful, to our volunteers. We rely heavily upon them, and we could not stand without them.

When carrying out the Torah we sing, על שלושה דברים העולם עומד (al sh ‘loshah d’varim ha ‘loam omed)— upon three things the world stands: על התורה, על העבודה, ועל גמילות חסדים (al hatorah, al ha ‘avodah, v ‘al g’milut chasadim)— upon Torah, upon worship, and upon acts of love and kindness. As the world stands on these three things, so too does our community.

תורה? Torah? That one’s easy. Torah is the core of our being as a Jewish people. It is our narrative, our history, a record of our connection with God and each other. The Torah is our instruction manual for how to be holy.

גמילות חסדים? G ‘milut Chasadim? Acts of love and kindness serve as glue to bind us together. They are when we reach out to help another human being, which we do through our social justice work, but also, any time we extend to another person a warm welcome, or when we visit someone in the hospital, or when we prepare a meal for a grieving family. G ‘milut Hasadim is what keeps people from falling between the cracks- it ensures that we keep our grips on each other firm.
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עבודה? Avodah? This is usually translated as worship— it is what took place in the Temple in Jerusalem in the days of the Bible, when we offered sacrifices to God. Indeed, worship is the backbone of our community. Shabbat at Emanu-El is spectacular, meaningful, and sacred. Avodah means much more though. Moses was called an עבד ה׳ (eved Adonai), a ‘servant of God’. On Pesah, we sing עבדים היינו, היינו (avadim hayinu, hayinu …) , ‘we were slaves, so we were .. .’ All three words here are of the same root: ע-ב-ד (ayin, bet, and dalet). We may conclude, then, that when we say עבודה (avodah), we actually mean service— service of something greater than ourselves. When we worship, we  engage in avodah, but so too when we volunteer at an event, help in the office, work on a committee, or serve on the board.

Modern Hebrew uses the term מתנדב (mitnadev) for volunteer, which is essentially someone who works of their own volition. Mitnadev doesn’t really cut it for us. Those who give of their time to run and strengthen our community are nothing less than avdei Adonai, servants of God. Just as we stand on Torah and acts of love and kindness, so too do we stand upon them. For their service, I am grateful.

Originally published in Temple Emanu-El’s March 2014 edition of Kolaynu.