Community Service at the Synagogue:
An Overview
Social activism at the Synagogue is part of a long tradition of gemilut chasadim: deeds of loving-kindness performed with a generous heart and no expectation of reward. This is a central demand of Jewish tradition. B'nai Emunah sees itself as one of many overlapping circles. Our job is to reach to the furthest edge of the most forgotten circle and bring care, comfort, and healing to those in need.
For many years we focused our efforts on members of the community who were part of the Synagogue family. Beginning in the 1980s, however, we began to turn our gaze outward. First came plates of baked goods for people offering essential services on Christmas Day. After that, holiday meals for hospice patients and their families. Both projects continue to this day.
Gradually, however, we became more interested in larger efforts. Shortly before his death, community leader Ben Lubell challenged the congregation to engage in direct service to the community at large. Out of this effort came our first RAIN team, a project involving persons with AIDS that brought immense comfort to clients and deep satisfaction to members of the congregation. A second ambitious project was set in motion by Ruth Kaiser Nelson, involving us in a partnership with Antioch Baptist Church and its dynamic pastor, Rev. Cornelius Potter. For many years, we worked as Antioch's junior partner at Comanche Park, a low-income housing complex.
In the past ten years, our efforts have expanded exponentially. A tentative, experimental adopt-a-school relationship between the Synagogue and McClure Elementary School has blossomed into a robust, best-practices program of service and community development. Two members of the Synagogue professional staff work full-time at the school in an ambitious literacy mentoring program and direct social service. We offer English language education to Spanish-speaking parents, along with high school certification training. The Synagogue responds to emergency needs in the area of food insecurity, clothing, and shelter, and helps provide uniforms and holiday gifts for impoverished families. In addition, we send a large cohort of eligible McClure children to camp every summer.
Our annual expenditure at McClure is now over a hundred thousand dollars, funded by family foundations and individuals who see the Synagogue as a vehicle of transformation. This has taken all of us well beyond the day-of-service model for community involvement. We are now in our eighth year of serious, daily work at the school, shouldered by talented professionals and scores of hardworking volunteers.
A second major project is now emerging from a relationship with the Mental Health Association of Tulsa and Housing Faith Alliance project director Bob Althoff. At the beginning of our efforts, we worked in partnership with Metropolitan Baptist Church and its pastor, Dr. Ray Owens, refurbishing apartments for the homeless mentally ill.
What is now taking shape is a commercial bakery, housed at the Synagogue, that will match member volunteers with residents of the Altamont Apartments, a complex for formerly homeless residents. The goal is to create artisanal baked goods for sale in Tulsa's most visible retail venues, and offer training and wages to men and women who are remaking their lives. Look for the Altamont Bakery label as a guarantor of a quality indulgence.
We spent much of the summer of 2011 perfecting our chocolate chip recipe and we believe that we now have one great cookie to rule them all. Other products will follow in 2012. Once again, this project is not a stand-alone event or a symbolic effort. It will involve hard physical work, a healthy level of complication, and a huge challenge for a small congregation.
Rabbi Fitzerman believes that our commitments to service have come to define the congregation. "The foundation of Jewish ethics is the idea of tzelem Elohim. That's the phrase from Genesis that means 'the image of God.' It says that everyone is my brother. Everyone is my sister, including a poor, frightened child whose shift-working mother can't afford her tattered apartment, food for her table, or clothing for her children. Our Judaism wants us to see that child as a radiant reflection of God's own image. We owe her the same attentive care as we do the God who created her."
Synagogue board member, Sally Donaldson, was the congregation's original staffer at McClure. She now works as a volunteer: "The thing I love best about our Synagogue is that we're fearless risk-takers. Year by year, we take on more responsibility. We're willing to fail, but more often we succeed because we're tackling important projects together."
Jill Wenger, M.D., has been involved in social service efforts for many years: "I love being part of a religious community that lives its message. I'm proud of the positive changes, however small, we make everyday in the Tulsa community. The Synagogue is our agent of that change. Tikkun Olam, the Jewish concept of practical acts of restoration, is more than our prayer. B'nai Emunah attemps to repair the world with our every action."
Dr. Elana Newman, McFarlin Professor of Psychology at the University of Tulsa concurs: "Synagogue projects that empower individuals, whether children or adults, make me proud to be a member. These acts represent important aspects of Jewish faith: the transformational force of community building, and the power of enacting behavior that is consistent with our beliefs. The crucial thing for me is tzedakah, the practical acts that help to create a just world. I count on the Synagogue to channel these critical values."
David Blatt, Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, adds a note about his own experience: "My involvement in the B'nai Emunah mentorship program at McClure Elementary School provided me a chance to learn first-hand the challenges that low-income students and their families face on a daily basis. This has truly enriched my understanding of the diversity of our community and strengthened my sense of obligation. We need to ensure that all children and all families have the chance to succeed."
Our hope is to gather strength as we go, so that we can continue to expand our contributions to the community. We also welcome contact with other congregations who are interested in experimenting with serious social service. Although we have gotten a measure of attention for our efforts, the point is to stir interest and commitment among others. There's plenty of room for many people to be heroes.
