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Find purpose during the pandemic
COVID-19
Here’s a (Jewish) way to redirect your pandemic despair into purposeful living
Editor’s note: This month marks one year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this challenging year, Tidewater’s Jewish community has offered enriching and innovative programs, religious services, and even social activities, all while supporting each other and the overall community. This has been a year when we’ve learned new ways to pray, work, study, and perform acts of tikun olam—together. Jewish Tidewater’s agencies, synagogues, organizations, and schools— have encouraged and created opportunities for purposeful living in this most unusual year. Our community’s leaders’ vision and diligence deserve much appreciation. —TD
Alan Kadish and Michael Shmidman
This last year of pandemic living has not been easy. More than 510,000 Americans have died, including countless members of our own Jewish communities, and a return to normalcy still feels distant.
In these difficult times, we would like to propose an alternative to despair and suggest a path forward that offers not just hope for the distant future, but strength and a sense of purpose for today and tomorrow.
This plague is hardly the first time we have been challenged as a people. Consider this story from the period of expulsions of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula between 1492 and 1497. Rabbi Abraham Saba, a scholar and preacher who lived in Spain’s Castilian region, was among those forced to leave his lifelong home. He fled on foot to neighboring Portugal, where he continued writing his rabbinic and biblical commentaries.
But several years later Portugal’s Jews were subject to an expulsion decree. Saba again attempted to flee. Nearing Lisbon, he became aware of the decree issued against possession of Hebrew books. Saba buried his trove of manuscripts, but he was thrown into prison and never recovered them.
Eventually Saba escaped to Morocco, where after struggling with an illness he resumed his life’s work, rewriting his lost manuscripts from memory. His commentaries on the Pentateuch and the books of Ruth and Esther are still studied today, five centuries later. Determination and dedication had defeated disruption and despair.
Saba’s dogged persistence in studying and writing despite the obstacles he faced was remarkable. But in the annals of Jewish history, it was not extraordinary. Jewish history is filled with figures, from Maimonides to Albert Einstein, who achieved outstanding levels of intellectual accomplishment despite challenging circumstances, from plagues and expulsions to pogroms and Nazi persecution.
The challenge of our current period is different, but trying in its own ways. We are isolated from other people, stalked by an invisible threat that has sapped our energy and many of the joys of daily life. We struggle to find purpose and motivation.
This is where the Jewish intellectual tradition can serve as an invaluable guide. For centuries, Jews have clung to a few basic principles that have helped us lead purposeful lives even in times of political, social and economic distress.
This tradition of learning and achievement initially was derived from Torah study, but it has become more universal. Transmitted overtly or inadvertently by a system of education and by a cultural milieu, it has been effective at fostering achievement and offers guidance to Jews and non-Jews alike.
Especially these days, with real life replaced by a simulacrum of screens and social media and endless binge-watching—the Jewish intellectual tradition offers an alternative that can bring with it happiness and a sense of accomplishment.
In our study of some 3,000 years of Jewish history, we have discerned a few guiding principles, which we outline in our new book, The Jewish Intellectual Tradition: A History of Learning and Achievement.
These principles include respect for tradition combined with creativity and innovation; the primacy of education for young and old; logic and intellectual honesty in pursuit of truth; and living a purposeful life.
We extracted from these specific recommendations for the circumstances of our age.
Surround yourself with the written
word. Reading is enriching like no other medium. Just because you’re no longer in school doesn’t mean you should stop learning. Self-development through learning should be a lifelong pursuit.
Set goals for yourself and don’t be distracted from your determination
to accomplish those goals—whether it’s learning something new, mastering a particular skill, creating something in the woodshop or at the writing table, helping children achieve their goals, or tackling Shakespeare, the Talmud or quantum physics. Assume that impediments will crop up along the way. Push through.
Find a mentor who can help you toward
your goal. Seek out experts as your companions, whether online, in person or in books. One silver lining of the pandemic has been the unprecedented access to learning opportunities. It’s possible to log onto Zoom classes happening anywhere around the world, to find a study partner through any one of a number of matching services, to connect remotely to Jewish events and services.
Bring your family along for the ride.
Talk to them about your goals and why they’re important.
Your children will pick up the values you exemplify. Don’t just leave their education to school. Show them what’s important in life by modeling that behavior.
Learn collaboratively. Find peers who share your goals with whom you can consult, partner and even argue. Studies have shown that cooperative learning not only advances educational achievement but promotes self-esteem, healthy relationships, and more positive attitudes toward learning.
The unique feature of Jewish intellectual achievement is that it continues even at times of great challenge. That’s because striving for a higher purpose actually helps us overcome day-to-day stresses rather than adding to them. Our salvation won’t come from mindless activities, but from determined pursuit of our goals.
A life lived daily with a sense of purpose, with the firm belief that your actions and the values you exemplify and transmit make a difference, can ennoble and elevate you and those around you.
It is this persistence that has made the Jewish contribution to the world so significant, in fields from science and law to philosophy and social justice. Now, particularly when times are tough, our role in helping improve society must not be neglected. Whatever the circumstances, we can proudly uphold that tradition.
Dr. Alan Kadish is the president of the Touro College and University System. Dr. Michael Shmidman is the dean of Touro’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
This story was sponsored by the Touro College and University System.
JEWISH TIDEWATER
Whale watching and Shabbat
Allena Hurwitz
Actually standing in a boat looking at a whale in the water, it’s not hard to imagine how one swallowed Jonah.
Encouraging her students to be inquisitors, Morah Nicole’s class at Strelitz International Academy has become enthralled with all kinds of whales. That’s how I learned that whales migrate through our area from December to February, and for those willing to brave the cold, it’s possible to see and even smell them up close.
So, one Shabbat morning, a group organized by the parenting website, Toddlin’ Around Tidewater, gathered on board the Rudee Whaler. Pair the wonder of streaming Ohef Sholom Temple’s services with that of toddlers (and adults!), seeing whales for the first time, and the Shabbat reminder to focus on the here and now, rather than work, is easy. Cantor Jen’s voice drifting over the splash of whales reiterates the fact that our lives are truly magnificent and this world is full of awe.
Rudee Tours is an environmental organization, so connecting to and repairing the world is part of their mission, along with education. Whales, the world’s largest mammals, feed on krill alone, a reminder that no matter how big or small, there’s a part to play for everyone.
Toddlin’ Around Tidewater offers meet ups for families with young children.
Local Relationships Matter
MEET: Ira M. Steingold, Esq.
“Our passion is helping those in the community who really need our help. We work for people who are not in business and are not well off. We focus on Workman’s Compensation with a mission to help injured workers. We are one of a few in the community who do this work.”
“Our experience with Payday Payroll has not just “ been positive but fabulous! They are true experts at what they do. Whenever we have an ‘internal hiccup’ even if not directly related to payroll, but in record keeping or data collection we call them and they always help us out. They find a solution for everything.” “
Simon Family Passport to Israel: Funds available for teen trips to Israel
Application deadline: Monday, March 15
Past Simon Family Passport recipient Jordan Parker-Ashe traveled to Israel to participate in the BBYO Passport Trek Israel program, which took her from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. Thomas Mills
Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Simon Family Passport to Israel Fund, which provides grants for trips for teens to Israel, is accepting applications for the program until March 15, 2021.
The program provides funds to enable and encourage Jewish students to participate in a trip to Israel. Trips that are funded include educational and peer group experiences.
“Without this generous scholarship from Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s Simon Family Passport to Israel Program, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see the ruach (spirit) that fills everyday life in a place where Judaism is found in every aspect of everyday society,” says Sophie Waldman, a past Simon Family Passport grant recipient.
Marvin Simon established the fund because he believed it was important for young people to experience Israel for themselves.
“He felt students had to get involved beyond the books and beyond the weekly synagogue visits and experience Israel and worldwide Jewry first hand,” says Simon’s daughter, Kim Simon Fink. “He wanted to afford an opportunity for everyone to get that personal experience.”
Qualifying trips are organized by a non-profit organization, educational, or religious institution, are staffed by appropriate personnel, and have a structured itinerary. Jewish students between the ages of 13 and 18 may apply, and those students over 18 may apply as long as they indicate why a Birthright Israel trip will not meet their current needs. Trips will be funded up to 30% of the eligible expenses, with a maximum of $6,000 per student.
Our client relationships are anything but transactional. We are long-term partners, dedicated to the success of our clients, and most importantly, their people.
757-523-0605
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To apply or for more information, visit jewishva.org/passport or contact Ann Swindell at aswindell@ujft.org or 757-965-6106. Applications are due March 15, 2021.
