Who Are You Responsible For?
Study Theme Program
NFTY Mechina 5772/2012
Jordan Rodnizki, NFTY PVP 5772-5773/2012-2013
Touchstone Texts:
“The world must contain not less than 36 righteous men in each generation who are granted [the sight of] the countenance of the Shechinah, for it is written; Blessed are all they that wait for him [lo] (Isaiah 30:18). The numerical value of - for him - [lo,] Lamed Vav, is 36.”
- Sanhedrin 97b; Sukkah 45b
“Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.”
- John D. Rockefeller
“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of universal responsibility – not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.”
- The Dalai Lama
Goals:
- Participants will wrestle with their conflicting values regarding controversial statements.
- Participants will identify their own personal lamedvavnikim.
- Participants will translate the lessons they learn from this program into more meaningful relationships with fellow board members, participants, and adult leadership.
- Participants will be well versed in the 2012-2013 NFTY Study Theme.
Objectives:
- Participants will engage in a Mechina-wide activity created to measure regional values towards contentious ideas, people, and places.
- Participants will learn about and discuss the Talmudic lesson of the lamedvavnikim.
- Participants will hear the opinions of board members in other NFTY regions.
Materials:
- Projector and screen package
- Computer for powerpoint presentation
- Appropriate cords to connect these machines to power outlets
- Black or multicolored sharpies for pre-program preparation (preferably 5+)
- 200 small sized posters (11x17 or less is okay) with 5 different survey answers written on it in Sharpie: 20 total “Strongly Agree”, 20 total “Agree”, 20 total “Neutral”, 20 total “Disagree”, and 20 total “Strongly Disagree”. Each board (including NAB) gets one complete set of 5 posters.
- Set of 5-7 paper dolls (attached like a paper chain) for each regional board
- 1 pen for each PP
- 5 staplers for the paper doll activity
- Microphone on stand at center of the room
People Needed:
NFTY PVP (Jordan) will essentially act as a PL for the opening open-forum activity. 20 groups involved, 19 of which are the regional boards. The rest of the North American Board (NAB) will form the 20th participation group. An adult leader (Beth) will lead a 10-minute presentation on the concept of the lamedvavnikim. A member of the adult leadership will also be at the computer taking notes during the Regional Values section of the program.
Space Needed:
The Beit Am (or any other large room to house 200-300 PPs) would be a perfect location to house the program due to its rain-safe programmatic space, climate control, and comfort level.
Time Table:
00:00 – 00:05 Introduction and Multimedia Explanation
00:05 – 00:20 What are our Regional Values?
00:20 – 00:35 NFTY Boards Study their Responsibility Toward their Regions
00:35 – 00:50 Case Studies
00:50 – 00:55 Thoughts from NFTY PVP
00:55 – 01:05 The 36 Righteous Ones: the Lamedvavnikim
01:05 – 01:20 Identifying Your Lamedvavnikim
01:20 – 01:30 Resolution and Clean-Up
Detailed Procedure:
00:00 – 00:05 Introduction and Multimedia Explanation
PPs are welcomed into the Beit Am and instructed before they enter to sit by regional board in groups. Once quieted, the PL will formally introduce the activity: in a concept similar to the influence generator Klout, NFTY would like to measure regional feelings towards controversial or contentious people, ideas, and places. This is in order to gauge the need for responsibility in attacking these issues programmatically. A statement will appear on the screen, and the board must decide in one (1) minute their feelings toward that particular subject (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, or Strongly Agree). PL will present the dissenting sides of the issue. The president (or highest gavel) of the board will then lift the appropriate corresponding poster board. A member of the adult leadership will begin logging each region’s selection per topic into an Excel spreadsheet (to be created before the program is executed), the results of which will be shared at the end of the values activity and used for future NFTY research.
00:05 – 00:20 What are our Regional Values?
Activity to be executed as stated above, with an adult volunteer working the Powerpoint presentation. Each slide will contain one statement. The questions to be asked are:
· “I generally like Jewish people more than non-Jewish people.”
· “I am more willing to join Jewish social groups/fraternities/sororities/clubs than non-Jewish equivalents.”
· “I’m often frustrated with the opinions and policies of Conservative and Orthodox Judaism.”
· "Building a strong relationship with other youth movements should be a priority for NFTY."
· “I have more of a responsibility to feed a Jewish homeless person than a non-Jewish homeless person.”
· “I care more about the welfare of Israeli citizens than I do about the welfare of non-Jewish Americans.”
· “When we discuss the upcoming presidential election in NFTY, Israel must be an important part of a candidate’s platform.”
· “I feel NFTY spends too much time addressing issues in foreign countries and not enough time addressing issues in North America.”
Time should be taken to allow for the adult volunteer to log the results into the spreadsheet accordingly and appropriately. The spreadsheet will then be analyzed by the NFTY PVP post-program, in which the percentages of “strongly disagree”, “disagree”, etc. will be calculated and shared with the NFTY General Board and community at large on the Facebook page and NFTY website, respectively. This is to show participants and board members what NFTY regions generally value or feel responsible for. Other statistics, such as geographic propensity towards certain values, will also be researched.
00:20 – 00:35 NFTY Boards Study their Responsibility Toward their Regions
PL will ask everyone to stand up and notice the 6 posters on the wall which each have a term that describes the nature of person-to-person relationships. The PL will explain that he will make 6 statements and ask the group to move toward whichever word best fits the statement for them.
1. Go to the term that best describes your feelings toward your relationship with your region.
2. Go to the term that least describes your feelings toward your relationship with your region.
3. Go to the term that needs to be part of the conversation when talking about the relationship with your fellow board members.
4. Go to the term that most describes your feelings toward your relationship with parents/guardians.
5. Go to the term that most describes your personal feelings toward your relationship with Israel.
6. Which of these terms feels most uncomfortable when talking about our relationship with others in the context of the NFTY world.
The words on posters are Covenant, Honor, Burden, Obligation, Ownership, and Responsibility.
00:35 – 00:50 Case Studies
Three case studies (see below) will appear on the screen and PPs will discuss options, solutions, and outcomes to the questions they present for 5 minutes each.
Case Study 1:
A participant you are close with tells you in confidence that his father earned his income through shady financial practices and drug dealing. Your friend begs for you not to tell anyone. The father is a prosperous philanthropist in the Jewish community who donates thousands of dollars to NFTY, and throwing him in jail would put NFTY at a severe deficit. What is your responsibility to the various people in this situation?
Case Study 2:
Angela has recently been elected as the SAVP of her NFTY region. Her position paper, platform, and speech were all impeccably researched and executed, but she proves to be only an adequate board member throughout the year; she won by a small margin. You discover after leafing through the NFTY website that Angela completely plagiarized all of her campaign materials from a previous board member’s election packet. The year is halfway over, and Jason, the SAVP candidate Angela beat, has proven to be a very popular, very stellar model participant. What is your responsibility to the various people in this situation?
Case Study 3:
Bill Gates has just walked into your elevator, which you are sharing with a stranger. You know he is currently offering a 1-million dollar grant to an organization of his choice, and you know NFTY would benefit from such a donation. The other person begins to discuss her involvement with a Christian youth movement. Do you make a speech of your own? If so, what would you say? Would anything change if the other person represented a children’s cancer research organization instead? What is your responsibility to the various people in this situation?
00:50 – 00:55 Thoughts from NFTY PVP
PL will take the microphone and share reflections about this year’s study theme, Hashomer Achi Anochi: Am I My Brother’s Keeper? NFTY Studies Our Responsibilities Towards Others. PL will challenge PPs to explore the guiding principles behind their interactions with others. Herein lies the PL’s job: not to provide the answer to the question the theme proposes, but rather to allow PPs to decide the answer for themselves.
Outline:
- It is clearly evident that different regions hold different opinions.
- It is also clear that different values are valued differently throughout NFTY.
- Do we have the responsibility to let other people share their values and differences of opinion? Is this a covenant? Or rather, a burden, an honor, or a right we have to own?
- We talk about k'vod, or mutual respect, in our Brit. Does this hold true for situations in which we don't agree with the other person's viewpoint?
- I feel like I would have a tough time being cordial to a person who believes I should be a second-class citizen.
- Therefore, I leave the challenge to you…
Our Study Theme for the 2012-2013 year is Hashomer Achi Anochi: Am I My Brother's Keeper? NFTY Studies Our Responsibilities Towards Others. So… are you your brother's keeper? Is it NFTY's job to tell you to care about Darfur or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? No. It's YOUR job to decide what you should be responsible for - what you decide to own. There’s a story from Jewish mysticism that I love, and I’ve invited Beth to share it with you. This is how I own my responsibility, and I’m hoping you take something away from it like I did.
00:55 – 01:05 The 36 Righteous Ones: the Lamedvavnikim
Beth will be invited by the PL to come speak in front of the group about an important lesson within Talmudic mysticism: the values and responsibilities of each individual. PPs will be urged to act as a lamedvavnik to others (while retaining humility), and they will be urged to see the lamedvavnik in others.
01:05 – 01:20 Identifying Your Lamedvavnikim
PL will pass out a set of paper dolls and several pens to each board, who will then identify 6 people in their regions who they feel qualify as one of the 36 lamedvavnikim. PL will be sure to stress the importance of choosing the most important people in one’s NFTY and life experience – whether Jewish or not. PPs should connect their dolls to the chains of the other regions, creating a huge paper chain of lamedvavnikim – the ones we consider to be righteous.
01:20 – 01:30 Resolution and Clean-up
PL assumes the microphone again and resolves the lamedvavnik segment with a final charge:
Look around this room. Any one of us could be a lamedvavnik. You could be a lamedvavnik. Melissa Frey, the Kutz Camp director, firmly believes that everyone is the most important person in the world to someone, and I completely agree. I challenge you to take responsibility for treating others in this light. Build stronger, more meaningful relationships with your participants and fellow board members. Discover what you value, what you stand for, and how you will go about sharing ownership of these ideas with the NFTY world. So, General Board… who are you responsible for?
Participants are thanked for their participation. No PP will be released from the Beit Am until every marker, pen, and scrap of paper is picked up from the program space. Once the PL and Adult Leadership are satisfied, PPs will be released to their next Mechina activity.