Building A Stronger Jewish Community and A More Beautiful, Better World

By Seth D. Bykofsky

A Shaynere, besere velt. Not just a catchphrase or an ideology of Jewish thought. More than simply the refrain from a folk tune harmonized by a chorus.  Far beyond the storied themes of traditional Jewish support for labor and social justice, universal healthcare, human rights, and the Yiddish language.

For generations, Jews have spoken the words and carried forth the banner, sometimes in epic battle, as in the struggle against totalitarianism and the fight for workers’ rights, espousing the cause which every Jew believed in his or her heart – to create that more beautiful, better world.

To a great extent, mostly through the efforts of generations past, we, as a people (not to be confused with the artificial, too often self-serving moniker of “Peoplehood”), have made great strides in building that Shaynere, besere velt. Workers, once exploited and mired in poverty, rallied, not simply behind a cause, but to the forefront of a movement. Jews, from the ultra-Orthodox to the secular spiritualist, joined hands with brethren of all races, not simply to stand up and march for civil rights, but to risk life and limb for equality and the dignity of all people.

The notion of a shaynere, besere velt is as engrained in the Jewish psyche as the concept of tikkun olam – our responsibility to repair the world – has been part and parcel of Jewish tradition since time immemorial.

As Paul Shane, a progressive secular Jew and Professor of Social Work/Social Welfare at Rutgers University, once postulated, “We are humanists, when often humanity fails. We work for social justice when often the cause seems doomed. We are Jews, when often it is difficult… We celebrate our humanness and love of life, connect with all humanity through our Jewishness. Our beliefs and our spirituality help us remain optimistic about life, people and Jewishness, in spite of all setbacks.”

To paraphrase JFK, today, the torch that burned so brightly for our parents and grandparents – that vision of a shaynere, besere velt – has been passed to a new generation of Jews.

A new generation, ostensibly divided by denominational rancor, by adherence to ritual, or the distancing therefrom, by politics, both foreign and domestic, by brick and mortar versus a virtual reality, is called upon not only to sally forth under that illustrious maxim, but, more critically, to shore up the very foundations of Jewish community.

For creating a more beautiful, better world requires of us that we not only endeavor to repair the world around us, but that we make efforts, sometimes gallant, other times in tiny increments, to repair the world within.

To build fundamentally stronger Jewish communities – be they in the shtiebel or the shtetl – commands of us a commitment beyond the rhetoric, the dogma, the routine rites and conventions. We must pledge to take our communal cause further than the mere talk of community-building and synergy, and rethink the time-honored, well-intentioned acts of soliciting money only to cast it to the wind as perceived panacea for every possible ill. 

Yes, there are plans aplenty to build that stronger, sustainable Jewish community. As with any plan conceived in contemplation of building or rebuilding – call it Master Plan, Renewal Plan or Strategic Plan – it is not in the drafting of the plan, or even in its public display, that moves us forward, but rather, it is in the implementation.

After all, we know what commonly becomes of those “best laid plans…”

As we reflect upon the year behind us, and embark on that great adventure that is the new, let us not simply play homage to building a stronger Jewish community and a more beautiful, better world, as if but another auld lang sine. Let us instead obligate ourselves to actually act, taking strides, both the seemingly immeasurable steps that may go unnoticed, and those giant leaps for all mankind, toward that shaynere, besere velt.

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