My favorite story, told in various ways, is about a bunch of starfish washed up on the beach. A young boy spent his time returning the starfish one by one to the ocean. Sometime later, someone asked, “What are you doing?” The young boy answered, “I am returning them to the ocean.” “How are you going to do that? There are so many. You will never be able to make a difference.” The young boy was deflated and crushed. He thought for a few minutes, then stooped down, picked up a starfish, looked at it, and threw it back into the water. He looked at the person and said, “I made a difference for that one.”
On one of my first volunteer trips to New Orleans several years after Hurricane Katrina, I worked with a group of volunteers from my community. There were people of all ages and all skill levels. We spent our days painting and cleaning, except for one day when we were asked to help someone rewire their home following the devastating flooding in the Ninth Ward.
We arrived at the address to see a small row house reduced to the frame and studs outlining each room. None of us had ever rewired a house. I knew something about electricity and how to use power tools, but I had never taken on such a project. An expert, the owner’s brother, guided us, and we set out to work. During the day, some of our volunteers – old and young alike – learned new skills, such as how to use power tools. We gathered with the owner’s brother and took a picture. While the actual picture is gone, it is etched in my mind because of the joy on the faces of the volunteers for a job well done and on the face of the brother’s owner, who was thrilled to have the help. We had made a difference for one person and his family. Through its deployments, NECHAMA – Jewish Response to Disaster continually facilitates these encounters and helps repair the world.
The other reason I support NECHAMA’s work and disaster relief by volunteering is confirmed by Talmud tractate 49b that teaches, “Our Rabbis taught: Deeds of loving kindness are superior to charity in three respects. Charity can be accomplished only with money; deeds of loving kindness can be accomplished through personal involvement as well as with money. Charity can be given only to the poor; deeds of loving kindness can be done for both rich and poor. Charity applies only to the living; deeds of loving kindness apply to both the living and the dead.”
So often, I give my tzedakah (charity) dollars to those in need. It is less often that I can help others in need, just as I have done on previous volunteer missions with NECHAMA, but the results can be more satisfying. In December 2018, I led a community mission to Florida and worked directly with NECHAMA. We were assigned to help clean out the house of an elderly woman. Months earlier, she had been flooded out and moved in with her family in another part of town. Her house sat empty because no one could help her until our small group came along. When flood water enters your house up to the ceiling, only devastation is left behind. Then, when the house sits for months because the owners were never able to clean it out themselves, it becomes a true mess.
We put on our gloves and masks, brought trash bags with us, and began to clean out her house. Precious heirlooms and furniture alike were taken from the house and placed on the curb for trash pickup. It was sad to see that a woman’s life had been so disturbed. Not only was she elderly and couldn’t do the work herself, but her beloved husband had passed away some months before the flooding, and she could not clean out his collected stuff either. On that day, the woman was in tears because someone had finally stopped to help her begin the long and arduous work of cleaning out her house so it may eventually be repaired. While we had not finished the work in that one day, she was so glad someone had started. While my precious tzedakah dollars support this work, our physical labor made a crucial difference for everyone, homeowner and volunteer alike.
Although it has been several years since I participated in a volunteer mission, I look forward to doing so again because of the difference it truly makes to the individuals affected and the influence it has had on my life. In the words of the great activist, Desmond Tutu, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
NECHAMA is the catalyst and the frame that allows me to help financially and physically to bring comfort to those who are in need.
– Rabbi Aaron Gaber
Rabbi Aaron Gaber has served several Conservative congregations over the past 28 years.