Global Jewish Reflections: Here and Now, a Holy Job to Do

In these difficult times, how can you make the greatest difference? Sometimes the answer is right in front of you.

By Sarah Allen - Director of Board Relations, JDC | September 27, 2024

Participants enjoy a relaxing afternoon at Superheroes Camp — a JDC family retreat in the Carpathian Mountains that provides psychological support for Ukrainian Jewish mothers and children.

Global Jewish Reflections is a recurring feature highlighting the spiritual wisdom of rabbis, Jewish educators, and others from around the JDC world.

Beginning in the month of Elul, the lead-up to the High Holidays is my favorite time of year.  

Maybe it’s because my bat mitzvah was the week before Rosh Hashanah when I was 12 years old, or perhaps it’s because my mom serves her miniature potato knishes only at this time of year. Whatever the reason, the shifting of the seasons, the changes in the light on the trees, the shortening of days, and the cooler air all begin to send a message of change. From all corners, we get this signal telling us to prepare ourselves for introspection, to have that hard conversation — to be ready to greet something new.  

Today, I’m finding it harder than usual to connect to a full month of getting prepared for Rosh Hashanah. This has been a year when the Jewish people have faced unspeakable tragedy in Israel, with hostages still not home, and a year when antisemitism is on the rise around the world, as well as here in the United States.  

I find myself unable to sink into the preparation that Elul demands of us because in so many ways, the holiday season of 5784 never ended. It just stopped on October 7th, refusing to move forward. And yet here we are, almost at 5785.  

At the same time, the conflict continues in Ukraine, a crisis I also feel so acutely having had the good fortune to travel to Ukraine several times and bear witness to the strength of the country’s Jewish community.  

Sarah Allen

Working for an organization like JDC, it’s easy to feel connected to so many global Jewish communities and to know that we make a real difference. At the same time, living and working in the United States, sitting at a desk behind a computer, far from the communities we serve, it can be hard to directly feel the impact.  

When I look for meaning in the mundanity of everyday work, I am usually transported to a trip I took more than 20 years ago.

I was living in Israel in the early 2000s and the Second Intifada was taking its toll on life in the country. It was July 31, and I had landed in Kyiv 24 hours earlier with a group of students — we were headed to a Hillel/JDC family camp to bring some positive energy and to work alongside the counselors and staff. Back at home, a bomb had just exploded across from my office, and I was distraught at not being in Jerusalem to support my friends and community.  

I can recall having a conversation with a wise professional who is now a mentor. She told me that I could come home if I want — that if I really felt like I was too far away, or that there was something I could do back in Jerusalem, or if I just couldn’t get through the experience of leading a group of students and campers amidst my own grief and shock, then I could return to Israel.

But then she told me something else: The work I was doing in Ukraine was holy, too. She reminded me of the power of helping young adults form their own Jewish identity, and of the fun to be had when singing and dancing in an ancient common language. She helped me realize that sometimes there is no better place to be than the place that you are — just by being there, one person can make a difference.

I have kept this lesson with me for many years now, and I’ve repeated this story often. I’ll frequently share the message with my team or colleagues when we are feeling low and need inspiration — and I share it as a reminder for myself that every piece of JDC’s work is holy.

My mentor helped me realize that sometimes there is no better place to be than the place that you are — just by being there, you can make a difference.

It’s not just the colleagues on the ground distributing emergency kits to elderly in Israel’s North, and not just the Hesed social welfare center director in Odesa keeping clients healthy, fed, and taken care of. It’s each and every one of us, from the administrative assistant who schedules a meeting and the travel coordinator who books a hotel room to the person who makes sure employees are paid and the one who orders the bagels so we have sustenance to get the job done.  

Each one of these actions means that a colleague providing direct service or putting themselves in harm’s way to make sure all of our clients are cared for can do the work they need to.

We all have a holy job to do, and so I think of this lesson once more in the waning days of the Hebrew month of Elul. I want to remind you — each JDC Board Member, colleague, supporter, Ambassador, friend — that you, too, contribute to this sacred work.

Your time, effort, and philanthropic contributions mean that we at JDC are able to save Jewish lives and build Jewish life, and I hope you can enter your High Holiday season knowing that your support, messages, gifts, enable all of us to be partners in powering JDC’s vital mission, especially now.

Sarah Allen is JDC’s Director of Board Relations. Sarah has worked at JDC since 2012, beginning in the Jerusalem office. 

During her JDC tenure, Sarah has forged strong relationships with Board Members, partners, and field colleagues through a variety of positions covering donor cultivation and engagement, travel, operations, and events in our Board Relations and Resource Development teams.

Sarah previously served in senior donor relations and operations roles at the American Associates of Ben Gurion University and Hillel International. She lived in Jerusalem for 20 years, until 2016, when she returned to the U.S. 

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