By Rabbi Jack Paskoff
LANCASTER SUNDAY NEWS Column: …When my congregation [Reform Jewish Shaarai Shomayim] first began doing what we call “Mitzvah Trips,” we went to the Katrina-devastated Gulf Coast. The work was hard but gratifying. We cleaned up, we built a fence, we did repairs in a park, we drywalled a house. The work was good and the impact was apparent. We made a difference. We were sad for the lives that had been disrupted, but the country cared and progress was made. We were eager to go back to continue this work. When we moved our attention to Appalachia, something else compelled us.
We left Waveland, Miss., feeling tired but satisfied; we leave McRoberts [Ky.], tired and despairing. There’s little that feels satisfying. Personally, I go back because I can’t yet make sense of the reality I encounter. With each trip, I have more questions than answers. Little makes sense, and the puzzle gets more complex…
The religious message of our trip is for us, not for the people we are going to help. We have no “good news” to spread, only a commandment to fulfill — the commandment to help in the work of Tikkun Olam, the repairing of the world. We seek to renew our souls, not win over the souls of others… (more)
