Shavua Tov
There is a Hebrew word that we use often in Jewish life but perhaps do not pause often enough to consider in its deepest meaning: Mishpachah, family.
Jewish tradition does not treat “family” as an accident of birth, nor merely as a social unit we belong to. It treats family as the first place where we learn to give and not only receive; to care for others before we care for ourselves; to practice covenant not contract.
And from that personal circle the Torah expands the moral horizon outward:
from the family… to the community… to the Jewish people… and to humanity.
This is Amiut Yehudit, Jewish peoplehood.
Rabbi Sacks z’’l taught that Judaism is not a faith of private spirituality alone it is a people who share a story, a destiny, and a responsibility.
“Kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh all Israel are responsible for one another.”
(Shevuot 39a)
We feel this here at the Tucson J in profound and practical ways.
When a volunteer reads to a child in our preschool…
when one of our members helps host a JCC Maccabi athlete…
when someone welcomes a newcomer who has just moved to Tucson and says, “You belong here”…
Those acts are not small.
They are acts of Jewish peoplehood.
They are the work that transforms a building into a home.
Volunteering is not “extra” it is not something we do after community is built.
Volunteering is how community is built.
And it is how we practice family at scale.
At the J, we call upon and rely upon that sacred capacity to give:
to one another, to our children, to our elders, to Israel, and to the Jewish future.
“The world stands on three things: on Torah, on Avodah (service / worship), and on Gemilut Chasadim deeds of lovingkindness.”
(Pirkei Avot 1:2)
Gemilut Chasadim is not an abstraction it is volunteers opening their hands, their time, their hearts.
There is a beautiful Hebrew Song Lu Yehi (לו יהי) written by the remarkable Naomi Shemer
A prayerful song whose refrain means “Let it be.”
Let there be comfort.
Let there be strength.
Let there be peace.
Let there be blessing.
It is a reminder that our acts of service both small and large help bring about the world we pray for.
In the Broadway musical Wicked Stephen Schwartz penned the song For Good (yes, I am excited for the release of the movie)
This song gives voice to a simple, profound truth:
“Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
That is what real community does.
That is what volunteering does.
It binds lives together, leaves no one unchanged, and transforms ordinary interactions into covenantal relationships.
In the Tucson J community every act of giving changes someone for good… and changes us in the process.
Friends Mishpachah and Amiut Yehudit are not simply values we teach.
They are the values we live.
And the Tucson J is one of the most powerful platforms in our city through which these values become real in relationship, in service, in learning, in culture, and in the simple, sacred act of showing up for one another.
Thank you for partnering with us in family, in peoplehood, and in purpose.
Cochenu b’Achduteynu | כחינו באחדותינו | Our strength is in our unity.
Am Yisrael Chai | עם ישראל חי
Bring them Home Now I מחזירים אותם הביתה עכשיו
Todd Rockoff
President + CEO, Tucson J
