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Jewish Community News
News: October 2006
Living in the cracks
By Diane Fisher,
Executive Director JCRC
The
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is an agency which works to
repair and enhance the relationship of the Jewish community with the greater
community in which our lives are led. To illustrate our goals, I would
like to share this worthwhile legend:
A story is told of a king who had a wonderful jewel which he valued above
all other possessions. One day, something startled him and he dropped
the jewel causing it to fall and fissure. Finally after a very long search
he found an old jeweler who said he could repair the jewel, but, that
the king would have to promise to give him free reign in his work. The
old craftsman finally emerged and showed the king the jewel. There in
the jewel, the old man had worked the lines of the crack into the pattern
of an exquisite flower that appeared deep inside the precious stone. The
king gasped and realized that the crack itself had led to the jewel becoming
even more precious.
With the approach of the High Holy Days, Jews are instructed to take stock
and the month of Elul provides an ideal opportunity to reflect on the
organization’s goals for the coming year. Personally, we are encouraged
to strive for perfection, while begrudgingly accepting our inevitable
flaws. For JCRC, the organization lives “in the gap”—that
is, in the disconnected, imperfect places in our community. The purpose
of the JCRC is to develop threads of connection across those rifts, between
Jews and Christians, Jews and Muslims, Jews and Latinos, etc. If we are
successful in our work, we model Ernest Hemingway’s remark that
“life breaks all of us, yet many of us are strong in the broken
place”.
We have made some modest strides this year from which to build. On a national
level we have worked with Presbyterians to establish understanding and
reverse their position of divestiture in Israel. On a local level, we
continue to work with our Catholic neighbors to fulfill better understanding
and shared experiences. Look for notices on activities at the Jewish Film
Festival, in Santa Cruz and in San Jose which further our purpose of mutual
understanding and education.
And, as Rabbi Tarfon stated, “lo alecha hamlacha ligmor, v’lo
atah ben chorim l’habateil mimenah”—it is not incumbent
upon you to finish the job, however, neither are you free from doing all
you can to complete it. And thus we begin 5767, doing all we can “in
the cracks” to create that exquisite flowering of positive community
relations. If you would like to join the JCRC in its mission of bridging
communal fissures or would like to report an incident which the JCRC should
address, please contact Diane Fisher at dfisher@jcrcsv.org or 357-7504.
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