Vanderbilt Hillel spends break doing service
aron Kraft
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This past spring break, 300 Vanderbilt students headed off on their alternative spring break trips, but they were not the only ones who devoted their vacation time to the service of others.
Vanderbilt Hillel sponsored its own spring break service trip, which sent nine Vanderbilt students, six undergraduate and three graduate, to Mexico, where they worked alongside a group of 12 students from the University of Pennsylvania Hillel.
The trip, cosponsored and organized by American Jewish World Service, is one of 175 locations around the world where AJWS currently has service projects. The Vanderbilt group was led by Gary Hirschberg, a JD-MBA student and the Director of Development for the Ben Schulman Center of Jewish Life, and Michael Roffe, a JD student and Spanish translator.
The trip sought to "instill in students the values of tikkum olam, or repairing the world. The idea of global community service extends not just to the Jewish community, but any people or place that is in need of help."
The actual project took place in Yaxunah (a Mayan word pronounced YaSHUnah), Mexico, a two-hour drive from Mérida and close to six hours from Cancún. The 21 students worked on a project organized by the Fundación Cultural Yucatán (Yucatan Cultural Foundation) at a primary school.
The work involved digging out, sifting and reseeding six vegetable beds, each 15 feet by four feet, digging holes and planting more than 40 trees for fruit, shade and wood, constructing large stone walls, building a compost heap and painting buildings.
In addition to the physical labor, the students also found plenty of time to interact with the children at the school and the people in the town. During work, it was not uncommon for a group of children, age eight to 12, to visit the nearby work site and lend a helping hand.
Often, these children, very familiar with the tools being used, were able to significantly cut down the work load in a short time. Grabbing a pick-axe, sledge hammer or shovel, the children skillfully demonstrated their ability to break up big rocks or quickly loosen dried soil. In the evenings, the Vandy and Penn kids often headed to the town center for a game of soccer or basketball with the local youth, providing a greater opportunity to interact with the children.
This trip was organized by AJWS with a greater purpose than just service work. The question that was posed to participants from the first day and discussed in great detail in hour-long sessions after each lunch and dinner was, "How should we as Jews respond?"
That is to say, what part, if any, of Judaism provides the impetus to want to help others? Students read a number of Jewish readings during the course of the week that dealt with such concepts as the significance that every human being is created in the image of G-d, the impact of globalization on the world community and the importance of action accompanying thought.
Discussions also considered the importance and implementation of sustainable grass-roots development in communities such as Yaxunah and on a more global level. Participants shared their thoughts and weighed in on their background in social justice and the ways in which their Jewish identities and family members and friends have influenced their desire to help others.
Before leaving, Vandy and Penn students worked together to create a very successful Sabbath ceremony, a part of which members of the town were included in.
The idea was that the students had been active participants in the Mexican culture all week and this would provide locals with a better idea of Jewish culture. The ceremony included the traditional lighting of the candles and the singing of songs.
Afterward, a local group called the Jaguars presented a play to the students. Members of the group included children and young adults, ranging in age from seven to 21. They presented often in the town on different topics ranging from alcohol abuse to proper disposal of trash. The hope is that members of the town would model after the behavior described in the play.
Overall, this trip was very successful. Students completed a number of projects that will have a lasting effect on the town of Yaxunah in the years to come. In addition to benefiting from the cross-cultural exchange in the form of Spanish language skills and a more intimate knowledge of lives of the people who live in small towns in Mexico like Yaxunah, students take with them a greater understanding of the importance of service work in Judaism.
To be a good person, it is important to give as much as you can and then give some more.