As a senator, part of my job is to craft effective
public policies to improve the lives of my constituents. Every week I
wrestle with questions such as: whether direct government funding or
individual tax incentives will be a more efficient means of providing
health care to the uninsured; whether longer prison sentences or
community based addiction treatment will be more likely to prevent
recidivism among drug offenders; whether broad based income taxes or
charging a higher user fee would be the best way to fund mass transit
improvements, and dozens of even more arcane public policy conundrums.
First and foremost, I consider statistical evidence
of past results achieved by pursuing one policy path or another. But
the more time I spend trolling in the fields of public policy, the more
I realize that people judge our proposals in terms of basic values.
I’ve learned that when it comes to convincing voters and building
consensus for a change of course, an appeal to shared values trumps a
pile of statistics every time. That’s one reason I’ve spent a lot of
time in the past few years thinking about and articulating the values
that underlie my own work as an elected official and about the values
that I believe can animate a movement for progressive social change in
this country.
It’s clear that we need change. Economic
inequality in America is greater than it’s been at any time since the
1920’s. We spend far more than any other country on health care, yet
forty-seven million Americans have no health insurance. And our
elementary and secondary schools across the country don’t come close to
providing the next generation with the education they will need to
succeed.
I believe that they solution to these problems
requires a re-examination of basic American and the Jewish values of
civic activism for the common good. Our public policies must reflect
and reinforce a shared sense of unity rather than isolation, and a
belief in our interconnectedness that necessitates a collective
responsibility for each other rather than a fear of each other. From
this perspective it is clear, not just intellectually but viscerally,
that I am better off when others are better off. And conversely, I feel
"in the gut" that if someone else is sick and can't obtain the same
health care that I can, that diminishes me.
I believe these values flow very naturally from the
Jewish tradition. Through the Torah we are commanded to engage in
tikkun olam-to heal, repair and transform the world. We have a
responsibility to the whole world-not just ourselves, or our families.
Jews are bound by the exhortation “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof”- Justice,
justice shall you pursue! We are admonished not to take solace if we
are safe, and warm and well fed, and others are not. We cannot accept
security for ourselves if it comes at the expense of unjustly taking
away the liberty of others.
It is challenging to live up to these values, especially since they are
at odds with the prevailing political, economic and social culture that
emphasizes consumerism, individual responsibility and interpersonal
relationships based on competition. Nevertheless, the three Jewish
organizations featured in this issue of NYNonProfit.com demonstrate an
admirable commitment to putting these values in to action.
Connect 2 organizes volunteers to visit Holocaust survivors. It would
be all too easy to abandon the people who lived through one of the worst
traumas of the twentieth century at a time in their lives when they are
less able to care for themselves and when they have fewer surviving
friends and family with whom to share their thoughts and feelings. The
volunteers who have given of themselves to assist and comfort these
survivors have themselves been uplifted by the unique wisdom and spirit
that these elders have to share.
Areyvut helps young people who are becoming Bar and Bat Mitzvah to
organize community projects that embody the values of kindness, charity
and tikkun olam. By providing the next generation with opportunities to
not just learn about these values, but to live them, they are making the
world a better place today, and molding adults who will continue to
pursue justice throughout their lives.
The Jewish Outreach Institute promotes inclusiveness in the Jewish
community towards interfaith couples, unaffiliated Jews and others. Of
course it’s easy to achieve unity in a homogenous group where everyone
agrees, but by modeling inclusiveness across traditional barriers the
Jewish Outreach Institute provides an example for overcoming divisions
based on ethnicity and religious identity that are all too prevalent in
the world today.
Organizations like these inspire me to work harder to advance the values
we share in my own work. They also give me renewed hope that a
progressive movement rooted in these values can grow and reshape our
state and our nation at this time when change is so sorely needed.
