Part of a Whole

I started thinking… First, why do we belong to Ohev? Second, why do we belong to Sisterhood? Third, what do we, as the Sisterhood board, do to answer those needs?

On a website (www.mishpacha.org ) for those not involved in a Jewish community (it’s a virtual community) they list reasons to be involved:

1. You have moved to a new neighborhood.
2. You are away from home for the first time.
3. You are looking for a mate.
4. You are about to be married.
5. You have just gotten married.
6. You have a new baby.
7. You are on a three month maternity leave.
8. You have decided to be a stay at home Mom or Dad .
9. You need Day Care.
10. Your child has special needs.
11. You have kids needing to be educated Jewishly.
12. You need to find a good summer camp.
13. Your body is falling apart.
14. You can’t seem to get it together.
15. You are going through a divorce.
16. You are dealing with yours, mine and ours.
17. You need help caring for an elderly parent.
18. You have lost your job.
19. You have just lost a parent, child or spouse.
20. You are newly retired.
21. You have become a grandparent.
22. You are dealing with illness.
23. You have no one to share the holidays with.
24. You have a need to discuss the mysteries of the universe.
25. You have unmet spiritual needs.
26. You are lonely.
27. You want to learn to read, write and speak an ancient foreign language.
28. You have wanderlust.
29. You need an interest free loan.
30. You need a kosher corned beef sandwich on rye with mustard.

Would you, seriously, want to belong to this community? Predominantly, what I notice is that this organization should revolve around “YOU!”

If you are already in a community of people, you could benefit from their knowledge and understanding in a time of need; but, joining an organization just to get needs fulfilled is not an effective way to handle life crisis. 

Okay, so if we’re not at Ohev to solve ours (or others) personal problems, what are we at Ohev for? What it boils down to, for me, is the need to share… share our personal stories, share events, share food, share traditions, share accomplishments, share a prayer service, etc.

It is not always natural to share. Children need to learn to get beyond the stage where everything is “mine!” 

If you look up the definition of share: 1) A part or portion belonging to, distributed to, contributed by, or owed by a person or group. 2) To participate in, use, enjoy, or experience jointly or in turns. 3) To relate (a secret or experience, for example) to another or others.

In any case, by sharing you acknowledge that you’re merely part of a whole. It is most definitely NOT about you. 

As a Sisterhood, we’re providing an opportunity for women to share in common goals. We’ve outlined those goals in our mission statement and in our by-laws, sometimes involving discussions over the merit of individual words that we can all approve of. 

Now that we have all agreed to share and play nice, we set up opportunities… opportunities to share ideas on the Sisterhood board, opportunities to share time planning and making a meal, opportunities to gather together to learn about a topic of interest.

It’s that time of year, a time to plan what we’re going to share for the coming year. The minutia of details is not what’s important. What is important is that we’ll be doing this together.

Terri =]