Young Voices
Repairing the World
Zachary Levine
Issue 21, Spring/Summer 2009
Zachary Levine is an American Jew who attended the programme in India.
Here he reflects on what his tradition says about the value of life.
A two-week pilgrimage to India last December provided the perfect opportunity for introspection and guidance. In the weeks leading up to the Young Leaders Programme, I tried to shy away from expectations or assumptions about the other people I would meet or the interactions I would experience. However, I knew that the diverse list of participants would bring about a very productive peace gathering. In addition to preparing my presentation on interfaith meditation at the University of California (Berkeley), I reflected on what I would contribute to the conference as a Jew.
For a religious Jew, the belief in G-d is paramount to everything. And because all life on Earth is the result of a supreme creator, a Jew learns to recognize that life has meaning and purpose. I have the duty and opportunity to manifest purpose in my life and attending the YLP in Mayapur helped me to move farther along this path. I gained a lot of confidence in my approach to Judaism, in my leadership skills, and my ability to connect with others.
At the core, I assume that URI exists because the people who created and take part in the organization believe in the sanctity of life. Ending war and famine matters to us because we value life over no life. Saving the environment matters to us because it is part of an ecological system that supports living things. Improving interfaith cooperation and developing cultures of peace, justice and healing matters to us because these are aspects of sanctified life. We, the people of diverse religions from around the world, unite because of our common reverence for these principles. I now have a greater understanding how my individual purpose connects to the purpose of URI.
I was raised in a Jewish family and began to explore the deep profundity of a spiritual life during my university studies. I played an active role in the Jewish student community and began to develop my Jewish practice by way of meditation. Judaism brings me an unparalleled amount of joy and entering the world of interfaith has only enhanced this process. Because I have built relationships with individuals from different faith traditions than my own, I can share my skill set with a greater number of people. From the Hare Krishna community at ISKCON, I learned the sweetness in devotional service and my commitment to it has become a living reality. Community outreach had a major role in my upbringing, and Judaism is full of teachings about this principle.
Rabbi Hillel said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” The concept of tikkun olam arose in the classical rabbinic literature and Lurianic kabbalah, a major strand of Jewish mysticism. The term is literally translated as ‘world repair’ and has to come to connote social action or the pursuit of social justice. It also has cosmological associations. “Lo alecha ham’lacha ligmor, Lo alecha ligmor. V’lo ata ben chorim l’hibatil mimena, V’lo ata ben chorin” is translated as “It is not your duty to complete the work. Not up to you to finish it. But neither are you free to desist from it.” In the months following the YLP, I traveled to Malawi to help my brothers create a youth-based education programme using a batch of donated computers. I have also become a more observant Jew working to develop spiritual communities.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?