Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent
At Jewish Family Service, 2015 will be a time to start deepening the 123-year-old organization’s connection to Jewish values through a renewed vision for all who work there.
Called Project Kavod (kavod means “honor” in Hebrew), the initiative will be a three-year education and training program for staff and volunteers to reflect on the meaning behind the organization’s purpose.
“It’s not so much about what we do, but why we do it,” said JFS CEO Rabbi Will Berkovitz. “We are coming at the text and the tradition from a values and history perspective, not a religious perspective. The values are universal, but the story and the history that got us to our values are uniquely Jewish.”
The project is funded by a $109,245 grant from The Covenant Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit organization that “works to strengthen educational endeavors that perpetuate the identity, continuity and heritage of the Jewish people,” according to its mission statement.
The JFS curriculum will respond to the interests of the agency as it interacts with the material compiled by nationally recognized Jewish educator and 2010 Covenant Foundation award recipient, Beth Huppin, who will direct, guide, and oversee all of the teaching modules for Project Kavod.
“Developing the ‘curriculum’ will be a dynamic process,” Huppin said. “What emerges will be responsive to the questions that arise from our leadership, staff, and volunteers.”
What Huppin knows for sure, however, is that studying core Jewish textual content can lead to increased connections between service providers and the public they interact with every day.
“The texts provide opportunities for self-reflection that will build the capacity of the staff, board and volunteers to be open to the presence of the ‘other,’ which could be clients or colleagues or fellow volunteers,” said Huppin. “Text is a tool to expand our capacity for presence. In our popular culture right now, we call that mindfulness.”
How does that translate into a more successful and effective agency? Huppin asked.
“The more you can be mindful of what you’re doing, the better you can do it,” she said. “It’s a constant reminding ourselves of why we are doing what we are doing and asking ourselves, ‘What could I have done better?’ ‘What could I have learned from the other person?’ Text helps us ask those questions of ourselves.”
While Huppin and JFS leaders iron out the details of how and when these study sessions will take place at JFS, marketing and communications director Deborah Frockt told JTNews that she is confident the new learning focus at the agency won’t interrupt its day-to-day work with the people who need them.
“This program will not in any way decrease vital direct services provided to the community,” said Frockt.
According to a JFS press release, teachings and conversations will be carried out at board and staff meetings at all three JFS locations through lunch-and-learns during the workday. A collection of texts and study materials will also be centralized and made available to staff and volunteers.
“This grant gives us the opportunity to build on what’s right at JFS, a chance to examine the values this community is already living by using our tradition’s texts,” said Huppin. “We have a rich fountain of teachings focused on the very work that JFS does.”