The Modern Day Expression of Ohr La’goyim — a Light Unto the Nations

by William Recant

"What's a nice Jewish boy like you doing here?" I have heard this from Addis Abba to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and most recently, Port au Prince, Haiti. The answer is simple: we are here to help.

I have the privilege of working for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), which implements projects relating to rescue, relief, and renewal of Jewish communities outside of North America and provides assistance on a nonsectarian basis to those in greatest need during times of disaster and emergency.

For example, I ended 2009 with a visit to the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, where we welcomed the second class of 125 kids at a unique model community JDC built based on a model of an Israeli youth village originally set up for child survivors of the Holocaust. Seeing the hopeful and happy faces of the kids — many of whom are themselves survivors of genocide — reminded me of what the true meaning of tikkun olam (repair of the world) is all about. It is a privilege to help bring the best and brightest models that we have developed in Israel and the Jewish world and share them with others to create change.

The value and need for what we have to share was never evidenced more than this January 12, 2010, when in 38 seconds an earthquake in Haiti killed nearly 200,000 people, displaced nearly two million, and left over 3,000 with amputated limbs.

The Jewish response was immediate and of exceptional excellence. The Israeli Defense Force sent in the first field hospital that was operational on site in Port au Prince within the first three days of the earthquake. Having worked with the Israeli units in the past, we at JDC knew that they would be in as quickly as anyone and that the training of the staff was superior. We also knew that the field hospital is a military unit and would not have incubators for "preemies" or orthopedic equipment for crush victims. JDC provided those items and when the head of the Israeli medical team was interviewed on worldwide television, little baby Israel — named so by his grateful father — was in one of the incubators behind the doctor.

The Jewish world should be proud of the many projects that it has developed throughout the globe. From housing units and fishing villages in the tsunami devastated areas of Banda Ache, Indonesia, and Colombo, Sri Lanka, to the recent distribution of wheelchairs to disabled people in Fez Morocco.

Years ago, in my parents' generation, thoughts of a world as interconnected as ours would be inconceivable — and so too would the idea that Jews and Israel could put forth this modern day expression of ohr la'goyim — a light unto the nations. Today, we find nice Jewish boys and girls from Israel and America in all corners of the world doing service programs and sharing with others what we as a community have learned and developed for ourselves to help others in their greatest time of need.

Dr. William Recant is Assistant Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

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