Pre-Service

"Service to others is the rent you pay for you room here on earth”-Shirley Chisholm

My philosophy on service to others is similar to Chisholm’s but mine is also heavily influenced by my spirituality. Ironically, it wasn’t a sense of religious obligation that initiated my first service experience, simply a secondary school requirement. Since then, I have fallen in love with service, and the concept of service learning via reflection will no doubt cause me to evolve my understanding of my identity in relation to the next person.

Without thinking too hard I would answer in the affirmative to the question of whether religion in the public sphere was beneficial. However, like law, context and exception shape my response. In some instances it is easy to see when religion in the public sphere is a harmful concept (i.e. Taliban rule in Afghanistan and their brutal treatment of women) and perhaps a beneficial concept (i.e. Christmas’ ability to unite peoples in common celebration, which is now ironically a “non-religious festive winter holiday”). I don’t believe that theocracies should exist in this day and age, but I do believe that governments and institutions should make religious accommodations where feasible for a fundamental reason: governments and institutions inherently exist to serve people, many of which are religious.

Now that I have briefly relayed my attitude toward service and religion in the public sphere, I want to discuss my service learning placement and its implications as well as what I can contribute to the learning process. I am going to be volunteering at Baycrest (Geriatric) Hospital, working in a variety of Jewish oriented programs such as a program for Holocaust survivors, a Sabbath welcoming service, and a Sabbath candle lighting service. Each of these run every other week so I’m pretty sure that I will have a choice. After doing some research about the hospital I was surprised to know that such an institution existed for the Jewish elderly. I had the preconceived notion that Jewish people were very communal and so their elderly lived in the family home. That being said, I am looking forward to hearing stories from those Holocaust survivors who are willing to share. I am also looking forward to experiencing the dynamic of the Baycrest geriatric Jewish community, and possibly have an opportunity to compare their health and wellness with non-Jewish or even non-religious residents. This would provide strong evidence for or against the utility of religion in the public sphere. In regards to what I can offer the community as a volunteer, I believe first and foremost is religious sensitivity. Sensitivity as an individual of religious leanings with close ties to Judaism, and sensitivity as a student of history, amazed at the longevity of the Jewish culture from its inception and against all odds.