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Community Shul Volunteerism, Tikkun Olam, and Holiness
Community Shul
of Montecito & Santa Barbara
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LED BY RABBI ARTHUR GROSS-SCHAEFER, we are an innovative and caring community that enjoys learning and celebrating Judaism together. Our mission statement is: “Building together a warm and vibrant home of living Judaism. This is our shared work, the task that binds us together as a community.” We have a unique approach to celebrating and studying Judaism. We think of our Shul as a large family. Thus, everyone associated with us become members of our Shul family. We recognize that everyone’s financial situation is different and do not want to preclude people from becoming part of our Shul for financial reasons. We purposefully do not have a permanent building, and therefore, none of the associated constraints and costs. We rent beautiful facilities to hold our events, and have also enjoyed services and celebrations at the beach, park and people’s private homes. Many of our events or celebrations are user-pay, while others may be potluck, or free of charge. We welcome Jews of all backgrounds as well as interfaith and blended families.
Community Shul of Montecito & Santa Barbara
PO Box 994 Santa Barbara, CA 93116-0994 805.895.6593 communityshul.com Itzik Ben-Sasson communityshul@gmail.com
VOLUNTEERISM, TIKKUN OLAM, AND HOLINESS:
The Shared Vision of the Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara
Written by Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer
VOLUNTEERISM is what
we are called to do as members of the Jewish community and as members of the human race. Albert Einstein put it succinctly in 1932, “Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.” He articulated the Jewish values of Tikkun Olam and holiness.
Tikkun Olam is our clarion call to help repair this shattered world. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was concerned about the Jewish people, but he also walked next to Dr. King across the Pettus Bridge in Mississippi. He believed that serving others was a part of his core personal mission. He asserted in his book, The Insecurity of Freedom, that his actions were not so much an act of proving that God was alive, but rather that he was alive. That reverence for a living God involves reverence for others and is embodied in the Biblical teachings: love one’s neighbor and love the stranger.
Holiness is not so much prescriptive. It is about applying our religious traditions so that we feel commanded to engage in the repair of this world through our acts and our deeds.
For the past 21 years, the Community Shul has been well-known for its intimate, friendly, warm, caring, and highly innovative Jewish community. We are also respected as a powerful and effective center of volunteer activities throughout the Santa Barbara Community.
When the Community Shul was approached by groups of volunteers wanting to contribute their talents to the community, and needed to be under a legal shelter, the Shul became their legal and spiritual umbrella. This has included Camp Haverim, SB Cares, Israel Action Committee, and the Avi Schaefer Fund.
When diverse communities need to build bridges of understanding, our volunteers create and facilitate dialogue programs. Beyond the African American community, our activities will expand this year to additional groups including Latino and Asian American communities.
When there was vandalism at a local restaurant due to their support of BLM, the Shul created and helped to post hundreds of posters around town articulating that there is no room in Santa Barbara for hate. There is room, the poster declared, for dignity, respect, and civility.
We have been deeply worried about our neighbors, whose legal status is unclear. Our Shul, created and distributed brochures in Spanish for the undocumented community both here in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. We’ve raised funds for San Diego’s Jewish Family Services to increase their legal resources to assist those preparing cases for asylum and we gathered and donated clothing to be given out in their shelter.
We do these and other projects, not just because we can, we do them because we must. Eli Wiesel had a very powerful warning, “The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.”
The Shul is not indifferent to the suffering of others. Our Shul supports other organizations, caring people, and those who want to help repair this broken world. Volunteerism is how we help this world, and how we nurture our very souls.
Community Shul Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer is an educator, rabbi, and lawyer, providing leadership and consultation in the areas of religion, public education, and ethics.
