“You face a lot of choices in life – we choose, and if we choose rightly enough, we can restore the broken fragments in our world.” These words from Rabbi Bruce Kahn impacted me because I also believe the world has pieces that need to be fixed.

Rabbi Kahn is the founder of the Equal Rights Center in Washington, D.C. My Cultural Leadership classmates and I met Rabbi Kahn during my transformational journey last month.  Cultural Leadership is a non-profit organization that trains high-school students to be social justice activists, and “troublemakers of the best kind.” Rabbi Kahn was one of the many leaders I met who shared his wisdom about Jewish values and beliefs, and how he incorporates them into his everyday life.

Prior to this journey I had always considered myself educated about Judaism. As an African-American student who has been educated in the Clayton School District since the second grade, I am accustomed to diversity. I have also attended a Jewish summer camp for six years and have established many friendships that will last a lifetime, and I have been to many bar and bat mitzvahs. Therefore, I know everything about Judaism. Right? Wrong. 

Beginning this transformational journey with Cultural Leadership has expanded my horizons by giving me more in-depth information about Judaism, and the culture and history. Being Jewish is not about being rich, missing school for holidays, and over-the-top parties. Being Jewish is all about doing all you can do to help others before your life is over. This is what Rabbi Kahn meant when he talked about restoring fragments of the world.  By definition, to restore something means to bring it back or put it back into its former or original state. 

While on my journey I also met other amazing rabbis and Jewish people who also incorporate their religion into their work – like Rabbi Ingber at Romemu Congregation where we celebrated Shabbat in New York City, and Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C. and Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel in Memphis. Despite all of the challenges throughout Jewish history, they realize that they have to work hard and stay true to tikkun olam, their commitment to healing the world.

A great example of someone who is restoring the fragments of the world is “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg, who we also met on our trip. Feinberg is a lawyer in Washington, D.C. who is well known for specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the U.S. Government’s September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. For 33 months, he worked entirely pro bono, distributing money from the fund to people who were affected by 9/11.

What has this humble and caring Jewish man and other great leaders taught me? It is not all about what amount you are getting paid or what connections you may make. It is about who you can help along the way. I now incorporate a little of the Jewish way of life to my own, my job each day is to heal the world – “tikkun olam.”