The Peace Corps, Tikkun Olam, and Seeing Each Other's Faces

Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. As a teen and young adult, I had an unusual fascination with JFK and his family. I have always been intrigued with understanding the impact that the Kennedy family had on what my own responsibilities were as an American citizen. "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." We are well familiar with this often quoted line from JFK's Inaugural Address. There always seemed to me a natural fit between the Reform Jewish values of social justice and tikkun olam, and Kennedy's insistance that "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." Perhaps that is why shortly after the Reform movement created the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, we presented President Kennedy with a Torah scroll.

JFK went beyond rhetoric. He helped to create opportunities for a nation to improve itself and improve the world. One of these was the Peace Corps. In essence, the Peace Corps was created to bring to fruition JFK's inaugural declaration: "Let the word go forth that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans... To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break th bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves."

Upon creating the Peace Corps, President Kennedy named Shriver its first director. This week, we lost one of the leaders of one of those opportunities. On Tuesday, Sarge Shriver, JFK's brother-in-law, died. Sarge Shriver "took on some of the toughest issues in the public sphere with optimism and commitment -- poverty, race, unemployment, and access to justice." Through his own faith, his Catholicism, Shriver believed that we, as human beings, need to meet one another's needs, to be better people. "He saw caring as 'the cure'" to the ills of society.

In an address to Yale University graduates in 1994, Sarge Shriver challenged the students to step away from their own reflections in the mirror and to focus on the world around them. "Break your mirrors!!! Yes indeed -- shatter the glass. In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. Learn more about the face of your neighbor and less about your own." The Chasidic tradition teaches a similar message.

There was once a man named Abraham. He had a little store and earned just enough to take care of his family. He was neither poor nor rich, but simply got by and helped others when he could. One typical day, he stood in the doorway of his store, hoping for business, making conversation with passers-by, and welcoming guests. He encountered a stranger, someone who wasn't regularly in his village. Intent upon taking care of others, Abraham offered the stranger a bite to eat, something to drink and a place to put up his feet. What Abraham didn't know was that this stranger was no ordinary stranger. He was the rebbe from another village who was passing through on his way to a wedding.

The rebbe's visit to Abraham's store made him the destination in town. All of a sudden, business was booming and he was quickly becoming rich. He built a brand new house, filled it with wonderful things, and hired servants to care for him and his family. The people of the town quickly realized how he'd changed, how he didn't focus on caring for others anymore. The rebbe paid him a visit.

Immediately, the rebbe saw the change in Abraham's house, the fancy rugs, the artwork, and the most elegant mirror you'd ever seen. "Quite a change!" pointed out the rebbe, calling Abraham before the mirror. "What do you see when you look in the mirror?" asked the rebbe. Of course, Abraham could see himself and his possessions reflected back at him, nothing more. Then the rebbe called Abraham to the window, opened the curtains, and again asked him what he could see. Now, Abraham could see the people of his town. And he could tell the rebbe about each of them; he knew them all.

The rebbe pointed out to Abraham that a mirror and a window are virtually the same, both just a piece of glass. The only difference is that the mirror is coated with silver on one side so that instead of seeing through it, you only see your own reflection. Abraham realized that he'd been spending so much time only focusing on himself. He'd stopped looking out the window of his house into the faces of others. To remind himself of his responsibility to learn more about the faces of others and less about his own, Abraham scraped away the silver at the corners of his mirror so there'd always be a reminder to look out his window more often.

This was the kind of message that Sarge Shriver wanted to send. We cannot only be focused on ourselves. Also, we can't do it all alone. One of Shriver's visions for the Peace Corps was that it would be a program constantly filled with new talent and new ideas, new faces. He imposed "'The Five Year Rule,' requiring all staff to work at the Peace Corps for a limit of five years, [insuring] that the agency does not become stagnant." As an in-law to the Kennedys, Shriver quickly took on the role of "best supporting actor," someone behind the scenes, often out of the spotlight, making the magic happen.

In this week's Torah portion, we encounter Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. When Jethro witnesses Moses' handling all of the people's questions and inquiries by himself, Jethro warns him. Jethro takes note of the endless line of Israelites seeking advice and asks Moses why he sits alone trying to take care of the people's needs all by himself. When Moses tries to insist that the people need him, Jethro tells him he will surely wear himself out. He advises his son-in-law to delegate responsibility and create a legal system so that Moses can share the burden. Jethro isn't only concerned with Moses' well-being, but also with the nation's well-being. it is only if he changes the way that he does things that the people will be able to eventually enter the land in peace.

Sarge Shriver taught, "No free market can ever replace free human services rendered by one free human being to another human being. A 'good society' is the result of billions of such acts." There was a lot that needed fixing in Moses' time. There is a lot that needs fixing now, too. "Too many families live in poverty; too many children are stuck in underperforming schools and too many American cynically believe we can't fix what's broken." But we can fix what's broken, when break the mirror, or even just scratch the silver off the back of it, look more into the faces of others and less at our own reflections, and share in the responsbility of making the world a better place.