The Hope Generation embraces social activism as Jewish expression

RALPH GENENDE: Stop kvetching about young Jews avoiding legacy organisations and kvell about increased commitment to social action

SOME 200 YEARS ago, the celebrated American poet, Emily Dickinson wrote a marvellous poem about hope:

Hope is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words-
And never stops - at all

For Dickinson the bird of hope finds its place in the human heart and soul. This is not a universal belief. For the ancient Greeks and their deterministic philosophy, hope was a harmful apparition. Nietzsche called it “the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man”.

Judaism, however, always nurtured this little feathered thing. From the birth of Abraham to our towering prophets, from the rabbis of the Talmud to the founders of modern Israel, hope has fuelled our dreams and fired our aspirations. Hope has not only nourished our prayers, it has driven our social activism and belief that we can make the world a better place.

And it is this spirit that is activating and energising young Jewish people across the world and certainly within our Australian community. It is evident in the energetic response of young Jews to the pressing social issues of today – climate change, care for the disenfranchised, recognition of refugees and support for the first peoples of our continent.

It is manifest in organisations like Stand Up and the Jewish Climate Network, and in the spirit and energy of most of our youth movements be they Habonim or Hineni, Netzer or Skif. You can find it in our secondary schools, you can see in the young community services offered by Zooz and Koleinu.

As Mount Scopus teacher Rabbi Sammy Brygel puts it: “For our younger generation, the spark of their Jewish identity often emerges in a desire to make the world a safer and more caring place.”