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At this Erev Shabbat service we come together with members of AJEX, the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, in “remembrance for the sacrifices of the past, help for those in need in the present, and education for the future:” the motto of AJEX.
“We remember the sacrifices of the past.” Many of you will recall those who once stood beside you but paid with their lives. They did not die in vain for they enabled the freedoms of which we have just read, to be real in our lives. They insured that generations of British citizens have not been in fear of their lives, either on this land or overseas. Yet their families and colleagues have had to live their lives with the pain of their loss. Still others suffered with loss of abilities or faculties taken away from them in battle. They and their families have been injured and opportunities denied. Still more, including those of you here today, veterans of wars, have lived your lives with the scars of just having been there. We remember the sacrifices of the past.
Yet today, I want to recall something, a concept, a way of living that has long been seen as outmoded but through which we might once more find benefit. National service. For you and your colleagues, national service was compulsory. I am not sure I would be an advocate for compulsory national service. But is there a coincidence that as I look at you now, I know that your national service did not end at demobilisation?
Your being members of AJEX, assumes that you have been involved in great activity and service not on one’s own behalf but on behalf of others. Your actions, your sacrifices and those of your colleagues who once stood along side you, some who made the ultimate sacrifice of their life, represented a covenant that you made with your fellow servicemen and women and with your country, with humanity and with God.
Your contribution stands as a model for all-time, for what you did for society was not a one-off or time-bound to war. I know you as people who have volunteered time and time again and are still doing so. Within our and I am sure the other local Jewish Communities many activities would not have occurred if it were not for your efforts. You have cared for, schlepped for, cooked for, driven for, written for, added-up for. You are the embodiment of the second part of the AJEX motto, “help for those who need in the present.” Your national service did not stop at demobilisation.
I never thought I would be advocating the notion of national service but I believe I do today. Much of our society has lost the idea of activity for the good of others unexpectant of reward. I meet many good people who define their care, goodness and charity by the way they have a tight-knit family and look out for friends. However, their ma’asim tovim, acts of goodness, are ones that I believe should be assumed. How we treat the stranger, the poor, the needy, the other is rather how I would define service – service to our country, to humanity, to God.
My gap year in Israel was called shnat sherut, a year of service. Undoubtedly I gained a huge amount personally and I also know that I brought goodness to others. There are still those who take gap years to Israel, or serve in other areas of the world, however, the gap year of choice if there is one, seems now often to be self-serving – career or financially-driven or for the pure exhilaration of personal travel. And of course, a gap year remains largely the domain of those with means.
With the hike in the cost of higher education, with the paucity of jobs for those in many areas of the country, the lack of opportunity for specific demographic groups especially the young, I fear for the society that we are creating. Shnat sherut, a year of service, of national or international service. It might be one spent with the military yet it might also be spent in service to society in other ways. Indeed it is not to learn to fight, a part of your national service that was unavoidable. Rather it is the essence of your national service that is needed – a mindset, a way of thinking that sees oneself on this planet for a purpose, that one’s life has worth and especially so, when one is engaged in good deeds for the other.
Charitable organisations are increasingly expected to shoulder the burden of society, our Synagogue is one such example. Yet resources in the charitable sector are seriously challenged. Undoubtedly there would be associated managerial and living expenses. Yet the investment in social capital, the people of our country would be immense and the fruits not reserved to a year but a lifetime of people more outwardly focussed, as you, the members of AJEX have lived your lives.
We have surely gone beyond the time of compulsion yet am I merely naïve to suggest that we can create an environment in which shnat sherut a year of service is a norm, a way of life, of being in life and bringing life to society.
Your service of this country in war and in peace-time was not vanity. There was purpose then and there has been purpose now. The lives lost were not in vain for they provided the freedom for generations to live in peace. In educating us by your example, you have been a beacon through life, representing all that is noble of service. Perhaps it is time that we put the essence of that example back into practice. |
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