JUST ENGAGE

Recently, I was at an event for a women’s organization, of which I belong. Besides two other young women, both who were in their early thirties I was the youngest in attendance by easily twenty years. This is not something new to me, I’m usually the youngest person in the room. I’m often even the only female and youngest person in the room –luckily this was a women’s event

 

At one point I found myself speaking in a group with another minority in the room, a fifty-something man! The group began chitchatting and we began talking about advocacy. This man then questioned how a 23-year old dressed in a black suit and heals and hobnobbing with this older group is really an activist. As he said, when I was your age I wore jeans and was “running against the wall.” Now, I am still not sure what running against the wall means…please enlighten me! But, I pointed out to him that I knew many of the women in the room could tell him how passionate I was and that I didn’t find “running against the wall” entirely effective. But, the whole conversation made me think and actually a week later I’m still bothered that this man’s comments got to me.

Most people who know me would attest that there is no doubt I am an effective advocate. I’m the Campus and Programs Coordinator of the Israel ADVOCACY Initiative, where I train others to be effective ADVOCATES. So what is the issue here?

I think it is how other generations classify the Millennial Generation. We are known to be generation of do-ers, we celebrate diversity, we are optimistic/realistic, re-write the rules, and multitask. Unlike the Baby Boomer generation we don’t have a problem with institutional life or government, but feel our involvement in politics and advocacy organizations can cause real change. My answer than to me preferring my business suit and being part of a progressive organization, even if I stand out a bit as the youngest one there is that if I don’t show up my voice is not heard. My generation’s voice is not heard. Young people have showed this and continue to show this in this years primary elections—that Young people have power to swing the vote and are going to demand to be at the table, whether it be wearing a suit or jeans. The answer is simple don’t measure us against what you were doing when you were our age and don’t judge us by the way we look or dress, there is always more to what meets the eye.

Advocacy and ethics are the two poles on which environmental activism rests. They are the opposites that drive and fulfill each other.

Advocacy is public; ethics, personal. Advocacy is behavioral; ethics, attitudinal, essential.  Advocacy is what you do; ethics define who you are. Advocacy is about winning (appropriately so); ethics about being.

Without ethics, advocacy has no guide, no imperative, no claim. Without advocacy, ethics has little expression, remains sterile, wanders homeless.

Advocacy is specific (one fights for the trees or CAFE standards). To be effective, advocacy must be selective, linear:  choose a particular issue, develop arguments to gain fellow adherents, create coalitions and work toward its passage or approval. The question advocacy asks is:
how do we get from here to there?

Ethics, on the other hand,  focuses not on the specifics but on the whole; not on the externals of an issue, but the internal aspects of beliefs, behaviors and personal commitment. The question ethics asks
is: who am I; and therefore what should I do?

When guided by environmental advocacy, we must choose our battles.
Pesticides, global warming, the cattle industry, local food. But  when guided by environmental ethics, these battles are all of a piece. When guided by environmental ethics, we know that the environment cannot be carved up into causes, bills and organizations; it is whole, inseparable. We know that we are not apart from it but one with it; that while our appetites and designs may be infinite, the stuff of the world is finite. That we are not gods who may with impunity strut and thrust our whims upon the globe, but transient beneficiaries of the earth's bounty. And that just as we have been blessed to enjoy the fullness of the earth's gifts handed to us by our ancestors, so we must bless those who come after us.

Though advocacy may exhaust us; ethics inspires us. And while ethics motivate us, advocacy gets the work done.

Ethics is the mind; advocacy the hand. We need them both.

I traveled down south to Birmingham, AL with Stephanie Hausner, our Campus and Programs Coordinator to lead several Israel advocacy workshops.  It was my third time in the south (or so I thought).  I’d been to Houston and New Orleans but according to one of the lay leaders who I trained at the IAI “Hope for Peace” speakers bureau workshop, Texas and New Orleans are not really the south.  But Birmingham truly is.

I quickly learned two things about this truly southern Jewish community of Birmingham: 1) they are small in number but large in their dedication to their many causes, including Israel and 2) the famous cliché about the south that “everyone is related” proved to be true, even in the Jewish community.  Here is why… Stephanie and I led three different Israel advocacy programs for all different age groups – adults, college students, and 7^th and 8^th graders.  And the schedule went as follows: in the afternoon, I conducted a speakers’ bureau training and worked with the adults; in the evening, Stephanie led a program for college kids, many of whom were the children of the adults we met in the afternoon.  And then, the next day, we worked with the middle school kids and already knew who was going to Israel and who was traveling to Africa over winter vacation, their parents and siblings had already told us. 
It was a perfect example of a small, yet involved and dedicated, Jewish community. 
   
Birmingham is planning to implement their own “Hope for Peace” speakers’ bureau, which allows lay leaders to effectively engage their non-Jewish friends about Israel .  And after being with these volunteers, I know that this community has what it takes – a group of dedicated advocates – to make their speakers’ bureau a successful one.  Throughout the two training sessions, great conversations ensued; people faced their own tough questions about Israel, and learned the best method for advocating for Israel – making connections with their audience by speaking to them in their language. 

Below is an excerpt from the Birmingham Update highlighting the IAI “Hope for Peace” speakers’ bureau training session:

The purpose was to train community members to become more effective speakers for Israel, whether to speak publicly, or simply to feel more comfortable talking about Israel in "water cooler" settings with friends or co-workers.

Over 25 people attended one of the two opportunities offered. Jessica Horne, Outreach Coordinator for the JCPA/UJC Israel Advocacy Initiative, facilitated each session.

Emphasis was placed on telling your audience why Israel is important to you personally, tailoring your Israel message for the group you are addressing and knowing when to walk away from a hostile situation.

Crucial to our Israel messaging is our hope for peace in the region and desire for Israelis to live securely, free from terror, missiles and suicide bombings.

Implementing an IAI “Hope for Peace” speakers’ bureau in a community is not an easy undertaking, but if a community understands the benefits and has the dedication to put in the hours of preparation – like Birmingham is planning to do – they will see that in the end, the rewards are infinite.