The Cards We Are Dealt

By Caren Rothenberg, Livingston

Have you ever taken the time to think about the “cards” you have been dealt? While there were so many highlights of the Federation commUNITY Mission to Israel, this was the recurring theme for me.

On the first full day of the mission we visited a Youth Futures center that matches at-risk children and teens with a mentor who guides them and their families through the personal, school, and other challenging situations they face. This is a program run by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and supported by our community. The impressive instructors make a difference each day in the lives of these young people.

One instructor shared with us his story playing a simple card game with a child at the center. The child expressed that she could never win with her set of cards. The instructor offered to swap her good hand for the child’s bad one and then proceeded to win. She explained to the child that succeeding isn’t about the hand you are dealt, it’s about what you do with your hand. This theme stayed with me throughout the mission and affirmed my belief that I have a personal responsibility to help others make the best of the “cards” they were dealt.

Each participant had the opportunity to choose a what they wanted to see on the personal track day. I chose the Art Gallery Tour. We started with a discussion about the importance of art during the Holocaust with a retired curator for Yad Vashem. She discussed how even during times of very little hope Jews found something to hold on to. While some pictures showed the horrible conditions in the camp and the physical decline of the prisoners, there were others depicting dreams of freedom and better times.

Then when I went to Yad Vashem, it all came together! I saw some of the artwork we discussed with the curator and I got to thinking about the “cards” all these people were dealt and how they handled their “hands.”

I returned from this mission with a lot to think about and with a newfound appreciation for the work that Federation does and how the gifts we make have such an impact on so many people in Israel and in our own community.