Broadening Our Horizons

By Brielle Goodman
Johns Hopkins University
(KOACH-On-Campus Editor)

This month's theme is Jews Around the World. We picked this theme because we think it is important for Jews to know about the lives of other Jews in other countries.

Too often, living in North America, we are sheltered from the cultures of those far away from us. We forget that there are others out there living in totally different environments from that in which we live. Am Yisrael - we are all one people, regardless of where or how we live. We have one faith, one biblical past, one heritage.

I've taught Hebrew School for a couple of years now, working with middle schoolers, and each year I have done a unit studying Jews of different cultures. One year we studied Jews in Cuba. Another year, I let the students choose the countries they wanted to study, as long as they didn’t choose a western culture. I wanted the students to get a view of life in other countries. I wanted them to learn that in some places, it is far more difficult to be actively Jewish. Even at age 11, the kids could understand the importance of this, and really enjoyed learning about the Jews in other countries. It taught them not to take their situation for granted. It helped them to open their eyes to the world around them and to consider more than their immediate environment.

As college students, we often lose track of what is important as well. We get so caught up in our daily lives and our academics - making the grade - that many of us forget what we actually went to college to do: learn. We are so busy regurgitating the information that we are supposed to memorize, that we forget, or think we don't have time, to go in search of other interesting and relevant information. So here's your chance. This can be the beginning of a new experience, one which will help us all widen our view of Jewish life and realize there is Jewish life all over the globe. Let's go learn about some of it!

[Posted 12/28/03]