Contribution to the writing competition “Mut machen” of the Saxon State Center for political education, 2023
In 2023, the Saxon State Center for Political Education (SLPB - possibly known from the election forums) announced a writing competition in which volunteers could report on their work under the motto “Mut machen” (Encourage). Yesterday I found out that I won second prize. The prize money will go towards the garden and roof waterproofing of our community center.
The text is a short episode from my voluntary work in the Besht-Yeshiva. After a study visit to Haifa, Israel, I happened to hear about the new project founded by Akiva and Rosa and got in touch with the Yeshiva. Since then, I have taken on a variety of tasks (technical planning and implementation, coaching, language training) and what I enjoy most is helping young people to find their own way and shape their lives independently. The text is not perfect and free of judgment, but reflects the impressions and feelings I experience in my work. When we do something for others, it always resonates with who we are ourselves.
Moments of home
Shmuel and I trudge through the rain. The cobblestones gleam dully, I push my bike alongside Shmuel as we approach the gym. “Yesh'cha gam ofanayim? (Do you have a bike too?)”, I ask him in the colloquial Hebrew I learned while volunteering in the Besht Yeshiva of the Neustadt Jewish community. Shmuel laughs. He and his colleagues are happy when we learn something from them. We learn a lot from them, but it's really them who are here to learn. Most of the members of the liberal cultural center Besht Yeshiva come from ultra-orthodox Jewish communities, where their old lives were governed by religious rules and strict social norms. To break out of this, you need intelligence, an independent spirit and the urge to live a self-determined life. Shmuel has all of this. Today he wears jogging trousers and a muscle shirt, unacceptable for a respectable orthodox Jew, but the right outfit for the first acrobatics training session I accompany him to. Sometimes Shmuel is a mess. He has a thousand ideas, but often no idea how to realize them. He's clever, funny, a showmaster. Last week he asked me if I knew how to become a racing driver. He likes the adrenaline, the concentration on the moment. I don't know any racing drivers, but I do know an acrobat. She gave us the information about the training and Shmuel asked me to accompany him for the first time. It's not so easy when you've been locked up in a religious prison as a child and teenager and then have to find your feet in a new environment with new social rules and a new language. Most of the former ultra-orthodox feel insecure, but they are also very brave and try to make the best of the new world around them. As we enter the gym, Shmuel leads the way. At the door, he turns to me briefly and looks back uncertainly. I go into the hall with him briefly and we speak to one of the acrobats. Shmuel is quickly involved in a conversation, he and the gymnasts laugh together. I say goodbye to him and walk out. I'm proud of Shmuel and a little anxious, a bit like a dad dropping his child off at kindergarten for the first time. Afterwards, Shmuel tells me that the training was fantastic. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of information and a little bit of guidance and support to venture into new territory. As volunteers in the Jewish community, we can't change the world from the ground up, but we can use our contacts and our knowledge of everyday life in Dresden to open doors that Shmuel and other people like him desperately need. Once they have successfully broken new ground in their new living environment, they will dare to do so again and again. And then new territory will become more and more moments of home in which they feel safe and which they shape themselves. This evening is such a small step into new territory and will one day be one of the many mosaic stones of warm memories that make up home.
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