This past Sunday I went to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center to see Ruth Messinger speak on global civic justice. She was an interesting and thought provoking speaker, although I had a number of issues with what she said, and I suspect with her program more broadly. Ms. Messinger is the head of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), a not-for-profit dedicated to improving livelihood for the impoverished around the world. The core of her focus was on the importance of humanism and empathy, which is a powerful message.  She clearly cared a lot about effecting positive change in the world, though I found some of her statements/ philosophies complicated her message immensely. To me, the very foundation of AJWS is contradictory. A faith specific organization that preaches total humanism feels hypocritical to me, especially when her rhetoric stems largely from the idea that there is something intrinsic and unique to being Jewish. As a non Jew I do not intend to criticize or demean another religion, but religious belief or not, I find it wrong to distinguish people's quality or character based upon being a part of the same faith. Though she certainly did not criticize other's cultures, the inverse of praising one culture is being derogatory to others.

Despite the issue I had, Ruth clearly does good, important work in countries like Burma, Uganda and Jamaica. Ultimately, I do believe in the mantra of any positive change, and even if I don't agree with her philosophy, I do agree with her actions. From providing small business loans to farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, to building sewers and latrines in the Caribbean, if her emphasis on a Jewish identity gets more people to give back and support each other, then good for her.  I enjoyed thinking about these issues, and I am interested in going to more public events like this.