4 | JULY 29 • 2021 

guest column
Living Jewish Values at Haven

Editor’s Note: Jessica Caminker 
was part of JFS’ 100 Mensches 
Essay Contest a year ago, won, 
and was given a stipend to par-
ticipate on the Haven’s Youth 
Advisory Board. She has written 
the attached essay about her 
experience.
A

s a result of my par-
ticipation in Jewish 
Family Service’s “100 
Mensches” essay competition, I 
was offered the unique oppor-
tunity to apply for a position 
on a new Youth 
Advisory Board 
at Haven, a local 
comprehensive 
program for 
survivors of 
sexual assault 
and domestic 
abuse. Haven 
does incredibly important work, 
providing shelter, intervention 
services, counseling, advocacy 
education and more to thou-
sands of people each year. These 
efforts make all the difference 
for those who take advantage of 
them and lay the foundation for 
a future in which they won’t be 
necessary. 
I found incredible meaning 
in the time I spent with Haven. 
Especially as a young woman 
beginning to navigate society as 
an individual for the first time, I 
feel very connected to the cause 
of eradicating intimate partner 
violence and helping heal those 
who have been affected by it. 
The Youth Advisory Board 
certainly gave me the oppor-
tunity to assist in pursuing this 
goal, as well as deepened my 
appreciation for and under-
standing of the Jewish values 
that go hand in hand with its 

mission. 
Although Haven is not a 
uniquely Jewish organization, 
the strides it takes to better the 
lives of others beautifully reflect 
values that Judaism holds close-
ly, and my time spent on the 
board allowed me to personally 
involve myself in furthering 
many of these ideals. 
The Jewish Family Service 
mission statement is: “Inspired 
by the wisdom and values of 
Jewish tradition, we strengthen 
lives through compassionate 
service.
” As part of this mission 
statement, JFS also highlights 
and describes several significant 
examples of such Jewish values. 
Among them are chesed (com-
passion and kindness), 
tzedakah (justice) and tikkun 
olam (repairing the world).
These three concepts serve as 
a sort of algorithm for much of 
Haven’s work: When someone 
comes to Haven seeking help, 
they are welcomed immediately 
with overwhelming compassion 
in a clear expression of chesed.
Next, the organization takes 
steps toward securing justice 
for the individual seeking help. 
Through interventions, court 
advocacy, personal protection 
orders or whatever the situation 
requires, Haven pursues tze-
dakah on behalf of everyone it 
serves.
Finally, even once an individ-
ual’s immediate needs have been 
met, Haven continues to provide 
them with longer-term care such 
as support groups and counsel-
ing, as well as hosting events for 
educational programming and 
youth outreach which attack the 
broader issue. In this way, both 
directly and indirectly, Haven 
sets out to repair the world. 

The value that I found the 
most profound in Haven’s work, 
however, is that of B’tzelem 
Elohim, viewing every human 
being equally and as they were 
created: in God’s image. All of 
Haven’s tasks, each with its own 
specific goals, serve to preserve 
and empower the humanity and 
dignity in each individual. In all 
the support and encouragement 
that Haven has to offer, the “vic-
tims” it serves are never victim-
ized; Rather, they are reminded 
of their worth and fundamental 
importance as people. This 
elevates Haven to the next level 
of service: Not only does it help 
those in need, but it does so 
with grace, mindfulness and in 
true recognition of God’s image 
in everyone. 
While I am grateful to have 
learned many lessons from this 
experience, my main takeaway 
is this: The more we can do 
to remind the world of the 
holiness found in every single 
human being, the better suit-
ed we will be to combat these 
difficult issues together going 
forward. Haven encouraged me 
to identify the inherent value in 
myself and in everyone I meet.
And although my personal 
involvement with Haven ends 
here, for now, I am confident 
this is a message that I will carry 
with me and aim to spread for 
the rest of my life. Thank you, 
Haven, and thank you, JFS! 

Jessica Caminker was raised in Ann 

Arbor and West Bloomfield and gradu-

ated from the Frankel Jewish Academy 

with the class of 2021. She is eager 

to spend a gap year at Midreshet 

Lindenbaum in Jerusalem and continue 

her Jewish learning before returning to 

the Honors Program at the University of 

Michigan the following year.

PURELY COMMENTARY

Jessica 
Caminker 

Antisemitism’s Real 
Name: Jew-Hatred

The lid is off on Jew-hatred in 
America. If that doesn’t scare 
us, it certainly should. We can 
try to justify this danger any 
number of ways. It’s an issue 
based on politics. It’s all about 
people’s views on the Israeli/
Palestinian issue. It’s relevant 
to our concern about Critical 
Race Theory and the issue of 
Caucasians and our relationship 
to people of color.
Well, let’s take a look back in 
history. Jew-hatred has been a 
permanent feature for Jews for 
thousands of years. Before party 
politics, the Israel/Palestinian 
issue and Critical Race Theory, 
there has been the desire to 
eliminate the Jewish people. 
Unfortunately, it has also been 
existent in the United States 
since its inception. It has just 
never been as open and omni-
present as it is today.
Have we forgotten our his-
tory, our courageous and suc-
cessful battle for survival against 
impossible odds? Standing 
together, caring for and about 
each other has been an import-
ant force against our oppressors, 
which include the Greek and 
Roman Empires. They are gone 
and we remain. A miracle!
What does it take to admit 
the truth about the real cause of 
Jew-hatred and for our genera-
tion to take its place beside our 
ancestors in this fight for our 
survival and that of future gen-
erations who can look and learn 
from our example?
We are a link in a continuous 
chain of Jewish history. Let us 
not be the ones to break that 
chain, to fail our people.

— Joel Gershenson

Farmington Hills

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