“Yours is not to complete the task…”

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

For me there has always been a very mixed feeling in the approach of the end of a program I have enjoyed. Thus, as now I approach the close of this volunteer opportunity, I can look back and realize the beauties we have seen, the wonderful people whom we have met and this most intriguing community so filled with challenges. I can appreciate those willing to work so hard and take the advice of strangers that they might build, here in Yeruham, a twenty-first century Zionism.  So although I am sad to leave with the tasks so far from the ultimate goal, I am happy as well.  For I know that these five Desert Volunteers did contribute in ways big and small to Yeruham’s future and I take with me the sense of accomplishment and the awareness of people and moments that shall long enrich my life.

As we close our two weeks I realize the many difficulties yet remaining, but I feel certain that the Yeruhamites I have met and those of whom I have been told, possess a commitment to finding solutions and a dedication to making those solutions real for all who share their journey here in Yeruham, in the Negev and, hopefully, throughout Israel.

So too, I feel that our little band were truly pioneers. Some shall return, some shall assist from abroad, but all of us shall leave a piece of ourselves, while taking away so much more than we brought.

To all who made this experience possible I offer my thanks and my assurance that your efforts were not in vain.

“Yours is not to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it altogether,”

Rabbi Larry Halpern