A Year of Service, A Question of Purpose
“We all came to the service year with a great deal of goodwill.
Are we trying to repair the world?
Do we want to contribute some of our experience?
Do we want to support and strengthen what already exists?
Perhaps all of these are true and maybe we don’t always need to choose one over another.”
So begins one volunteer’s thoughtful reflection from the Merhavim group words that capture the quiet introspection that often accompanies the powerful act of giving.
“What did we really want?” she continues. “This question has been with me for some time.”
Behind every effort to improve, to rebuild, to leave a mark, stands a sense of deep mission but also the humility to recognize its limits.
“It’s easy to believe that ‘the truth is with me,’ that what exists isn’t quite right. But we must be careful of that feeling. We are joining an authentic, stable, living fabric of life. There’s much to give and add but not from a desire to overturn worlds.”
The Wisdom of Small Steps
Her words echo the ethos that defines Elul’s Shnat Sherut 50 Plus: service grounded not in grand gestures but in the steady rhythm of kindness.
“It’s better, I think, that we try and help where we can; focus on people, on small acts that advance what already exists, on sharing our skills and experience with the systems we’ve joined.
Our contribution should leave a trace that remains long after us and that alone can work wonders.”
The reminder is simple yet profound: change doesn’t always roar, sometimes, it ripples.
Finding Balance, Finding Home
“Not everything can be changed,” she concludes, “but we can still influence, even in small ways. Sometimes just being here, this year, in these places, is itself a kind of repair.”
The group’s weekly rhythm reflects this philosophy: warm encounters with children and seniors, creative afternoons using eucalyptus bark for art projects, planting flowers and herbs in shared gardens.
The atmosphere, they say, is beginning to feel like home, familiar walls, shared meals, laughter.
“Soon the first soup will simmer,” one volunteer smiles, “and it will feel like a real home. Because home keeps expanding.”
“Because a person leaves a house, but the house does not leave the person…”
Yehuda Amichai
The house, both literal and metaphorical, lives on in those who step out of it: in their acts, their memories, their relationships, and their continued giving.
Each small act, each “drop”, is shaping a sea of renewal
