Yom Kvutza: (11-30-09) Responisbility:

Something that is discussed a lot within the Kvutza is responsibility. When living communaly with 18 others, responsibility goes a long way. Things regarding responsibility that are discussed on various occasions are topics such as taking responsibility for each other in situations such as avoda, shiyurim and chugim. For instance, if we are not all present, how much responsibility do we have collectively for one individual not being there. It goes to other extents as well, in situations such as money. what does it mean to be respopnsible? many more questions arise...but the word responsibility has much more meaning to it that must be discussed. As simple as it seems, there is a lot that goes into taking responsibility, and something which seems to have been coming up a lot is the question of what it means to be responsible? Something which led to many interesting discussions throughout the peula was the text we were presented with by Alisa Shapira. In the text, the author discussed the meaning of responsibility and freedom. In short, according to Shapira, responsibility is the essence of freedom, but what does it take to be responsible? To start off, I would like to discuss strictly what was said in this first text. In the most simple terms, responsibility has two main parts to it.(According to Shapira). First, responsibility is a process of setting goals. Second comes Hagshama, or actualizing on those goals when necessary. Shapira's message was discussed thoroughly, and the sicha turned into a talk about what, as a Kvutza, we are responsible for...(as i said before,) i.e: our actions/interactions towards each other, weather or not we are responsible for each other's attendance to shiyurim, avodah and ivrit. Shapira's point led us to understanding, pretty much, that freedom is a difficult thing to attain, but it for sure cannot come without understanding the definition of responsibility. Coming out of the Sicha, we all had a simple understanding of what responsibility is, but there was much more coming...
Next, we were presented with a piece by Levinas, a A Jewish thinker/philosopher. Rather holding an "I and Thou" relationship, the idea presented by Martin Buber where there needs to be a high level of respect between two people, Levinas states that simply because you are human, and alive, you deserve my respect, no matter what. Levinas makes it clear, that no matter what, "the other" deserves love and respect. Early in the Peula, i was sort of confused, seeing as we spent so much time discussing Sicha Kechavyeta. So there are two differing opinions, one stating that we must hold mutual respect for each other, and the other stating that simply because you are alive, you deserve respect. The concept of giving so much respect, and making myself "responsible" to you , no matter what seems a little over the top. But this presents a few major points for discussion:

-In a kvutza setting, we are a group, and its our roll to look out for each other. SO doesn't that mean that if a kvutza mate of mine is acting irresponsible, its my, or another kvutza members role to take responsibility over that individual. Furthermore, how does one take responsibility over others, who isn't even responsible for themselves?
-Piggy backing off of that point, seeing as we are a group of individuals who beleive's in the concept of the equality of human value, shouldn't we make ourselves responsible, no matter what.
-Another question: Can there be meaning in responsibility you take over a stranger, or a person you just met?
-In my opinion, after much discussion, and internal debate, in my eyes there can be meaning. My reasoning for this is because we are learning to be educators based on a set of values. (Shivyon Erech Adam, I and Thou Relationships, Sicha Kehavyeta.) Furthermore, we are being a dugma yeshit, and madrichim at all times. Part of being a madrich is showing the way, implementing our values of equality and respect and so on, into our everyday lives.
Some words from the text on Levinas:
Levinas derives the primacy of his ethics from the experience of the encounter with the other. For Levinas, the irreducible relation, the epiphany of the face to face, the encounter with another, is a privileged phenomenon in which the other person's proximity and distance are both strongly felt. "The other precisely reveals himself in his epiphany not in a shock negating the I, but as the primordial phenomenon of gentleness." at the same time, the revelation of the face makes a demand, this demand is before one can express, or know one's freedom, to affirm or deny. One instantly recognizes the transcendence of the other. Even murder fails as an attempt to take hold of this otherness."
-I Think this says a lot. As i said earlier, holding yourself responsible to someone you have never even met before may not always make much sense, or ever for that matter. However, according to Levinas, it doesn't matter. One needs to give "the other," the respect they deserve. On that note, if they are not responsible for their own actions, than it is our responsibility, as humans to take responsibility, and work towards improving whatever situation is occurring. It is how we interact with "the other," that helps us identify and understand ourselves. I think, based on my knowledge of Buber's philosophy and Levinas' philosophy, that its important to take responsibility for people, and anyone. I am learning more towards Levinas on this one, simply because a value I am attempting to carry out in my life is truly valuing every one equally. There are plenty of reasons why I have my doubts, for instance when dealing with people who don't value human life. This is something I encourage you to think about. Here is another quote by Levinas:
"To negate the others alterity is to negate him as human. When i do not acknowledge the other as another and as worthy as love I am unconsciously and unintentionally legitimizing him being exploited, oppressed and so on. Meaning- I do not regard the other as equal to me."
Levinas brings up another very valid point, and opens up my eyes,and challenges my thoughts. These are concepts I have been thinking about every day lately, and I hope that you do too!
Without Hebrew on this keyboard, its kind of hard to show, but something really cool our madrich showed us in the end was the structure of the word "responsibility" in Hebrew. I dont really know how to explain this, but i will try: the word in hebrew is "Achrayut." Lets look at the word.
-The first letter is Alif, the first letter. Something we realized was that responsibility starts with me, or yourself. We must understand what it means to be responsible before we demand responsibility to others.
-Next, are the letters Alif and chet, spelling "Ach," or brother. After we ourselves understand the meaning of rsponsiblity, then we can pass it on to those whom we are close to, our brothers and such.
-Next, are the letters Alif, Chet, and reish, spelling acher, or others. So once we understand responsibility, then we can act responsible to ourselves, then we are in a position where we can become more responsible with our brothers, and challenge ourselves to deeper understand it, then we must be responsible towards others, and extend our comfort zones.
-Next we have the letters alif, chet, reish, and yud, spelling achrai, or after. this means, that when necessary, i must take responsibility after your actions, and when necessary you must take responsibility after my actions.
-In the end, we have alif, chet, reish, yud, vav, (I cant read my writing for the next part!)however in the end, we have the entire word. Achreyut. The word starts with Alif, the first letter, or we can look at it and see that responsibility starts with me, in the begining. The word ends with a taf, the last letter. Meaning, it ends with the other. This shows that responsibility goes a long way. I try to take all of these things into consideration when thinking about the concept of responsibility.
catch you later!