Action Guide > Reflection > Different Aspects of Reflection
Different Aspects of Reflection
In Jewish service-learning, there are three aspects of reflection that must take
place:
> Personal Reflection
> Societal Reflection
> Jewish Reflection
Personal Reflection
Personal reflection is an opportunity for students to consider, individually and
as a group, their personal responses to the service experience. This includes
their emotional reactions prior to the project: expectations, hopes, and fears;
during the project: sensory experiences and feelings towards the service recipieents; and after the project: sense of achievement and hopes for the future. It should also include an element of critical thinking and assessment: clarification of the project’s goals and assessment of the success of the project and plans for future action.
Personal reflection is a necessary element in all service-learning experiences.
Service-learning allows students to integrate the civic and community issues
studied with their service project and clarify their own learning experiences.
Societal Reflection
Reflection should also include an analysis of the problems in the community
and society. For example, participants who worked on a project in a local
public park should think not only about their individual contribution on that day,
but examine why their work was needed in the first place, whose job should it
be to do that work, and what might be the most effective way to ensure that
a steady flow of volunteers are not needed to address this problem year after
year. Participants should examine root causes of problems as well as the role
of government, the private sector, and the non-profit world in both alleviating
and contributing to some of these problems. It is important that this reflection
include an open inquiry of a range of possible contributing factors.
Jewish Reflection
Jewish reflection is what distinguishes a Jewish service-learning course and
sets it apart from other service-learning programs. It is a way for participants to
process their work through the lens of Jewish texts and ideas. It consists of a
number of elements:
Jewish text study:
> A Jewish text or idea provides an anchor for discussion. Participants focus
on a printed text or a distinct set of ideas which helps them concretize
their own thoughts and opinions about the issues being discussed.
> A text provides background to the conversation and connects it to Jewish
history, memory, and values. By discussing a text, the students enter into
a long-standing “Jewish conversation” that may have started hundreds, if
not thousands, of years ago. Participants become part of a chain of history,
engaging in a dialogue that goes beyond their own time and location. This
may be highly empowering to participants, especially when they are given
opportunities to disagree with the text and add their own voices to the
conversation.
> Jewish reflection allows for the creation of a small community that shares
the experience of learning a text together.
Application of Jewish values to issue learning and to the service
experience:
> Extracting valuable insights from a text helps participants understand conttemporary issues in greater depth and demonstrates that Jewish tradition
and culture has relevance to their lives.
> Enhanced discussion of the issues and the participants’ ideas gives the
service project direction and focus.
Personal reflection on the project in light of Jewish values:
> Jewish reflection integrates the physical work with intellectual and emottional
understanding of what has been done.
> Participants are able to frame their experience in a “Jewish language” and
assess their achievements as measured against Jewish values.
To succed in Jewish service-learning, it is essential to frame the service project in terms of Jewish values:
> Preface any action with study of the Jewish foundations of social responsibbility, using Section I of this guide.
> Study a short Jewish text that relates to the issue you are working on.
Distribute the text to participants before the work commences and discuss
it together at the end of the day.
> Have participants create a drawing, poem, journal entry or skit that integgrates
the value of the work they did, a text they studied, and their perssonal
feelings resulting from the experience.
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