Mumbai, city of contradictions, where Bollywood stars live side-by-side with the poor. Where you cannot differentiate between slums areas to richer areas, and you cannot ignore the harsh reality people live in. Even walking through Dharavi slum, the biggest slum in the world accommodating one million people, you won’t see any beggers, but hard working people that work in one of the 20,000 small businesses in the slum, making one dollar a day that they send to their families in the vilages. 

 

In such a huge and busy city, the small Jewish minority finds the place to give back to the society they live in. In Mumbai I found that values of Tzedek and Tzedakah are mixed with the belief in Karma, that if you do good for someone else, it will come back to you.

 

And indeed the JDC centre in Mumbai offers different opportunities for Jewish young adults to volunteer, either with the kids of "Gan Katan" or volunteer with the kids in the slum area of Kalwa and Shilonda. This is made possible through the partnership with Gabriel project (GPM) and REAP. GPM is a Jewish volunteer-based initiative caring for vulnerable children living of India by providing hunger relief, literacy support, health and empowerment to children living in the Mumbai slums, that partnered with REAP, a local organization that runs 25 schools for about 500 students ages 4 to 12 in Mumbai’s Kalwa slum and rural villages throughout the region. Volunteering in GPM comes with responsibility and commitment, and whoever wants to participate has to commit to participate and to plan and lead activities for the kids.  

 

This is truly inspiring way, first, to engage students and young adults that are usually not taking part in Jewish life, and second, to inspire them to find the meaning of Tikun Olam and feel proud of their Jewish identity. Involving the Jewish youth more deeply in service programs strengthens the community, as well as individual identities. The JDC-GPM partnership really provides the youth group and the community as a whole with an opportunity for exponential growth and awareness building. 

 

And indeed, volunteering is a doorway for people who would not otherwise be part of the Jewish community life. These are not only people who take part in its activities, or members of the community committees, but also the younger generation of the local JDC staff - like Maayan and Leya, who started being involved through GPM. Maayan Shapurkar, JDC's youth and young adults coordinator, started being involved with the Jewish community following volunteering in the GPM. Leya Elias, JDC's GPM coordinator, just moved to Mumbai three years ago, and also joined the team following volunteering in GPM. Nisim Pingle, director of Mumbai's JCC, also started being involved in the community life as a volunteer. People who come to volunteer might come because they are looking for a “Misgeret” or professional development, but they stay because they feel that they are making a difference. 

 

While a middle class family in Mumbai might live in a one bedroom apartment, shared with parents, grandparents and the grandchildren, people are gratitude and feel privileged. We are all privileged. Everyone has something to offer. Helping makes us feel engaged and empowered. Maybe the most empowering message from Mumbai is that we should help people to help people.