It’s all in how you look at it

By Julia Loeb, WLCJ International President

There is an old story about a shoe company in the early 20th century that sent two sales agents to check out the possibility of expanding their sales into a remote village in central Africa. After their trip to the village, the two sales agents separately gave their reports. The first said don’t bother with that village; it is a waste of time. No one wears shoes there. The second, however, enthusiastically reported that the village presented a great opportunity—a great opportunity because no one wears shoes there… yet. 

Perspective is so important in life. We read about it in this week’s Torah portion about the reconnaissance spies, meraglim, sent into Canaan. God tells Moses to send representatives from each tribe to explore and report back on the promised land. The spies all saw the same thing and agreed that the land flowed “with milk and honey.” But ten of them gave a discouraging report about fortified cities and giants, concluding that the Israelites had no chance against them. Only two spies, Caleb and Joshua, saw Canaan as their future home and believed that they could and would succeed. They all saw the same thing, but each brought their own perspective, be it positive, negative, fearful, or confident.  

I hear many different perspectives in my role as President of Women’s League. I love meeting with and hearing from our board, region officers and the broader membership. Some see the challenges we face as opportunities for growth, innovation and change; others see doom and gloom. Some focus on the strong bonds and relationships we create with our sisters at the local and international levels; others are focused on perceived slights. 

It is all about perspective. In the end, we choose how we see the world. As the writer Anaϊs Nin states, “we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” But we can change our worldview. We can reflect on the situation at hand, pausing a moment before we jump to conclusions. For example, if we see a person who drives too fast or cuts us off, we can believe that they are a jerk and swear and yell at them; or perhaps we might leave open the possibility that this is just a good person with a medical or personal emergency.  We can reframe events from negative to positive. We can focus on our spouse’s or friends’ flaws, or we can concentrate on the reasons we love them, and their strengths, and we can relate to others. If we are having negative thoughts, we can put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. What would they say about the situation? Maybe they would see it differently?

In my role as President, it might be easy (though not very enjoyable) to just focus on the problem or complaint of the day, and there are plenty in an organization of 30,000. That perspective, however, would lose sight of the land of milk and honey we have in our hands today and our potential for the future. We have so many great, smart, amazing women in Women’s League, and such enriching programs, activities, and educational opportunities that despite the obstacles we may face, we must remain committed to seeing all our members not just participating in the journey of Conservative Judaism but leading it with courage and conviction.

So, as we come to the end of our program year and the end of the first year of my term, we may continue to face day-to-day challenges, but let us remember to see the value of the amazing communities we have built together. While dealing with the problem du jour, let’s keep a positive perspective, celebrate our successes, and continue to build on the institutions and programs we have developed. With the right perspective, working together, we will take Women’s League to the next level, evolving, growing and adapting toward a brighter future. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Julia Loeb
WLCJ International President
jloeb@wlcj.org