Liora Chaya Levich
Communication Competency - Symposium Day Presentation
Commnication is arguebaly Communication is arguably one of the most important skills to have as an individual and learning how to do it effectively in a positive manner takes time and effort. Augustana holds Symposium Days once every term to let students, professors, faculty, staff, and guest speakers have a chance to effectively communicate something that is important to them, or something that they’re passionate about to their peers and the student body. On one of Augustana’s Symposium Day’s I was able to communicate on a topic that was very important to me that had to do with social justice. I presented on the Jewish take on social justice, which actually has it’s own name: Tikkun Olam. In Hebrew, this translates to “repair the world”.
Throughout my presentation I discussed the importance of this Jewish value to repair the world, and how Israel, the only democratic, Jewish state in the world, implements Tikkun Olam into its society every day. Israel is known for many things, one of them being that they send an incredible amount of aid to countries in need all over the world. The organization in Israel that handles this is called IsraAide, and they were most recently helping out with the Syrian refugee crises. They have also sent assistance to Nepal and Haiti in the past, during the earthquakes. An interactive map can be found on their website to see where they’ve helped out all over the world: http://www.israaid.co.il/ Besides just IsraAide, Israel also sends its military defense forces, the Israeli Defense Forces, on crisis volunteer trips throughout the world as well, through a program called IDF Without Borders (https://www.idfblog.com/blog/2013/11/27/idfwithoutborders-map-idf-aid-delegations-around-world/)
Lastly, I also discussed my volunteering experience with Save A Child’s Heart, and how their organization implements Tikkun Olam, or to “repair the world”, everyday through their work. Overall, throughout my Symposium Day presentation, I was able to effectively communicate to my peers on an important topic that is not only relevant to the Augustana community, but to individuals worldwide.
