Rabbi Min on Jewish Values

Basic Jewish Values - A Summation: The mission statement of Jewish Family Service of New Mexico reads: “Guided by Jewish values, we offer targeted social services that help preserve and improve the quality of life for New Mexicans.”

What are these Jewish values? How do they help guide the day-to-day work that we do at JFS? When new employees join the staff of JFS, they are introduced to eighteen of these basic Jewish values.

Of the hundreds of Jewish values which guide our lives, I selected eighteen which are particularly relevant to the work of Jewish Family Service. Why eighteen? Because that number is associated with life; the word "Chai" has a Hebrew numeric value of 18.

When new employees join the staff of JFS, they are introduced to these 18 basic Jewish values; they guide our work. We've shown you the following Jewish values are and how they help guide the day-to-day work that we do at JFS:

1. V'Ahavta l'reyecha c'mocha - Love your neighbor as yourself
2. B'tzelem Elohim - People are created with spark of the Divine
3. Shmirat haAdamah (Shabbat; shmita) - Guard the earth
4. Tzedek, tzedek tirdof - Pursue justice
5. Rodef shalom - Pursue peace
6. Pe'ah - Dignified helping the poor
7. Gmilut chasadim - Acts of loving kindness
8. Tikkun Olam - Repair the world
9. Talmud Torah - Study wisdom
10. Bruchim hagerim - Welcoming strangers
11. Derech eretz - Be a "mensh"/common decency
12. Cheshbon ha nefesh - Self reflection
13. Pikuach nefesh - Take care of yourself
14. Shmirat halashon - Watch what you say/avoid gossip
15. Kavod horim umorim - Honor parents and teachers
16. Yirah - Awe, awareness of something bigger than ourselves
17. Nedivut - Generosity, expansiveness
18. Yetzer haTov - Incline toward the good

Learn more about JFS's Eighteen Jewish Values here.