Gerson: On anniversary of President Kennedy's death, let's honor his uplifting message

And so I come to the third of my three columns of significant anniversaries in this burgeoning year 2023.

My first two were about happy events:  The 150th year of my Congregation Children of Israel in Athens and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel.

But now, in this third piece, I come to an extremely sad and tragic occurrence.  It was 60 years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963, when a young, promising president, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas , Texas, plunging our country into disbelief and extreme sadness.

For us baby boomers (I am one of them), we will always remember where we were when we suddenly heard about this horrifying occurrence.  I was at lunch outside at my high school in San Diego, with my friends, when the football coach came out to tell us what had happened.  And I remember that afternoon riding on a city bus to my father's store to help out, seeing everyday people with their heads down, sobbing uncontrollably to themselves.

Thinking of President Kennedy now, as time has passed, and much has come out about him, we know that this was not a flawless individual.  (Who is in this world, including the Biblical patriarchs?)  His marital infidelity (despite having a wife of charm, eloquence, and motherly devotion) has cast a certain shadow upon his memory.

And yet, as we remember him on this 60th anniversary of his passing, there is, I believe, a message for us, which should resonate very much in our society today, where so many tend to be very self-centered. It involves an ideal, which has been the unifying theme of these three columns. It is a very valuable message.

President Kennedy championed the ideal of service to others in our lives, to lift others up to better themselves.  I actually feel that this message of this kind of service was part of the motivation to me as a teenager to want to be a rabbi (among other reasons, of course).

Yes, his clarion call to this, was found in his famous words in his inaugural address: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."  But there was more to this as it found its way into specific programs, especially the Peace Corp, a higher minimum wage and more aid to education.

There is actually a parallel in Judaism to this idea of raising up others to advance themselves.

In my faith, the Hebrew word for charity is Tzedakah.  It literally means justice.  As Maimonides in the 12th century taught: The highest level of charity is not a hand-out. It is lifting a person up, teaching him (or her) , so he can become self-sufficient.  An earlier version of President Kennedy's message.

And we can facilitate this for others.  In our work, organizations, and how we motivate our children. May we honor John F. Kennedy's memory in this way.  And thus bring some meaning to this special anniversary of his passing.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: John F. Kennedy sought to help others, and message lives on: Gerson