LITTLE ROCK — Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase meaning “repair the world.”
“The world is broken. Our world is broken and it needs a lot of fixing, and it is our job while we are here to do that — to give time and energy and resources to leaving this place better than we found it,” says Dr. David Bauman.
David, a Reform Jew, explains that Judaism in general and Reform Judaism in particular are attuned to matters of social action. “We spend a lot of time trying to help out in the community here and in the broader community.”
“I think it is put on a plane above,” says his wife, Kathy Garan Bauman, gesturing with her hand over her head. “It’s like — that’s what you strive for. So, you can’t always do it, but you sure should be trying to do it — to help repair the world. And it can take many, many forms and that’s what is so nice.”
The couple will be honored for their endeavors Saturday when they will receive the Tikkun Olam Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jewish Federation of Arkansas’ annual Campaign Kick-off dinner at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
And the way the couple serve their community does take a variety of forms, through fundraising, providing music, and serving on boards and committees, to name a few.
Kathy traces her involvement in social action to a trip her parents took to Israel in 1961. “They got hooked in terms of fundraising for the state of Israel, in terms of education, about the state of Israel — and that was all we heard as kids was about the state of Israel.”
Kathy visited Israel in 1966. “The first trip to Israel was a pivotal time in my life,” she says. “I have participated in education about Israel and why we need to embrace and help find peace in the Middle East .... It is a big part of who I am, and I try to get there as often as I can.”
Kathy is a board member of the state federation, a nonreligious umbrella organization that serves all the Jewish people in the state, and says the organization has several functions. “One is taking care of some of the needy in our community, also, raising funds to do that as well.”
She says the group also supports the state of Israel financially and through educational programs. “We are trying to do extra things that aren’t being done by the temples or synagogues.”
The couple have also taken an active role in their synagogue, Temple B’nai Israel. David, in addition to serving on the congregation’s executive board (currently as its vice president), is also a music leader.
“I just refer to myself as the defaulto director of music. Mainly because I can do it, I like to do it, I’m willing to do it and nobody else really wants to,” he says.
Although he had only 2 1/2 years of piano lessons, he says he seems to have enough “know-how” for people to enjoy his playing. He has taught himself to play guitar and bass guitar as well.
He played throughout high school and college, but didn’t become involved in music programs at temple until recruited by his brother, Steve Bauman. “He got me started doing religious services at the Jewish temple and I was hooked after that. We began to grow the program. We play for bar and bat mitzvah celebrations and play the services there and people seem to respond to that very well.”
By day, David is a heart doctor. “One thing I’ve been impressed with as a cardiologist,” he says, “we take care of people’s bodies, take care of their hearts, but people need a spiritual and emotional lift every now and then, and I think music provides that. So it has been my pleasure to do that over the years — over the last 20 years. I’ve tried to make myself available whenever people needed music.”
He is also a member of a local classic rock band, The B-Flats, started by a group of doctors, which often donates time to nonprofit events. The group practices at the Baumans’ every Monday evening.
Another organization important to the Baumans is the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Miss., a Jewish Reform youth camp for which they volunteer. Both helped raise funds to start the camp as kids, and they sent their children there. Kathy serves on the camp committee, and David has served one-week stints during summers as camp doctor.
Shelly Baron is the chairman of the dinner that will honor the Baumans, and says the couple were selected because of their overall civic involvement, including their work with the federation on the state and national levels, and David’s work through music on the national and local levels. This includes supporting other Jewish musicians and helping make sure that anyone in the state who needs music at their bar or bat mitzvah has access to it. Baron says she feels the couple really embody the sentiment of Tikkun Olam because they’ve dedicated their adult lives to ensure Judaism is vibrant in their lives and in Arkansas.
In addition to the Baumans’, 11 other awards will be given during the dinner to people from organizations and congregations from across the state. Recipients are Lauren Gordon, Debbie and Richard Steppach, Andy Lawton, Carol and Sheldon Kleinman, Mark Levine, Marianne Tettlebaum, Lou Tobian, Deb Capp, Winand Bill Bowman, Kim Kuna and Anne and Larry Miller.
The dinner, on Jan. 19 at the Statehouse Convention Center, begins with cocktails at 6:30 p.m.Tickets are $100 and can be bought by calling (501) 663-3571. For more information e-mail federation@jew isharkansas.org
High Profile, Pages 33 on 01/13/2013