by Noam Zion “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” - Anonymous Bombarded by requests for help from worthy causes, how does a philanthropist choose? The answer resides not only in the nature of the cause and the effectiveness of the organization, but also in answering certain questions: Who are you as a giver? What is your reason for giving? And, what is your vision? Beyond personal biography and a rigorous process of due diligence, a donor may be enriched by understanding the collective cultural and religious roots of giving in the Western world. But how do we set priorities among all the truly valuable projects? Effective, professional giving is essential, but it must be translated into a value language in order to explain it - especially, to explain one’s … Continue Reading
The New Social Economy: A Broader Mix of Players
by Lucy Bernholz What does it mean to be Jewish and philanthropic in 2011? Larry Moses wisely addresses this question from the perspective of the Jewish tradition of tzedakah. I am not a religious scholar; I am a philanthropy wonk. I study, write about, and consult with philanthropists on the changing ways we can create, fund, and distribute shared social goods such as education, health services, elder care, and cultural and artistic endeavors. My perspective on this question is to look at the modern business of giving, and to seek to apply those tools to the pursuit of justice. Moses notes, “The interplay between tzedakah in its traditional formulation and Jewish philanthropy as it is practiced today prompts a rethinking of American Jewish giving.” He asks us to consider how the different … Continue Reading
Creating a Tzedakah Standard
by Don Abramson Larry Moses aptly describes the biblical commandment to do justice, tzedek. His essay also examines the rabbinic interpretation that tzedakah be directed to those who cannot meet their basic human needs, within the context of a model of concentric circles of giving. In response to Moses’ suggestion, I will explore the model of concentric circles as a way of creating a workable tzedakah standard. While there are a wide range of interpretations of what tzedakah is, there is common agreement that the purpose of tzedakah is to benefit others and, specifically, to correct the injustices that deny people the fulfillment of their basic needs. We all share in this obligation to our Covenental Partner to help correct those injustices and, in so doing, strengthen our ties both to that … Continue Reading
Israel: Where Aniyei Ircha Kodmim Meets Tikkun Olam
by Dyonna Ginsburg In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the pursuit of Tikkun Olam, defined here as Jewish moral responsibility to the non-Jewish world, both among young Jews and in Jewish philanthropic circles. As more and more Jewish resources - time, manpower, and money - are being pumped into alleviating the suffering of non-Jews, the question of priorities is becoming more acute. Should our Tzedakah go to relief efforts in the developing world or to subsidies for low-income families at the local Jewish day school? Should our college kids spend spring break repairing churches in hurricane-ravished New Orleans or volunteering in the neighborhood’s Hebrew home for the aged? Proponents of giving (almost) exclusively to the Jewish community cite the Talmud’s … Continue Reading
Thinking of Tzedakah as a Spiritual Expression
The essential premise ... is that recent decades have brought about social and economic changes within the Jewish community generally, and Orthodoxy in particular, that generate a need to revisit issues relating to Jewish charity and philanthropy. Toward a Renewed Ethic of Jewish Philanthropy: a book review by Tevi Troy For a group that makes up only 2-3 percent of the total U.S. population, Jews represent a disproportionately large share of the wealthiest Americans (about a quarter of the Forbes 400) and of the nation’s biggest donors (four of the country’s top seven donors in 2009 were Jews). Nearly half of the 40 billionaires who have signed the Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge - to give at least half of their wealth to charity - are Jewish. Much has been written about these twin phenomena … Continue Reading
Beyond Maimonides’ 8 Levels of Giving
by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer How much charity should I give and whom should I give it to? These are two questions I spent some time thinking about at this year’s General Assembly in New Orleans. They seem basic enough, but they are incredibly complex. Consider the question of how much should I give? The Bible commands a tithe for the poor, and this has extended to modern times. But what, exactly, am I tithing? Is this 10% of my income or assets? Before or after taxes? Net of losses? It gets complex very quickly. Of course, Jewish tradition has much to say about these questions, and the answers aren’t always clear. For instance, take this question: Should I focus my giving on 1-2 recipients, or should I spread my limited dollars among many causes? Maimonides offers one approach: “If a … Continue Reading
Teaching Tzedakah
by Robin Heinz Bratslavsky Just about every kid who goes to Jewish preschool knows about tzedakah. The hand-decorated tzedakah boxes (pushkes in Yiddish) they bring home inspire them to drop in spare coins to help the needy. But what about their parents? Most affiliated Jews are comfortable, even dedicated, to the idea of philanthropy. You might even say it’s in our genetic makeup, a part of our Jewish identity: tikkun olam, or repairing the world. At its most basic level, tzedakah can mean dropping a few coins in a box. The greatest level is helping a needy person to become self-reliant. “The word tzedakah, which has come to mean giving in most Jewish circles, actually carries a bouquet of meanings, including righteousness and justice,” said Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas of Valley Beth … Continue Reading
An Academic Grounding in Tzedakah
Getting Schooled in Tzedakah At NYU, Penn and Brandeis, Philanthropy is a Hot Topic by Howard Shapiro For Andrea Engel, giving to charity and volunteering for charity work - two basic facets of tzedakah - came as second nature. As a high school student in Birmingham, Ala., she headed her B’nai B’rith Youth Organization fundraising effort. As a Northwestern University undergraduate in suburban Chicago, she served on the executive board for the university’s huge marathon fundraiser and raised money for the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. So it made perfect sense when she decided, as a law student at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, that she wanted some academic grounding in charity work. “All my experiences had been very ground based - I … Continue Reading
Jewish Donors Focus More on Fundamental Necessities
Study Finds Jews Donate More to Poor by Debra Nussbaum Cohen Jews make more donations than people of other religions to “basic needs” causes, which are those that focus on food, shelter and other fundamental necessities, according to a recent study comparing philanthropic patterns among Americans of different faiths. The study, by Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis economics professor Mark Ottoni Wilhelm, analyzed data that is collected every two years in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a survey funded primarily by the federal government. Ottoni Wilhelm’s study was published in the September issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. He found that, overall, 29% of Americans give to “basic necessity organizations” in a single … Continue Reading
Google Search and Jewish Charity
Tzedakah, Inc. has released a new study entitled Searching for Tzedakah: What Google Reveals about America’s Interest in Jewish Charity. The research concludes that Google search volume for terms like “tzedakah” and “Jewish charity” is plummeting when compared with searches on charity terms in general and when compared with searches on other commandments, and last year hit the lowest levels compared to these other benchmarks since Google records were made available. Dr. Ira Kaminow, the study’s author lamented “I fear that infrequent Google searches on tzedakah signals a casual approach to Jewish giving that cuts the effectiveness of tzedakah dollars.” Searches on “tzedakah” fell two-and-half times as fast as searches on general charity terms between 2004 and 2009. By … Continue Reading
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