I read with great interest the recent eJewishPhilanthropy article on the new Food Policy study mapping Israel’s food-aid network (“New paper mapping Israel’s food-aid network finds glaring waste, inefficiency,” Aug. 14). Those of us working every day on food security should welcome serious research into this issue. The study raises important questions about efficiency, nutrition, geographic gaps and coordination. We should be willing to ask difficult questions and improve wherever we can.

But having examined the underlying research more closely, I came away with a larger question: Why isn’t food insecurity itself a much bigger topic in Jewish philanthropy?

We hold extraordinary conferences and gatherings where some of the best minds in Jewish philanthropy come together to discuss the future of Israel and the Jewish people. We rightly devote significant attention to education, Jewish identity, antisemitism, Israel engagement, innovation and many other pressing priorities.

But if the numbers presented in this study are even close to the reality — millions of Israelis experiencing some degree of food insecurity, including more than a million children — then surely food insecurity deserves a seat at that table.

I hope the major Jewish philanthropic conferences, federation gatherings, foundation meetings and communal forums will put food insecurity prominently on their agendas — not as a side conversation, but as one of the major challenges facing Israeli society.

And not simply to discuss hunger or raise more money, either. We need the best philanthropic minds, government officials, municipalities, researchers and experienced practitioners sitting together and asking what it would actually take to ensure that no child, elderly person or vulnerable family in Israel is left without enough nutritious food.

That, to me, is the great opportunity created by this research.

Of course, before we design the solution, we also need to be careful about what the study’s numbers actually tell us.

The researchers identify more than 2,000 organizations involved in some form of food assistance and aggregate billions of shekels in organizational turnover. But the study itself acknowledges that it cannot determine how much of that turnover is actually spent on food assistance. That is an important distinction.

An after-school program may provide children with meals alongside education and counseling. A welfare organization may provide food as one part of much broader family services. Their entire budgets cannot automatically be understood as money available for food.

Similarly, more than 2,000 organizations sounds like evidence of fragmentation — and some of it undoubtedly is. Greater coordination and shared infrastructure are needed.

But it may also tell us how deeply food assistance is embedded in Israeli communities.

The study’s discussion of the Haredi community is particularly interesting. Dense community support networks may help explain why food insecurity is lower than income statistics alone might predict.

Perhaps the question isn’t only “Why are there so many organizations?” but should also be “What is working, what isn’t, and how do we build the right infrastructure everywhere it is needed?”

Food insecurity is rarely just about income. Sometimes it is poverty. Sometimes it is an elderly person who cannot shop or cook. Sometimes it is a single parent who is overwhelmed. Sometimes there are family-management or mental-health challenges. And sometimes it is simply a child arriving at school hungry.

At Colel Chabad, we have the privilege of operating Israel’s National Food Security Initiative, bringing together the national government, municipalities, welfare departments, philanthropy and nonprofit partners in a coordinated effort to address food insecurity at scale. We also work closely with organizations such as Leket Israel and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, helping extend the reach and effectiveness of food assistance across the country.

Our experience has taught us that real food security requires six critical elements: Consistency. Reliability. Transparency. Dignity. Scalability. And enough food.

Consistency means a family can count on assistance month after month. Reliability means government, municipalities, social workers and families know the system will deliver. Transparency means knowing where resources are going and where gaps remain. Dignity means providing assistance in a way that respects the recipient and preserves choice. Scalability means building something capable of reaching tens of thousands of households — not merely succeeding in a pilot program.

And finally, there must be enough food. After all the systems, research and measurements, the assistance still has to provide enough nutritious food to make a meaningful difference in someone’s life.

These aren’t theories. They are lessons learned from doing the work. 

And no organization or sector can accomplish them alone.

In fact, this is where I find significant common ground with the researchers. Their recommendations call for greater coordination, better targeting, shared infrastructure, stronger reporting and closer cooperation between government and philanthropy.

Good. Let’s have that conversation. But let’s have it at the highest levels of Jewish philanthropy.

Let’s put food security on the main agenda at our major philanthropic gatherings. Let’s bring in funders who may never have considered themselves “food donors,” alongside government, municipalities, researchers and practitioners, and ask what it would actually take to solve this problem at scale. Our work with government, local authorities, Leket Israel, IFCJ and others shows what that cooperation can look like in practice.

And instead of only asking whether today’s system contains inefficiencies, let’s ask something more ambitious: What would it take to build one of the best food-security systems in the developed world?

Israel has the ability to do it.

Research can identify gaps. Data can improve targeting. Consolidation may make sense in some areas, while more infrastructure may be desperately needed in others. Government can provide scale and public responsibility. Philanthropy can provide resources, flexibility and innovation. Experienced nonprofits can provide execution and relationships on the ground.

The opportunity is to put those pieces together.

Colel Chabad has been feeding people in the Land of Israel for more than two centuries. Across enormous changes in society, government and philanthropy, one measure has remained remarkably simple: If a child was hungry yesterday and receives a nutritious meal today, something worked.

Our responsibility is to make sure it works tomorrow, too — consistently, reliably, transparently, with dignity, at scale and with enough food for everyone who needs it.

The new research has started an important conversation. Now food insecurity deserves a seat at the table where Jewish philanthropy decides what comes next.

Zalman Duchman is the executive director of Colel Chabad, Israel’s oldest continuously operating Jewish charitable institution, established in 1788 by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Colel Chabad operates Israel’s National Food Security Initiative in partnership with the Israeli government and municipalities, alongside an extensive network of food-security and social-welfare programs.