Over the past several days as I’ve prepared for the Jewish Funders Network’s upcoming conference in San Diego, I’ve found myself thinking about how overwhelming the world can feel right now. More and more, I hear similar reflections from people in my life — friends, family members and colleagues. Helpless in the face of crises that feel faceless and simply too large to comprehend, the sheer scale of tragedy leaves them feeling paralyzed. .

War in the Middle East. A Russian invasion of Ukraine that has lasted more than four years and seems, if anything, to be intensifying. Refugees searching for new homes in countries whose populations are not always entirely welcoming. Economic crises that continue to widen social disparities.

And beyond the headline events are the crises that rarely make the front page, drowned out by war or the latest scandal: a severe drought following failed rainy seasons in eastern Ethiopia, resulting in life-threatening losses of food, water and financial resources; major fires in Bangladesh that have left thousands without homes or possessions; and thousands fleeing Hong Kong following China’s National Security Law, imposed on the territory in 2020, which allows authorities to punish acts like protest, dissent or criticism of the government.

As I contemplate the conversations I will be having in San Diego, I find myself returning again and again to this quiet sense of emotional despair that I know challenges so many these days, and to how my own understanding of this work has evolved over the past 35 years.

The power of philanthropy, I’ve come to realize, is not in asking people for money. The real power lies in opening gateways for impact.

Our responsibility is to help people move beyond the paralysis that comes from feeling overwhelmed by the world’s suffering; o help them understand that their compassion and generosity can translate into tangible change — and not for nameless, faceless populations, but for real people with real lives.

In my role as executive director of World Jewish Relief USA, the opportunities for impact that I have the privilege to open include repairing war-damaged homes in Ukraine, providing trauma support in Israel, helping distribute food and water in drought-stricken Ethiopia, providing disaster relief in places like Bangladesh and offering English-language training and livelihood support for those fleeing Hong Kong.

These efforts change and save lives, one person or one family at a time. And what I have learned, again and again, is that when we provide someone with the opportunity to change or save a life, their own life is changed as well.

Over the past week, I have also been working with a group of rabbis from the Pacific Northwest who are planning to recreate the Blues for Challah Jewish Grateful Dead Shabbaton model that I pioneered more than a decade ago in the Connecticut Berkshires. When we gather for that retreat in June, we will explore the spiritual connections between Judaism and the music of the Grateful Dead. 

One lyric in particular has been echoing in my mind during these past few days. As the Grateful Dead might put it (and as I will be teaching in June), each morning we wake up to find that we are “the eyes of the world.”

In a time when no one person can possibly comprehend every crisis unfolding around us — both those that dominate the headlines and those that never appear in them — that, indeed, is our job: to translate helplessness into opportunity. To turn paralysis into agency. To be the stewards of generosity that guide others to realize their dreams and visions for making a difference in the lives of others.

And when we do this — with compassion, care, commitment and love — we discover that even the smallest acts of care can help the seeds of change that were silent burst into bloom.

As another Grateful Dead lyric, from a song aptly titled “Help On the Way,” reminds us: “Without love in the dream, it will never come true.”

As I prepare for both the JFN 2026 International Conference and our Blues for Challah retreat, perhaps that is what it means to wake each morning as the eyes of the world.

David Weisberg is the executive director of World Jewish Relief USA, which works alongside local partners to lift up people affected by conflict, displacement and disaster, supporting nearly 180,000 people in 21 countries in 2025.