The Highest Level of Tzedakah
Hat Tip: Greg
Over a year ago, I wrote a post titled "A Fantastic Cause, but a Ridiculous Claim." I was writing about a ridiculous claim made by a tzedakah organization. The brochure stated "you have the power to determine how many families will be able to escape the vicious circle of poverty, distress and despondency!"
Being that I would love to invest in such a cause I read on, but was disappointed to find that the organization did not seek to put families on their own two feet through vocational training, apprentice programs, or job counseling and placement services. It only sought to provide temporary relief.
And while giving money to families to relieve building debts, feed their family, etc, is a form of tzedakah, this type of relief is only temporary. Without permanent changes, a family will not be able "to escape the vicious circle of poverty," as this unnamed organization claimed and chances are, that in only a small number of year, they will be back in a terrible position.
Not too long ago I received a solicitation confirming what I already knew. A family who was bailed out of debt year earlier (much of which was "Marriage Debt") was back in the very same situation just years later.
Letters like this make me want to scream: Why are we perpetuating a system that is failing so many? Why do we not seek to give tzedakah at a higher level? Even Gedolim (see quote below) tell us that this sector is in imminent danger. But why do we only receive solicitations for temporary help rather than permanent solutions?
[Note: Bad budgeting practices are not the property of kollel couples alone. I know people making six figures who need to make permanent changes too].
Today, Greg of Presence, posted an article from the Baltimore Sun.: "Subsidy cuts send students from Yeshivas to Outside Jobs." The article nicely profiles the journey of one particular 50 year old Kollel Student and father of 5 into the working world. While still maintaining his high standards of observance and remain in learning, he has found work in a unique field and is able to support his family modestly and in dignity.
One organization responsible for funding these training programs, in addition to the Israeli Government and some private corporations, is the Joint Distribution Committee. For the most part, I ignore the many non-Orthodox solicitations that hit my mailbox.
But maybe I should be taking a closer look at Organizations like the JDC and ignoring solicitations like the latest one sitting on my desk which reads more like a a personal attack: "Heed the Call of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, . . . . .the pain and suffering of the citadels of Torah. The holy yeshivos and the Torah community in Eretz Yiroel. . . due to incredible cuts in the budget, have been put into imminent danger of collapse. . . and the food and sustenance necessary has not been forthcoming."
I want to sustain Torah in Eretz Yisrael, even where I align myself with a different segment of the Orthodox population. I don't want to see a community collapse. And that is why I want to give the few tzedakah dollars that leave my own community to organizations seeking to build a healthy financial future, not try to temporarily save a community from the "imminent danger of collapse."
Your thoughts?
20 comments:
hmmmm... instead of handing dollars and checks to meshulachim, let's all agree to start handing want ads and advertisements for free training seminars. :) Once, Adam told a meshulach that the local 7-11 was looking to hire, and the meshulach said that job would be beneath him. Right, because holding out your hand so everyone else can support you is so much more prestigious.
We don't give to meshulachim raising funds for daughters of marriagable age (have a small wedding or get a job to pay for it), or to those raising money for Israeli yeshivos (um, what happened to all the money you spent flying to America and hiring a driver and buying cell phone minutes?).... it just means we have more to give to our own shul and our own preferred organizations locally. I wish I knew of more Jewish vocational training programs and the like.
Sounds like I should look into giving to the JDC. Thanks for the tip!
My thoughts? It seems that you are willing to consider donating to non-Orthodox organizations only when they help Orthodox Jews. So much for kol yisrael areivim zeh l'zeh.
good point, well stated. tzedakah money must be used wisely. even within good organizations, and even with good people in place, tzedakah money can still be used innefficiently or ineffectively.
this is what my mentor, danny siegel (www.dannysiegel.com) teaches.
keep fighting the good fight!
arnie draiman
www.draimanconsulting.com
"I want to sustain Torah in Eretz Yisrael, even where I align myself with a different segment of the Orthodox population."
there are torah institutions in israel that are in more in range of your own allignment too.
how do you feel about hakhnasat kallah appeals?
I won't be able to afford tuition-
A friend of ours who is high up in his firm offered a meshulach a job in his firm and the man stormed off in anger. You touch on a real problem.
Anonymous-You are very off base, but there is probably no need to argue. So I won't bother. I happily would give money to organizations that help poor Jews, Orthodox or not. I will not give money to reform or conservative movements or political groups because they often undermine Torah. If I can earmark the funds for a particular cause and see that Torah will not be undermined (or perhaps even strengthened), I will happily consider earmarking funds for that cause.
Arnie-Thanks for reading. I try to take my giving as seriously as I do my own spending, saving, and investing.
Ari-I'm well aware of the many Torah institutions along my hashkafic lines. But I was thinking more along the lines of helping individuals support their family in dignity and addressing what comes in my mailbox. I get solicitations from Hesder Yeshivot too. Our money for Yeshivot is kept completely locally. We do write checks for certain Free Loan Funds, Maot Chitim, etc. . . .But I'd rather see my giving affect permanent change.
Aaaah, hakhnasat kallah appeals? Good topic while we review Pirkei Avot. I'm not 100% sure what I think. One cannot deny the mitzvah. But like everything there is appropriate and inappropriate execution. I'll have to think about this.
Shabbat Shalom everyone.
The problem is both at once a simple one and a huge one. Much of the Haradi community has decided that it won't work and has decided that the country "ows" it support. The problem is that there is some limit past which the rest of the country just has to say "enough!" As of now we have a system that has no economic foundation and is so deeply in debt its a bubble waiting to burst. as near as I can tell at this point the only thing keeping the system afloat at all is massive debt and outside giving.
However sooner or later the banks are going to start calling in this debt, or at least stop throwing good money after bad and stop writting new loans. At that point much of the Haradi community here in Israel is going to come crashing down like a house of cards.
And with most of the men tought from age 3 that work is bad, and of course having no real skills there will be very little to stop the collapse.
However unless the rabbis of the haradi community start to call for real solid structural changes *AND SOON* I don't see a way to avert this from happening.
I expect many more people will be showing up at my door asking for money in the future.
Sephardic lady,
Could you put me in touch with the friend of yours who is high up in his firm that offered a meshulach a job?I recently left kollel after many years got a masters in accounting and I'm now looking for a job.
Zach Kessin-Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm sure your understanding is far beyond mine.
Anonymous above-My email is in my profile and you are welcome to email me a resume (NO ATTACHMENTS-I WON'T OPEN THEM). But I don't live in NY and I don't know if you are there and need to stay put. I did a short phone interview with this firm and I know you have to start at the bottom if you don't have the right experience. They would only start me at the . I believe starting salary was under $35,000 at the time. Work hours varied from 40 hours a week to 70 hours during tax season. You might let me know what salary you are seeking too.
I wonder how many will be driven off the derech by sheer poverty. Its pretty hard to see the good in a Torah lifestyle when you don't have heat in the winter or enough to eat.
I have a real problem with giving money for hachnasat kalla when that means paying for a couple's apartment, furniture, and an expensive wedding.
Our wedding was (by most standards) on a shoestring budget (but we were very happy with it). We don't own an apartment. When we got married, our couches and coffee table were pulled from the trash. our "dining room table" was a plastic table that had sat out in someone's garden so long that they wanted to get rid of it. Most of our chairs are still hand-me-downs that people got rid of. Why should I give tzedaka for someone to live better than I do?
I have no problem donating to a kalla dress gemach - my dress was a gemach dress and I feel really blessed to have had something so beautiful and the treatment I got there was incredible!
But should I donate for an avreich to have a wedding with 400 people, when we kept our guest list to a tight 200? Should I pay for them to own an apartment when we still pay rent? My husband and I *both* work (me only part time now, but before the wedding, I worked full-time).
And suppose we could afford all these things. Is it so good for someone to have all these things handed to them? Isn't there value in knowing the work that goes into making a buck? I know that I appreciate our couches much more after having sat on second-hand junky futons for three years. And when we finally get a car (b"h), I'm sure I'll appreciate it soooo much more after all the years I've spent taking busses.
zach kessin---- did you go to Brandeis U around 1994-95 or so? I was in the class of 96-- I think I knew you.
I don't know if you give to your local federation, but you may be interested in knowing that in Baltimore a portion of your gift to The Associated goes to the JDC, and a large portion also goes to JAFI, whose goals I also think you would also support. That is in addition, of course, to the larger portion that supports the Baltimore community. So, you may already be giving to the JDC, indirectly.
heather: I'm friends with Zach. I know he went to brandeis
You can try contacting him on his blog http://israeliskies.blogspot.com
ThE modern orthodox world will not be able to afford to give to the charidei world in the near future. Lets do the the math. In a local yeshiva the tuition is rising 6% every year in 8 years my family of 5 will cost $121,000 a year andd camp approx 20k after tax dollar. Nuts!!!! The MO community is in trouble either by not affording the 121k or by down sizing families which is terrible. If a plan is not developed MO and UO communities are going to crumble. Good Luck to us all.
To put it plainly - not one dime for able-bodied people who refuse to be gainfully employed in a full-time market rate job. Orphanages, old folks homes, medical care, terrorism victims funds - these I give to. But no others. If everyone else did the same, the transition period will be painful, yes, but like some life-saving procedures, you have to endure some pain in order to get well. It's long past time this cancer of idiocy was cut out.
random thought, why does "Learning Torah" have to mean full time study in a Kolel for one's entire life. We would probably be so much stronger if many of the people learning places like Lakewood were to spread out across the Jewish world after 5 years there and form the basis for the next generation of educated Jews. Work as an accountant or something and be a leader of the communities where they end up, by giving a shiur or the like.
It could be just that as I have no Yesheva background I often feel like I fall between the cracks. Daf Yomi (and gamara in general) is way over my head and I don't have time to take a few years off of life to sit in Yesheva, so I get to continue to feel dumb a lot.
Here's an example of an American kollel that excels at outreach and community education:
http://www.torchweb.org/
Here's another such success, also in Texas:
http://www.datanet.org/
Great post! Gets the old wheels turning. I remember being newly frum, about to get married, and being approached about giving for hachnasa kallah. At the time, my husband and I were dirt poor and only racking up more debt and here I was being asked to give money to Israeli kallahs to buy and furnish a home and host large weddings. My husband and I couldn't even dream of buying a home - we could barely afford to rent. We furnished our apartment ourselves, with mainly used furniture. Our wedding was small - about 150 people. I was appalled! Years later, I felt guilty for being appalled. Now I am back to being appalled! :)
Honestly, my philosophy does resemble my folks (I can't believe I am saying that) - if you are old enough to get married, you are old enough to support yourself. If not, than you shouldn't get married yet. I know that this attitude isn't "frum" but it is practical.
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