Giving: not just a Jewish value, but a tradition
The main facet of the Jewish Teen Foundation is philanthropic giving based on Jewish traditions and values. As I researched the history of Jewish giving, I found that not only is philanthropy a deep-rooted tradition, but also a value that has been embedded in the Jewish community and spread throughout society.
The philanthropic values of today are found in the ancient Jewish texts. The Hebrew word for charity, tzedakah, has its root in the word for justice, evidence that charity was a social as much as a theological value in Jewish life. Essentially, the history of Jewish philanthropy should be examined not only in a religious context, but also in daily life, where it has been practiced for thousands of years across the globe. The ways Jews have given over history have mainly emphasized a desire to create a society of greater justice. The roots of tzedakah are implicitly found in the bible. Pictured on the left is a modern JNF tzedakah box, but such boxes have been used for over 1000 years to collect donations. Heavy emphasis is given to the obligation of caring for the poor, needy, and disadvantaged. For ancient Jews, poor relief was an essential religious obligation, one that allotted merit in heaven to the donor. The Talmud gives more details on charitable giving by outlining specific mechanisms. One such was the koopah, or a collection of funds to be distributed weekly to the poor. Another was the tamhuy, a daily food distribution for the needy. Maimonides wrote in the 12th century that not all communities had these mechanisms, showing that the Jewish world at that time had different levels of charitable organizations and with different abilities to give.
As the European Jewish community began to grow, private giving by both men and women flourished alongside it. Private donors voluntarily funded the poor relief in many European communities. Special fundraising tasks were given to officially appointed collectors “gabba’ei” or “”gabba’ot” who collected money as the need arose. As Jewish communal organization became more sophisticated, it took on the role of implementing the Jewish value of charitable giving. I find it interesting that around this time, public donation became standardized, and communal charity was often mandated in the same way as taxes. Money was now collected for the local and foreign poor, Jewish captives, the poor in Israel, and the incessant waves of refugees. Individual donors began to donate to issue areas that specifically concerned them. This created benevolent societies, to which a membership became a source of status and power.
Towards the late 1700s, supranational communal institutions arose such as the Lithuanian Yeshivot and Hasidic Courts of Eastern Europe. This is not the first time that scholars and religious leaders were supported by religious donations, but it displayed a shift from local charity to broader philanthropic donation. In Western Europe, the emancipation of the Jews and granting them citizenship changed the face of charitable giving. Participation in the Jewish community became voluntary, so poor relief could no longer be mandated. Nonetheless, social expectations and norms continued to serve as factors “obligating” donors to help the Jewish poor. Western Jews became more integrated into the general society, allowing patterns of donation to broaden further: non-Jewish charities and organizations became beneficiaries. Still, much money was donated to institutions aimed at improving the poor lot of Jews. The pictures below demonstrate this point very well. All three were taken in the same time period: the left shows poor traditional Jews in Belarus, the middle depicts Jewish settlers in Jerusalem, and on the right is a well-to-do Jewish wedding in Germany. The efforts of Jews similar to those on the right helped to provide financial, political, and educational support for disadvantaged Jews worldwide.
In the 20th century, largely, Jews in the US gave new impetus to Jewish charitable giving. The status afforded to Jews in the Bill of rights had created voluntary membership in the Jewish community, and thus donations had always been voluntary. Towards the end of the 1800s a mass influx of Jewish immigrants arrived. Hence, philanthropic giving shifted to a wide range of institutions aimed at helping immigrants survive and integrate in America. American Jews continued to support Jews internationally, and individuals gave much money to Eastern Europe. Rise of Zionism also meant that large sums of money went to support Jewish settlement in the land of Israel, as most American Jews felt that their identity as a Jew was contingent on the existence of
Israel. Here too women’s organizations such as Hadassah and WIZO played a large role. The girls pictured to the right are advocating for child labor abolition in Yiddish in the early 1900s. They show that as Jews became more safely integrated into American society, philanthropy again shifted towards not specifically Jewish causes. This was out of the potential symbolism of Jewish organizations as being too separatist to the Jewish community. Despite the shift to not necessarily Jewish causes, I noticed that within any charitable cause there lies some sort of Jewish value. I really appreciate that Jewish culture is essentially hardwired to help those disadvantaged in our world. Giving with in the Jewish community did continue, especially regarding the creation of Israel and the struggle of Soviet Jewry. In the late 20th century, intermarriage and assimilation were large worries, so philanthropy shifted once again to ensure a new generation of culturally educated Jews was created.
The history of Jewish charity and philanthropy seems particularly dynamic, with new institutions and goals developing in each new environment in which Jews found themselves. Giving always seems to express the donors’ quest to improve their society by strengthening the values they wish it to be based upon. The goals of giving also exhibit continuity, shown by giving money to strengthening Jewish education, supporting Israeli Jews, and rescuing persecuted Jews. Finally, something that personally impresses me is that the responsibility to give was always felt by individuals across gender lines, meaning that the Jewish community appreciates progressive notions. New trends for philanthropy will continue to develop as the climate of the 21st century shapes the Jewish community.
We can apply many of the trends in Jewish philanthropy to our work with at-risk youth. Continuity is exhibited in our mission because these youth are part of the next generation in our society, and thus deserve to be aided in the beginning of their lives. Jewish philanthropy is highly based on improving society based on the desired values of the giver. By granting to organizations working with at-risk youths, the JTF, effectively doing just that. We are improving conditions for these youths, and thus improving our society. A value found widely throughout Judaism is Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world. The fact that many children are disadvantaged due to little of their own doing shows something inherently broken in the world. Our work will help to fix some of those problems. Finally, as previously stated, a main facet of philanthropy is tzedakah, which comes from the Hebrew root word for justice. By aiding at-risk youth, we are bringing justice to children and teens who otherwise may never get a fair chance at life.
