Charities are doing lousy.
So writes the New York Times (7/30/02).
Population is gyrating up.
Donations are down. Two
necessary ingredients for disaster.
Judaism is compulsive about giving. In fact, our tradition is so heavily
dependent on the notion of giving, that tzedaka is absolute. That is, we must do acts of tzedaka
whether we feel like it or not.
Idea: Barbara Silver runs A Package From Home*. Barbara sends toothbrushes, socks and hats to
hayalim bodeddim, soliders in Israel with no family. She also encloses a note of thanks for the job
of defending the country.
Idea: Mazon** annually provides about
$1,000,000 to charitable organizations around the country. They support soup kitchens, work programs and
our own Harvest Hope needs all our help locally.
A View from Israel::
“Today I visited terrorism survivors in hospital, bringing
chocolate bars and balloons. Some have
been there already a month and have much longer to go. One teenager was bombed in Café Moment and
her entire leg had bolts sticking out of it to hold it together. One young guy was shot by a terrorist in Neve
Yaakov over a month ago, and he explained that his entire left side was riddled
with bullets. Another guy was with him
and he too is still in the hospital, hardly able to move his leg. Another young guy said he doesn’t ever sleep
because he’s in so much pain. He was
also in the Café Moment bombing. We
talked to his mom too, who is having a hard time with the expense of getting to
and from the hospital every single day.
She lives all the way across the city.
They all visit with each other, this young group of terrorism survivors
and it was so nice to see how they keep each other company. The entire visit had a strong emotional
impact on me that I haven’t yet had time to process.
One of the most powerful moments came with our final
visit, to an older woman who was in the Passover bombing in Netanya. Her spirits were very low and she kept
talking about wanting to have peace and for the attacks to stop. We talked for several minutes before I
noticed the tattoo on her arm from the Holocaust.
This personal narrative is from Person-to-Person Action
Corps in Israel*. They visit
hospital, bring balloons, buy underwear…. whatever is needed by the survivors
of acts of deadly terrorism.
Idea: Tuesdays with Friends offers opportunities to serve the
older members in Columbia. For information
about TWF call the office. (Beth Shalom members cook and serve meals once
a month).
Idea: Numerous
opportunities for tzedaka exist in our own shul. We cook and serve the handicapped twice
yearly. We run a programs for
people in homes and hospitals and shul members members cook and serve a meals
once a We run programs for the elderly
now too.
Charity giving may be down but in the Jewish faith we have
learned some great lessons through the long epochs. One of them is that we must always give;
giving refines the soul and provides a genuine sense of worth. May it be said of us when we pass from this
physical universe that the world is a better place because we were here.
American Jewish World Service
45 West 36th Street
New York, NY 10018
45 West 36th Street
New York, NY 10018
T: 212-792.2900 ajws@ajws.org.
** MAZON
1990
South Bundy Drive
Suite
260
Los
Angeles, CA 90025-5232
www.mazon.org
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