I am sure many of you can remember those small blue and white tin tzedakah boxes that JNF widely distributed for years (and maybe some of us even still have one!). While tzedakah remains a central priority of Jewish tradition and practice, what for years was the ultimate American symbol of tzedakah seems somewhat outdated in the year 2012.
Recently, the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an organization that works to end global poverty, spearheaded an effort to re-think and re-design the “traditional’ tzedakah box. They launched a competition that encouraged entrants to design a new tzedakah box that fit our contemporary society and life. Contestants could choose from three design categories: a physical object, an interactive/web design, or an “out of the box” design.
For more on this interesting project, and to see the winners of the competition, click here.
The truth, however, is that this creative competition was about much more than redesigning the tzedakah box. In their own words, the hope was that this “Where Do You Give” campaign would, “inspire a national conversation among all of us who seek to engage more deeply with our communities about where we give, to whom and why.”
This effort gives us all the opportunity to reflect on, and perhaps to reconsider, the role tzedakah plays in our own daily lives. AJWS poses some specific questions to help us think this through:
1) What are your first memories of learning about tzedakah (or philanthropic giving)? What are your first memories of giving money to those in need?
2) What does it mean for you to be a philanthropist? When did you realize you were a philanthropist?
3) How do you determine your giving priorities? What values and factors do you consider when deciding where to give?
4) Tzedakah comes from the Hebrew word tzedek, meaning “justice” or “righteousness” as opposed to the more common translation of “charity”. Do you see financial giving as a way of pursuing justice? Why or why not?
What do you think? How would you answer the questions above? As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.