Tzedakah and Jewish Identity: The Shefa Fund's Vision

Spending and Investing

"Mission-based investing" is one Torah of Money strategy that The Shefa Fund has emphasized in reaching out to Jewish organizations. We emphasize that it is not only spending (grantmaking, programming, etc.) but also investing² our money that can have major social impact, consonant with our organizational missions. For example, Shefa's program of low-income community development, Tzedec, has catalyzed more than $10 million in Jewish Federation and foundation investments in low-income community development financial institutions (CDFI's), which provide credit for housing and jobs development to credit-starved neighborhoods.

CDFI's are following the model of the Hebrew Free Loan Societies and landsmenshaften (communal societies), that were so critical in the early part of the 20th century to Jews surviving and thriving in the rough-and-tumble of the immigration experience and the sweatshop economy. CDFI's also represent a modern fulfillment of Maimonides' concept of the "highest" degree of tzedakah--social investment, making a loan or a partnership with people living in poverty so that our aspirations and our well-being become intertwined with theirs. Tzedec thus gives new meaning to classic historical and spiritual Jewish understandings of tzedakah.

Similarly, Shefa's donor-advised grantmaking ($4 million during the past fiscal year) is informed by careful research that identifies and builds relationships with organizations doing the most innovative or consistently reliable work for social and economic justice, Jewish feminist education, Middle East peace and justice, Jewish gay and lesbian empowerment, and Jewish youth organizing. The anonymity emphasized as a virtue by Maimonides is less important to us, in our highly individualized and non-communal culture, than is the humanizing influence of hands-on tzedakah in which funders, activists and recipients make common cause.

Tzedakah and the Holidays

People on The Shefa Fund's mailing list have enjoyed receiving mailing inserts that link the themes of Hanukkah and Shabbat to the practice of tzedakah. At Hanukkah, we suggest that the custom of giving gelt, small gifts of money, be transformed into a major tzedakah effort. Each night, a different Hanukkah theme can be explored for the purpose of guiding a tzedakah decision. By combining end-of-the-tax-year charitable giving with home celebrations of Hanukkah, families can be true to the rabbinic tradition (which emphasizes both Torah study and tzedakah during this season) and greatly heighten the tikkun olam element of their observance.

For example:
1. Hanukkah coincides with the darkest nights of the year and has roots in ancient winter solstice festivals. Devote a discussion to Judaism and ecological issues--and give tzedakah to an environmental group.
2. Hanukkah embodies its symbolism through foods, especially fried potatoes (Ashkenazic) and dough (Sephardic) to represent the "miracle of oil" at the rededication of the Temple. Talk about the symbolism of food brands and the realities of food budgets. What does it mean to try to feed a family for 63¢ per person per meal (estimate for a family of four living at the federal poverty level of $15,100)? Give tzedakah to a hunger relief project.
3. "Women are obligated to light the Hanukkah menorah,"' says the Talmud (Shabbat 23a), "for they took part in the miracle." One story tells of the daughter of the high priest, facing violation by the Syrian-Greek governor, who shames her brothers into revolt. A second story "borrows" the saga of Judith cutting off the head of the Assyrian tyrant Holofernes. Dedicate one night to a discussion of women and resistance--and give tzedakah to a feminist organization.

Hanukkah lore thus becomes intertwined with discussions about tzedakah and how we can use it to help repair the world. Similarly, for Shabbat we have developed seven tzedakah ideas, based on Shabbat symbols. By using these ideas as a springboard for creativity, families can turn their pushke (the traditional tzedakah box) into a source of Jewish learning and social action. For example:

Blessing children: "Each child," says a Yiddish proverb, "carries her own blessing into the world." We affirm this on Shabbat by pausing, as soon as candles are lit, so children can be blessed by their elders. Tzedakah, too, can be used to cultivate the unique blessing of each child: to lift kids out of poverty and abuse, to teach diversity and human rights in school, to honor each child as a living bearer of Torah.
Candle Lighting: Lighting Sabbath candles is one of only three rituals that Jewish tradition assigns to women. The response of Jewish feminists to this meager portion has not been to turn our backs, but to use candle lighting as a core ritual of an expanded Jewish women's culture. Tzedakah, too, can be used to cultivate the heat and light of feminism.³

Next page: The "Fund for Tomorrow", Jewish identity and giving

2. Consistent with our emphasis on socially responsible investing as a mode of tzedakah, Shefa is one of only two Jewish organizations belonging to the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), the main address for faith-based shareholder activism aimed at cultivating corporate citizenship.
3. These resources can be obtained from The Shefa Fund at info@shefafund.org, (215) 483-4004.