A Video by Yoni Oppenheim … More »
“Look Me in the Eye: A Meditation on Charitable Giving”

There were many things that resonated for me in Nevins’ Sh’ma article “Rebranding Tzedakah: From Charity to Sacred Spending.” In what was an otherwise beautifully orchestrated piece, I couldn’t’ help but cringe at a solitary note of discord in a distinction he makes between two types of philanthropists in the Jewish world. The first, he … More »
Life is unpredictable. Some days, we experience the blessings that life has to offer, varying from successes, new opportunities, and happiness. For most days, we can consider ourselves quite lucky when reflecting on the positive gifts that we receive, such as good health, fortune, shelter, and family. Despite the fluctuating economy, many of us are … More »
“If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman” (Deut. 15:7) This section of the Torah is most concerned with what we … More »
Although I am a printmaker who works primarily on paper, with a printing press, I felt it necessary to create something that hypothetically could indeed hold and contain money. After going back to the most basic of Jewish sources, the Torah, I focused on a specific quote from Deuteronomy 15:7-8: “ If there shall be … More »
One should not make the Peah less than one-sixtieth [of the field], and even though we said that there is no definite amount for Peah: it is all based upon the size of the field, the number of poor, and the abundance of the crop.
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Rabbi Yehuda Hannasi said in Pirke Avot: “Be careful in performing a light mitzvah as a weighty one, for you know not the reward of each mitzvah.” In the area of philanthropy we could render his thought thusly: “Be mindful of small gifts as well as of big gifts, for you know not the impact … More »
My family used to keep a JNF tzedakah box on our kitchen counter. You know the one I’m talking about, that little blue box speckled with images of greenery and Israeli flags. In my home, the JNF tzdeakah box served as a constant reminder of the Jewish rebuilding of our ancestral homeland. The advertising of … More »
When I was little, giving Tzedakah was fairly straight forward. A portion of your allowance? Into the tzedakah box. Find a penny on the street? Into the tzedakah box it goes. Then once or twice a year, we’d dump all the money out onto the dining room table and count it up, lining up neat … More »