Posts Tagged ‘Charity’

Recently while attending a Diamondbacks’ game, I walked down the stairs of the parking garage and saw a young woman sitting with a sign that read, “hungry and homeless.” My husband and I were getting water from an outside vendor and he bought an extra bottle to give to her. We went in to enjoy a great game, and when we left, we saw another young woman with a sign that read, “yes, hungry and homeless.” 

I have no idea what those young women were going through. However, I wish for no one to ever experience hunger and loss of home due to economic hardship, which many are currently facing. I hope they know about shelters, food banks and faith based groups that are working to help all the people who are affected by these difficult economic times that are not going away as quickly as we hoped.

I thought about Jewish Free Loan and the interest-free loans we provide to assist members of the Jewish community. Our goal is to provide basic human needs as well as help people through micro-lending loans for business start-up and expansion, vocational training, college education and debt consolidation.

So many people find us when they are running out of options. We wish people could find us early on in their time of need to prevent any future hardship. We are constantly wondering how we can get the message out to the Jewish community that we exist and can assist them with interest-free loans. We wish to communicate more effectively, so that we can reach those in need of aid before it is “too late.” We really try to find out where the Jewish community turns when they are looking for help.

Can you help us? Please share with us your ideas and suggestions for ways to reach members of the Jewish community. Together we can prevent anyone from our community from ever having to sit with a sign that reads hungry and homeless. Let us know what you think is important for Jewish Free Loan to do in order to increase our visibility in the metropolitan Phoenix area. We look forward to engaging in an ongoing discussion on our blog or Facebook page, on how to get the message out to those who are in need of an interest-free loan. Please comment…we look forward to hearing from you!

It has always been quite meaningful to me that giving tzedakah (making charitable contributions) in Judaism is derived from the word tzedek (Hebrew for justice). Performing deeds of justice is one of the most important obligations Judaism imposes on the Jew.

From this perspective, one who is giving tzedakah is acting justly and those who are not are unjust. The giving of tzedakah was first legislated in the book of Deuteronomy in the Torah. We are told to give 10 percent of our earnings to the poor every third year with no specific amount annually. Many wonder why an amount is mandated. It has been said that if no percentage was allotted, people would give much less or nothing at all. The Torah reminds us, “For there will never cease to be needy people in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy.”

Many believe we should give from the heart, and others argue that Judaism says, “Give 10 percent and if your heart catches up, terrific. In the meantime good has been done. May goodness follow you all the days of your life.”

-Taken from Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s “The Book of Jewish Values Tzedakah is More than Charity.”