Reimagining Tzedakah for the 21st Century - Where Do You Give?

On Tuesday evening at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, I had the privilege of joining a group of seventh graders who are piloting the Where Do You Give? Tzedakah Curriculum. This was the second session of their tzedakah unit and it focused on the connections we have with people across... Read more

Tzedakah saves from death. – Proverbs 10.2

I’ve never been very comfortable with this verse from Proverbs, quoted in the Talmud to support the idea that the act of giving tzedakah can prevent the death of the giver. It implies that tzedakah has some kind of magical power and that we... Read more

Deciding where to give tzedakah can be very overwhelming.

There are so many organizations and causes that we believe are important and yet we have limited amounts of money to give. One way to deal with this challenge is to get really systematic about giving tzedakah and to articulate our... Read more

How much is too much to share online?

When my husband and I give away ten percent of our income every December, we attempt to distribute it among different populations and issues that we want to support.  Last December, we realized that, in the spirit of the tzedakah priorities articulated... Read more