by Josh Frankel · Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Since our call for donations, St. Bridget’s has received approximately forty thousand dollars. That’s real money. That’s real money that is making sure people have food, that their rent is paid, that they are getting legal representation, and that is reuniting families. Also, Rubashkin’s has responded to our lead. They have given meat (what else?) to the workers’ families, and are negotiating a way to pay the families at least part of their lost wages.
Bottom line - Yasher Koach. Thank you for donating and thank you for spreading the message. Our little campaign has made a difference. Now it’s time to move on, to figure out what the next steps are. Here are some ideas.
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by Josh Frankel · Thursday, May 15th, 2008
The Rubashkin’s raid made big news earlier in the week, and we were angry. We were furious, filled with righteous indignation, ready to destroy the kosher meat industry, to throw out kashrut, to bash Orthodoxy until the last black hat disappeared from Iowa. But, now, it’s time to help. With hundreds of worker’s arrested, thousands of their family members are now in limbo. They have no money, no income, and no resources. They are frightened to apply for work, frightened to go shopping, and their kids aren’t going to school. Charities in Postville are pitching and do what they can to help these people, and unfortunately not-surprisingly, Agriprocessors isn’t helping out. I don’t often ask people to give tzedakah, and if I do, it’s a casual request. This is different. Anyone who has ever eaten kosher meat in this country has benefited from the hard, poorly compensated work these people have done, and now that they are in desperate need it is our turn to help.
Ari Hart, one of the leaders of Uri L’Tzedek, has been in contact with people on the ground, and he found this church, St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, which is working very hard with the families in town. However, the church’s resources are stretched thin, and they need donations.
Please, send money to:
St. Bridget’s Hispanic Fund
c/o Sister Mary McCauley
POB 369
Postville, IA 52162
Agriprocessors might be a large, unscrupulous company, but to these people, it represents one thing - Judaism. Please give. Please write a letter thanking them. Please let them know that you care.
by Danya · Monday, May 12th, 2008
If a community lacked a synagogue and a shelter for the poor, it was first obligated to build a shelter for the poor.
–Seder Hasidim
When you give food to a hungry person, give him your best and sweetest food.
–Maimonides, Mishneh Torah Hilchot Isurei Mizbayach 7:11
The NYT has a story about a kosher tamchui–soup kitchen–in Borough Park that’s got something right, it seems:
The storefront, on 14th Street in central Brooklyn, in one of New York’s largest Hasidic communities, serves only hot kosher meals. Its operators say it is the only soup kitchen of its kind in the city,…
Thursday was more crowded than usual because the kitchen was serving steaks–juicy, 16-ounce kosher shell steaks. Seconds were even available.
…
Masbia, the Hebrew word for “satiate,†serves 160 meals five nights a week. “We wanted to make it look like a restaurant,†Mr. Rapaport said, “because people in our community don’t want to be seen going to a soup kitchen — it’s highly embarrassing.
“But we’ve had people come in and eat and ask where they pay. We have to tell them, ‘No, you don’t pay.’ People here are kosher so they won’t go to any other soup kitchen. It’s come here or starve. .
Two men at Table 6 would give only their first names. “I don’t want people in my synagogue to know I come here,†said one of the men, Meyer, 55, who lives in Flatbush. Meyer said he had been unemployed for six months and recently went back to work as an optician. He enjoys the camaraderie at the soup kitchen.
“They treat you like a mensch, not a second-class citizen,†he said.
Full story here.
And here’s your bonus link, to Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger.
(Bloggy thanks to Justin.)
by BZ · Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Talmud Bavli, Megillah 7b:
à îø øáà îéçééá à éðéù ìáñåîé áôåøéà òã ãìà éãò áéï à øåø äîï ìáøåê îøãëé øáä åøáé æéøà òáãå ñòåãú ôåøéà áäãé äããé à éáñåà ÷à øáä ùçèéä ìøáé æéøà ìîçø áòé øçîé åà çééä ìùðä à îø ìéä ðéúé îø åðòáéã ñòåãú ôåøéà áäãé äããé à îø ìéä ìà áëì ùòúà åùòúà îúøçéù ðéñÃ
Rava said: A person is required to become intoxicated on Purim until he does not know the difference between “Cursed is Haman” and “Blessed is Mordechai”. [This is where most people stop reading.]
Rabbah and Rabbi Zeira had a Purim feast together. They became intoxicated. Rabbah got up and slaughtered Rabbi Zeira. The next day, he prayed for mercy and revived him. The following year, [Rabbah] said to him “Come, let’s have a Purim feast together.” Rabbi Zeira said to him, “A miracle doesn’t happen every time.”
Ran, ad loc.:
åîçéçééá ìáñåîé òã ãìà éãò îà é ÷à îø åëúá øáéðå à ôøéà æ”ì îääåà òåáãà ã÷à øáä åùçèéä ìø’ æéøà ëãà ’ áâî’ à éãçé ìéä îéîøà ãøáà åìà ùôéø ãîé ìîòáã äëé
“A person is required to become intoxicated until he does not know” - what does this mean? Rabbeinu Ephraim wrote: From the incident in which Rabbah got up and slaughtered Rabbi Zeira (as we have said in the Gemara), Rava’s statement is rejected, and it is not appropriate to act thus.
The Ba’al Hama’or quotes the same statement of Rabbeinu Ephraim, adding the line “åìéú äìëúà ëååúéä” = “the halacha is not like him [Rava]“. (Rabbeinu Ephraim may not be such a big name, but the Ran and Ba’al Hama’or don’t cite any other opinions on this issue, so they are agreeing at least implicitly.)
So even if you think that drinking on Purim is a “mitzvah” (a highly dubious claim), if you’re going to observe a Purim mitzvah to excess this year, my recommendation is matanot la’evyonim.
Happy Purim!
by Rooftopper Rav · Thursday, December 13th, 2007
For the New Yorkers among us, this class (co-sponsored by AJWS, Avodah, and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun) looks great. And it’s free.
Social Justice on a Shoestring Budget
This three-part series will explore the what, why and how of tzedakah: the religious imperative to make a difference.
Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun will facilitate this series on what Judaism says about philanthropy and social justice as a religious path and the challenges of identifying our values and putting our money where our hearts and minds are.
The first two classes will address the ethical and spiritual issues relating to tzedakah. The final class will have more of a practical focus. It will be taught by a financial expert who will provide advice and tips for how people starting out in NYC can put together a realistic budget for social change.
This program is brought to you by AVODAH, AJWS, and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun.
Date: January 15th, 22nd, and 29th
Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Place: Upper West Side – details provided upon registration
Cost: Free!
To register, go to the registration page or contact Amanda Schanfield at aschanfield {at} bj(.)org
by Danya · Sunday, October 21st, 2007
A new website, FreeRice.Com (a sister site of Poverty.Com), has come up with a pretty intriguing plan: get people to play a vocab quiz game, and for every word gotten right, 10 grains of rice are donated through the United Nations World Food Program to hungry people around the world. (Those 10 grains add up if you play for a while.) The revenue is generated from pageviews for the advertisers at the bottom of the quiz game.
The vocab is pretty good–they have like 50 levels that self-adjust based on your answers, so it becomes pretty tough pretty quickly and, I have to say, kind of addictive.
Since you’re going to goof off online anyway, why not do it in such a way that helps someone?
(Tip from Justin G.)
by YehuditBrachah · Monday, October 8th, 2007
Exodus 23:10-11: “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.â€
This year is a shmita year, described above. It only applies in Eretz Yisrael. In modern Israel, the teleology of the shmita year (arguably to benefit the poor) seems to crash up against the halachic practice of the law: some of the country’s poorest are having to pay exorbitant prices for produce. The New York Times today has an article on it. [Note: heter mechira is the ruling that allows eating produce grown and harvested on the shmita year. See Kol Ra'ash Gadol's recent pieces on the controversy of the rulings.]
The chief rabbinate, which controls the vital kosher certificates for food, declared this year that heter mechira was the rule, but it also said rabbis of local cities and towns could decide for themselves. The announcement resulted in confusion, anger, an unresolved suit before the Supreme Court, a rabbinical revolt and a declaration by the agriculture minister, Shalom Simhon, that he will forbid imports that compete with Israeli produce.
In Jerusalem, Israel’s poorest city, heter mechira is not supposed to be recognized. But while the Supreme Court is deciding on a petition against the chief rabbinate’s ruling, some supermarkets are selling produce under the heter mechira dispensation.
Since the ultra-Orthodox make up at least 30 percent of the city’s population, shops in areas like Geula and Mea Shearim are paying prices two or three times higher than normal for cucumbers and tomatoes grown only by non-Jews in the West Bank. The community is already among the poorest in Jerusalem, but the rulings of their rabbis matter far more to them than money.
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by BZ · Thursday, September 20th, 2007
As usual:
Two important reminders for those who are fasting on Yom Kippur:
1. Hydrate! Drinking a lot of water right before the fast is a good idea, but not sufficient. It’s best to start hydrating a day or two earlier. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to drink a liter of water RIGHT NOW. This can make a big difference in being able to have a meaningful day me-erev ad arev (from evening to evening), and having the strength at the end of the day to appreciate Ne’ilah rather than count the minutes until dusk.
2. Fasting isn’t always a choice. MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger encourages everyone to take the amount they would have spent on food and donate it to feed those whose fast is involuntary.
by Kung Fu Jew · Friday, August 17th, 2007
Wexner Fellow and Jewish food blogger Ariela over at BakingandBooks.com is raffling up an avalanche of cookbooks, Jewish and otherwise, in support of Hazon, known better as the “People of the Bike” and increasingly as the “People of the Cookbook.”
From now until September 3rd, BakingandBooks.com will be hosting a book raffle in order to raise money for the 2007 New York Jewish Environmental Bike Ride and - thanks to donations from Hyperion Books, Ten Speed Press, Penguin, HarperCollins, Wiley and Chronicle Books - there are 76 prizes up for grabs. For every $5 donation to this very worthy cause participants will be given one virtual raffle ticket - and yes, people with more than one ticket can win more than one prize! You can learn more about this raffle here.
Four Grand Prizes
Four lucky winners will receive a copy of “Forever Summer,†“Jamie’s Italy,†“Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe†and “The Essence of Chocolate.†That’s right, four books!
4 Grand Prizes
Sixty Individual Prizes 
60 individual prizesClick here to read the full list and buy a ticket!
Hazon is a nonprofit working towards a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community — as a step towards a healthier and more sustainable world for all. Chip in and eat up.
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by BZ · Monday, April 23rd, 2007
(Introduction.)
Today: Economic justice
241. “The gleanings of your harvest … leave them for the poor and the stranger.” (Leviticus 19:9-10)
242. “Do not gather the gleanings of your harvest.” (Leviticus 19:9-10)
243. “[The solitary grapes of] your vineyard … leave them for the poor and the stranger.” (Leviticus 19:10)
244. “Do not pick the solitary grapes of your vineyard.” (Leviticus 19:10)
245. “The fallen fruit of your vineyard … leave them for the poor and the stranger.” (Leviticus 19:10)
246. “Do not gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard.” (Leviticus 19:10)
247. “When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field … it shall go to the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.” (Deuteronomy 24:19)
248. “…do not turn back to get it…” (Deuteronomy 24:19) = the forgotten sheaves from #247
249. “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your yield from that year … and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow in your settlements shall come and eat their fill.” (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)
250. “Open your hand to your poor and needy kin in your land.” (Deuteronomy 15:11) = tzedakah
251. “If there is a needy person among you, one of your kin in any of your settlements in the land that Adonai your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kin.” (Deuteronomy 15:7)
252. “The first fruits of your new grain and wine and oil … you shall give to [the priest].” (Deuteronomy 18:4) = terumah, the portion for the kohanim (priests)
253. “Speak to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from the Israelites their tithes, which I have assigned to you as your share, you shall set aside from them 1/10 of the tithe as a gift to God.” (Numbers 18:26) = after the Levites receive 10% of the produce (ma’aser rishon), they have to pass on 10% of that 10% (terumat ma’aser) to the kohanim
254. “Do not delay the skimming of the first yield of your vats.” (Exodus 22:28) = when you separate the various tithes, make sure to do it in the right order, with terumot (for the kohanim) before ma’asrot (for the Levites); don’t delay the terumot
255. “No lay person shall eat the sacred.” (Leviticus 22:10) = a non-kohen may not eat terumah
by Danya · Friday, March 30th, 2007
The very good Rabbi David Levin-Kruss of Pardes has a nice idea for not only marking the genocide happening in the world today at our seders, but using the seder as a chance to raise a little money for those attempting to stop it. He writes,
Dear All
My name is David Levin-Kruss and I am a Jewish educator living in Jerusalem. Like many I watch the genocide unfolding in Darfurand wonder what I can do to help. In a situation eerily reminiscent of many in our own history, the world looks on as a people is destroyed. Jews have the collective trauma of being persecuted with none coming to our aid. We dare not make the same mistake ourselves.
This year I have decided to incorporate activism on Darfur into our seder and I suggest you do the same. Rather as in the days of the Soviet Jewry movement I propose that we leave a chair empty for those in Sudan and, more importantly, donate the cost of one meal to a charity working to alleviate and change the situation. We could also ask our guests to donate rather than to bring gifts.
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by Danya · Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Soferet Jen Taylor Friedman has started a tefillin gemach for women, based in NYC. She explains,
A gemach is a charity which lends things to people in need. Sometimes it’s basic stuff like plates, sometimes it’s wedding dresses, sometimes it’s furniture, and sometimes it’s tefillin. Men who can’t afford tefillin can borrow some from a tefillin gemach for as long as they need them. But women can’t, because gemachen don’t exist in the liberal Jewish movements (so far as I know) and the liberal movements are the only places where they’re interested in women laying tefillin. Bit of a bind, as it were. So I’m working on doing something about it. Slowly, as yet, but working on it. And lovely people who donate tefillin completely out of the blue are a vital component.
Go here to contact Jen if you have tefillin (or money to buy tefillin) to donate to the cause.
by deitybox · Sunday, January 21st, 2007
Each year, an Israeli organization called Tsad Kadima (Step Forward) hosts the Hike for Hope (website will be updated this week), a three-day hike on the Israel Trail on May 2-4 to raise money for kids with cerebral palsy. They’re a great organization, and it’s a really innovative way to give to a good cause.
You register, then you work to get sponsored at least $1,000, so if they have 45 hikers, they’ve just made $45,000 to help kids with CP and you get an amazing life-changing experience. Win-win situation. The registration fee covers all hike costs – food, tents, mattresses, etc. Shared cabins are additional.
Tsad Kadima is hosting two informational meetings, one in Jerusalem and one in Tel Aviv. Go, bring a friend, get involved. If you can’t hike, consider co-sponsoring someone.
In Jerusalem:
Monday, January 22 @ 19:30
Kehillat Yedidya, 23 Nahum Lifshitz St., Baka, Jerusalem (contact marc {at} amav(.)net)
In Tel Aviv:
Monday, February 5 @ 20:00
17/3 Rechov Yishkon, Kerem HaTeimanim, Tel Aviv
(contact yonawise {at} 013(.)net)
For more details, call 02-654-0062 or email step {at} zahav.net(.)il
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol · Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
I just returned from Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s first annual conference on Judaism and Human Rights (see earlier post here). The speakers were beyond amazing, and despite the overall state of human affairs these days, there were a number of notes that sounded for hope, including: the creation of Imams for Human Rights (by Washington D.C.’s own Imam Yahya Hendi), and another organization created independently: Evangelicals for Human Rights.
On a sad note, it was announced Monday morning that the Dari home had, yet again, been destroyed. I was there after the first destruction, when RHR went to the site to figure out how to begin again, and so hearing that their home had again been destroyed was particularly moving to me, as was seeing Rabbi Arik Ascherman, of RHR Israel, standing behind the podium with tears in his eyes reporting this terrible thing. These people are not terrorists. They just want to house their families. How can we continue to bulldoze the homes of people who have done no harm, who merely want to live in peace on their own land? ..it is unconscionable from a people who know as our deepest national story the pain of exile and homelessness.
Sessions were devoted to among the many and varied topics on human rights, economic justice (by, among others, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, one of the Forward’s “Forward Fifty”), Torture and Jewish Law (from the unparalleled Rabbi Saul Berman) and many organizing sessions were held to talk about how to move forward on a variety of fronts.
My long-time chevruta, with whom I travelled to the conference, posted his thoughts or here.
The personal courage of some of our speakers was humbling…
Sister Dianna Ortiz, Catholic nun, spoke about her experiences being tortured in Guatemala. It was clearly very painful for her to discuss the subject at all. What the Guatemalans did to her is unbelievable and unforgivable, and the fact that the US government was supporting the Guatemalans when they knew such abuses were going on is very hard to take. She said that if she had vowed to God to speak out on what happened, she probably would have tried to find a way around the vow, a way to avoid speaking. But she felt since she had vowed to the other victims – victims who died, whose screams haunted her as she was being tortured herself – she felt she had no way out of that vow, hence her passionate speaking out for all victims of torture. And she pointed out it’s not a partisan issue; yes, she was called a liar among other things, despite one hundred and eleven 2nd degree burns from cigarettes on her body, by officials in the administration of George H.W. Bush. However, the Clinton administration was not particularly more responsive in doing anything about what happened or launching an investigation.
by Y-Love · Friday, October 6th, 2006
This week’s New York Jewish Week contains an article I think most germane for this first yom tov following the cleansing day of Yom Kippur, during which all of humanity’s fate was sealed for the upcoming year, if not for repentance, prayer and charity.
Mr. Mark Charendorff speaks of the state of Jewish philanthropy today which, in his opinion, leaves what to be desired:
For a start, if those Jews who find themselves among the wealthiest 1 percent of the American population (taxpayers who made at least $327,000 last year) contributed just 50 percent of their net worth to charity we would see billions of dollars flowing into not-for-profits. We need to create a new ethic in the Jewish community where one’s legacy is determined in direct inverse proportion to the size of one’s estate. After all, the average American estate contributes more to taxes than to charity (22.7 percent vs. 12.2 percent in 2003). Let’s create an annual dinner to honor the memory of that woman or man who died penniless that year but made the world a better place through their lifetime of philanthropy and service.
While this sounds virtuous on the surface, this is extreme. No Jewish ethic would require, mandate, or even suggest that one should eke out their days in poverty, dying penniless relying on the community to bury them. And, fifty percent is a rather high bar to feel guilty for not reaching.
However, perhaps we can find a solution in the eternal, timeless words of the Talmud.
The Gemara in Beitzah speaks about giving extra money to perform mitzvot and comes up with the conclusion hiddur mitzvah ad shlish — for the beautification of a mitzvah, one is permitted to give up to 1/3 (of their money, here, assets). Not as a requirement, but to beautify the mitzva of charity.
Americans, says Mr. Charendorff, give almost twice as much money to taxes as we do to charity. For Jews, this ultimately means we are giving more money to keep the IRS off our backs then we are to bring the blessings down onto our heads. (And as you stop singing the ‘Mazel tov, mazel tov’ song from Fiddler…)
For those of us who are privileged enough to be in the wealthiest portion of America, perhaps this would be the straw that breaks the cosmic camel of anti-Semitism’s back.
by Danya · Monday, September 25th, 2006
I just put up a little musing on the problematic theology of the Unetane Tokef on Jerusalem Syndrome. If you’re interested, feel free to check it out here.
by Mobius · Tuesday, August 15th, 2006
Dear Friends,
In this time of crisis in the Middle East, many compassionate individuals are at a loss for an effective way to help those whose lives have been disrupted by the conflict affecting Israel and Lebanon. Thousands, on both sides of the border, have been driven from their homes, or worse yet, have had their homes destroyed by airstrikes and rocketfire, leaving them with nowhere to return once calm is restored. Regardless of where one stands politically on this issue, it is incumbent upon each of us to have compassion for those who have suffered in this war, and to alleviate their suffering in whatever way possible.
With that in mind, I, along with my friends Amy Kaplan (a student a Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo) and Stuart Siegel (a student at Yeshivat Bat Ayin), are organizing a benefit concert to raise funds to support those who have been displaced by this conflict, in both Israel and Lebanon.
Our mission is two-fold: 1. To collect funds that will be evenly distributed and used to provide direct aid to Israeli and Lebanese refugees; and 2. To create awareness that we, as Jewish people, are moved to compassion for all those whose lives have been ill affected by war.
The event will take place at The Yellow Submarine in Jerusalem on Monday, August 28, and feature Jewish and Arab musicians including Coolooloosh, Eden MiQedem, Sagol 59 and Saz, among others. Proceeds will be given to reputable Israeli and Lebanese relief funds, which have had their efficacy verified by those receiving aid.
Though we have received a reduced-rate booking from the venue and are pursuing support from local foundations, in addition to welcoming your donations, we are in direct need of your support to insure the costs of the event are themselves are covered. We are thus specifically seeking support from our friends and relatives abroad to help cover our overhead so that we can channel the maximum amount from the event itself towards direct aid.
We expect the event to be well-covered in the media, and is thus an excellent opportunity to show that the people of Jerusalem, and the Jewish community itself, are concerned with the suffering of individuals on both sides of the conflict, even while in the midst of our own trying times.
Please lend your support.
Send a check marked ‘REFUGEE FUND’ to:
Matzat
472 Henley Ave.
New Milford, NJ 07646
Or donate via PayPal:
Matzat is currently filing for non-profit status and can retroactively apply tax-deductions for all contributions above $100. If this is of interest to you, please contact me separately.
Thank you.
Daniel ‘Mobius’ Sieradski
director, Matzat
editor-in-chief, Jewschool.com
