by Jeff Korbman

January 9, 2009

My daughter Aviva is 15. She runs a youth group in our synagogue on Shabbat morning. For her efforts, she is paid $25 per week. And recently, after receiving her paycheck, we spoke about what she should give away.
We talked about $2.50. Who owns that $2.50, that 10 percent traditionally given for tzedaka? Was it her, because she worked for it? Or was it someone else’s, and she just happened to have it at the moment?

I think about this conversation a lot these days. In my 10 years of working for MetroWest’s UJA Annual Campaign, never have I been asked the question so often: “How’s the campaign going?” People are curious, I guess, and want to know if we are immune from our economic surroundings.
We are not. Nor are any other charities I know.

But it’s rare the conversation ends at that point. Jews, because of our DNA, often focus on how bleak a situation may look, what is not happening, and how much farther we will sink. We have always done this. For example, shortly after Moses leads us out of Egypt, in a spectacular presentation of plagues and miracles brought by God, the people immediately complain. “If only we died back in Egypt,” they cried, “where we had meat and bread to eat” (Exodus 16:3). Forget the miracles, the promises, the freedom — where’s dinner?

We are realists, but we are realists with a history of finding clouds for silver linings. And this all raises the question: Is the campaign this year one large cloud? Is there a silver lining?

To be sure, the campaign by most measures is down. We have raised less money year-to-date from fewer donors, and this pattern may not change. To be Pollyannish would be irresponsible.
But there’s more to this campaign than just the bottom-line number.

By the time this article appears, more than 8,500 people will have contributed to the UJA annual campaign, raising close to $12 million in just five months. And while the numbers are less, the numbers are hardly zero.

Put differently, most are continuing to give, but are giving less as a result of these economic times.
What seems to separate the “less than” from the zeros is what I think about when I speak to Aviva about her pay stub.

For those who believe philanthropy is a nice thing to do, the answer during difficult times can well be “zero.” Nice is something we feel when we are in the mood. Nice is a function of emotion. Nice can be a win-win, but as a behavior is subject to external factors. Donors who give because it’s a nice thing to do, I think, stop giving when the feeling is no longer present.

But there are also those who give because it’s the right thing to do — a shared responsibility. And this is entirely different.

When I speak to Aviva, I think about my father, Cantor Jack Korbman of Livingston. He was one of those dads — and probably still is — who on Sunday mornings sat at his desk and wrote checks to different Jewish institutions. It wasn’t because it was a nice thing to do; he felt it was the right thing to do.

Today, United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ spends a lot of time contemplating its message and positioning itself as an organization. It was built at a time and a place when a communal institution made sense. One campaign, one pot, and if you were a member of the community, you participated. You didn’t need a fancy brochure, there was no website to look up, and no one checked a Form 990 before writing a check.

Much has changed. And while it is appropriate for us to examine our core mission and to be transparent, welcoming, compelling, and effective, we sometimes underestimate the historic value of how we give. In fact, from the earliest of our days, the farmers were told (not asked) to leave 10 percent of their crops behind for those in need (Deuteronomy 14:28).

That $2.50, I tell my daughter, is not yours. Nor were the $18 or $36 increments that dad wrote out on checks. We earn money, and 90 percent of it is ours to do with what we please. But for the remaining 10 percent, we are no more than stewards who share it with those in need. Not because it is nice, but because it is right.

And that is why the campaign has raised close to $12 million so far. We are blessed with thousands of donors who may have less, but understand that sharing is not measured in absolute dollars, but guided by the core value of philanthropic obligation.

Perhaps this is why, when God instructs the children of Israel to obtain jewels and silver from their Egyptian captors, He uses the term “borrow” (Exodus 11:2). They are not to take, but “borrow” these items. The message was not about the possibility of having to return them to the Egyptians. Rather, this was the first time our people, collectively, came into inheritance, true wealth; and the message was clear: It’s all borrowed.

Jeff Korbman is the UJA Campaign director for United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com

--TOP--