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October 2011/Cheshvan 5772
A JOURNAL OF JEWISH RESPONSIBILITY
Tzedakah
Daniel S. Nevins
Rebranding Tzedakah:
From Charity to Sacred
Spending. . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Larry S. Moses
Tzedakah & Philanthropy:
Rethinking American
Jewish Giving . . . . . . . . 3
Lucy Bernholz
The New Social
Economy: A Broader
Mix of Players. . . . . . . . 4
Don Abramson
Creating a Tzedakah
Standard. . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Charlene Seidle
In Relation to the
Collective ........... 6
Rachel Levenson
Shattering Stereotypes:
The Newest
Philanthropists . . . . . . . 7
Yoni Gordis, Jessica
Liebowitz, Will
Schneider, Seth Cohen
For Every Idea, a
Nonprofit? A Roundtable
on Innovation . . . . . . . . 8
Shawn Landres
From Giving to
Impact Investing . . . . . 10
William Foster
& Toby Rubin
How Big? How Great? . 12
Discussion Guide. . . . . 14
Amy Rabbino
Helping Funders Make
Good Decisions . . . . . . 15
Noam Zion
The Guide for the
Perplexed Donor:
Tzedakah as Jewish
Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Jennie Rosenn,
Jonathan Perlman,
Shelley Hébert, Sherri
Morr, & Brett Caplan
NiSh’ma . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Dan Medwin
Sh’maEthics . . . . . . . 20
hile the terms “philanthropy” and “tzedakah” are sometimes used interchangeably,
this issue of Sh’ma focuses a sharp lens on distinguishing one concept from the
other. Larry Moses outlines the ways in which tzedakah is an obligation rooted in a
basic tenet of doing justice and addressing the needs of the poor. Several writers respond to
his essay and explore whether philanthropic giving should be seen as broader and more
discretionary. Has the emergence of philanthropy — especially as a portal into Jewish life —
created a “gentrified” tzedakah that focuses charitable giving in ways that are not benefitting
those in need of such essentials as shelter, food, and warmth?
The last decades have witnessed an explosion of innovative programs and services that
have drawn new funders into the practice of serious Jewish giving. This month’s Roundtable, as
well as the conversation between Toby Rubin and William Foster, explore how sustainable and
scalable such projects are. Daniel Nevins and Don Abramson suggest that we, as Jews, ought
to embrace a certain “standard of giving” — similar to that of biblical tithing.
Does the practice of giving build character? Does it sensitize us to weigh our own needs
while holding in front of our eyes the needs of others? Many philanthropists comment on the
transformative nature of giving. We hope this issue will help to redefine the communal
conversation about tzedakah and philanthropy. —Susan Berrin, Editor-in-Chief
W
Rebranding Tzedakah:
From Charity to Sacred Spending
DANIEL S. NEVINS
The third paragraph of birkat hamazon, the prayer after eating, presents an odd conflation of concerns. Opening with a
petition for divine mercy toward Israel, its people, capital, temple, and monarchy, the prayer
veers into an anxious plea to escape material dependence on other mortals: “Do not make us
dependent upon the gifts of people, nor on their loans, but only
on Your full, bountiful, and capacious hand, that we not be
ashamed or humiliated forever.”
Without even the slightest bridging attempt, the prayer then returns to its initial theme, asking that God rebuild
the holy city of Jerusalem speedily in our day.
What is the middle passage about financial insecurity doing in a prayer about Jerusalem?
It is unclear when this section was added.
It is not mentioned in the Talmud’s brief dis-
cussion of the origins of birkat hamazon
(Brakhot 48b) and it appears for the first time in
the medieval Mahzor Vitri (83). But this pas-
sage’s anxiety about economic dependence on
others is consistent with earlier rabbinic
themes. Historian Seth Schwartz argues in Were
the Jews a Mediterranean Society? that the rab-
bis created a countercultural ideal in rejecting
Roman practices of patronage, honor, and gift-
giving (in the Greek, ‘euergia’). Rather, they
held up the Torah’s ideal of dependence on God
Part of our failure is cultural. We have
internalized Western concepts of individual
agency and patronage, wherever they lead, and
largely abandoned the Jewish ideal of obligation.
alone, and viewed poverty relief as a divine
commandment (mitzvah), not as a social favor
for which one was owed gratitude.
Jewish reality, however, was and has remained that tzedakah is more commonly viewed
as a voluntary act of generosity and kindness for
which one is due gratitude and honor. The ancient rabbis had to accommodate this internalization of “Mediterranean” values within the
Jewish community while still offering symbolic
