However, the halakhic (Jewish legal) sensitivities transcend parochial concerns. In fact, the high majority of Jewish philanthropic dollars today are given to non-Jews. A study, by the Institute for Jewish & Communal Research, found that only 6 percent ($318 million) of the $5.3 billion in mega-gifts (gifts worth $10 million or more) that Jews donated to individual institutions between 1995 and 2000 went to Jewish organizations. Universalism has always been at the core of Jewish values. The Talmud, written two thousand years ago, commanded that a Jew give to non-Jews along with Jews "mipnei darkhei shalom" (for the sake of peace). Some interpreters understood this dictate as a prescription to dissuade anti-Semites from persecuting their Jewish neighbors. However, Maimonides, perhaps the greatest of all legal authorities in the Jewish tradition, suggested that shalom (peace) is itself a divine attribute and that we must seek to perpetuate peace in order to cultivate that virtue. Jews must give to non-Jews and their causes along with Jews and their causes in order that we continue to become a people of love who see infinite dignity in every person we encounter.
This principle was institutionalized in Jewish communities, prior to their more full inclusion into nation-states, through the establishment of a kuppah, a collecting agency, which was responsible for collecting and distributing tzedakah. A kuppah had standards of accountability and transparency, such as ensuring that there were at least two collectors and at least three distributors of all funds. Today, when Jewish giving primarily happens through non-profits and foundations, the community must help to safeguard the accountability of the collectors and distributors and to ensure that funds are being used to address the needs of the vulnerable.
The holiday season brings great spiritual and ethical possibilities, a time for families to engage in financial introspection (cheshbon ha-kis) as we assess our incomes earned through December 31st for our Form 199s and determine our final commitments of giving for this year. May our Channukkah gelt this year bring joy to our homes and may it inspire us to fulfill the purpose for the existence of the Jewish people to do justice and repair the world.
Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Founder and President of Uri L'Tzedek (The Orthodox Social Justice Movement, www.utzedek.org), in his last year of rabbinical school at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah as a Wexner Fellow, and is a fourth-year doctoral student of moral psychology at Columbia University.
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