Rabbi's Message: Volume 23, No. 6: Jan. 2006 - Tevet 5766

 


Volume 23, No. 6: Jan. 2006 - Tevet 5766

Subject: Rabbi's Message: Jan. 2006 - Tevet 5766:
Tse-da-ka: Day-to-day versus Emergency

The past year has put into perspective the generosity of the American people in general, and of the Jewish people in particular. Generous supplemental donations have been sought and received for such causes as tsunami relief, Katrina relief, Florida hurricane relief, an Ambulance for ARMDI through the Federation, etc.

On the other hand, the charitable organizations that we depend on us for our day-to-day Jewish life in New Hampshire are being overlooked. While it has been clear since last year's annual meeting that our temple's budget is badly in the red, it is becoming clear that the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire (formerly known as the Jewish Federation of Manchester) is having a great deal of difficulty soliciting funds for their campaign this year. Many people are saying, I am tapped out due to all of the other emergencies and are making smaller contributions to the Federation or worse - no contribution.

One of the problems with fund raising is that donations are discretionary on the part of those being solicited. So I would like to offer an analogy. As a home owner, let's suppose my neighbor's heating system fails in the winter. He tells me that he can't afford to fix it. If he is a good friend, I might offer him a loan or even a gift. However, the bank will be very upset if I don't pay the mortgage because I made a discretionary loan or gift to my neighbor.

I'd like to suggest that generosity is a true virtue, but if we are taking the contributions that would support our synagogue or Federation in favor of a donation to an emergency relief effort, I would argue that this is misguided and self-destructive to our local institutions. What's more, in the long run, such giving will do more damage than help. How does this work? Much of the infrastructure for providing conduits to help with emergenies is through synagogues and Federations. So undermining the local institutions eventually prevents us from helping with societal emergencies. Please support emergency solicitations, but not at the expense of our local institutions. We who use the the local insitutions are important too!

If you said, "no" to the JFNH solicitor when he/she called, please consider calling the federation 603-627-7679 and making a donation. While "big" is nice, the $25, $50 and $100 donations make a big difference.

Le-sha-lom,

Joshua L. Segal

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