I am here, here in Israel to immerse myself in the world of philanthropy. I have two primary interests. Over the course of the next six months I want to learn about the increasing attention to communal giving in Israel and how those activities can collaborate with and inform Jewish philanthropy in the U.S. What are the motivations for philanthropic giving among Jewish Israelis? How do these motivations compare and contrast with those of Jews in the U.S.? What are the structures that support and facilitate the motivation to be philanthropic? Parallel to the growing potential for philanthropic giving is the development of non-profit organizations to address a very wide range of social issues. I interested in the ways that organizations plan and more importantly are held accountable for the philanthropic dollars that flow to them. What do philanthropists expect and what are organizations able to provide to evaluate their effectiveness? My affiliation with Sheatufim provides a strong first step in meeting this interest.
A second interest is to gain a better understanding of the evolution of contributions by the U.S. Jewish community towards Israel. My own small community of Durham-Chapel Hill reflects the national trend toward a desire for more direct relationships, indeed more accountability for the contributions that are allocated to Israel. While somewhat familiar with the alphabet soup of agencies and through our community’s grant-making process a number of smaller non-profit organizations being in Israel offers the opportunity to learn more directly about the effects of the changing interests in the U.S. on the agencies and organizations here in Israel. The heated discussion about the partnership between UJC, JAFI, and JDC is but the most obvious example of these changing relationships.
I have a third interest that I originally intended to pursue, but it seemed to be less feasible as I planned this leave. Namely, I would like to study what Jewish texts tell us about the motivations and role of philanthropy/tzedakah/gemilut chasidim in Judaism.