Setting Priorities

March 10, 2009

Lee Perlman is the Director of Progams and Planning at UJC’s Office of Global Operations headquartered in Jerusalem. He assumed this position only a few months ago, after many years working with the Abraham Fund (www.abrahamfund.org). We met at Sheatufim late in the afternoon. Is there a connection? Of course. About half way through our discussion, he mentioned that he lived in Tel Aviv. I asked if he was driving back.
“Where do you live?” he asked.
“Bavli.”
“Where in Bavli?”
“Rehov Bavli.”
“What address?”
“Number 16.”
“I live at 13 Bavli,” he said (almost directly across the street from us)!

Just for North Carolina flavor, I should add that he spent the summers from 6th through 8th grade in the Tar Heel state at Camp Catawba, run by a German Jewish woman who lived on the 5th floor of his brownstone in Manhattan.

Whereas tzedakah as a value underscores conversations about giving in the Jewish community in the U.S., in Israel the term seems to be applied in a rather narrow way, to the few coins that one might give to a beggar on the street. The terms “social investment” and “philanthropy” are the currency for discourse about giving. Both of these terms seem to focus more on the idea of individual giving to accomplish a particular social goal—-train a group of kids so that they will be able to find productive jobs, provide enrichment for Ethiopian pre-schools so that they will be ready to learn in kindergarten, and others---rather than the idea of participation in communal giving to accomplish community-determined goals and priorities. This characterizes the secular community, while members of religious communities (not just the ultra-Orthodox) more consciously address the role of tzedakah as a motivation for giving communally.

With regard to gifts to Israel from the U.S., the national picture looks similar to the local picture, but more complicated. In many communities this process of convening and assessing is a fundamental role of local Jewish federations. Specifically, what is needed nationally is a mechanism to assess needs and then set priorities in order to make the substantial contributions from the U.S. most effective. In addition, this type of needs assessment would facilitate coordination with government programs, so as to complement or supplement, but not to replace those government responsibilities. There is, of course, the third component now (after U.S. gifts and government resources) of Israeli philanthropists who also would benefit from the big picture needs assessment. Historically, JAFI and JDC working closely with the government and UJC as the main partner, have undertaken this assessment process, but it’s not clear how focused or intentional this type of process is today. That is, in some ways it appears that history and tradition guide allocation decisions, without the benefit of measures of effect or impact. This traditional/historical momentum is undoubtedly one of the motivations for organizations like the New Israel Fund to step in. When it was founded it brought its lens to the question of needs. These are just some initial thoughts that I intend to explore and develop further.