Salt of the Earth: Reform Jews share the wealth

Social justice news
July 2001

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Pax Christi USA cancels its national assembly
Reform Jews share the wealth

Reform Jews share the wealth
On the day President Bush signed the new tax cut package into law, the leaders of the Reform Jewish Movement could have just complained about the future of the country's poor. They'd opposed the tax cut and spent countless hours lobbying for its defeat. They thought it would threaten social service programs the nation's most vulnerable couldn't afford to lose. But instead of simply lamenting the situation, they did something about it.

That day, June 7, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) sent a letter to each of the 900 Reform synagogues in the United States, asking their members to take the tax rebate checks they would soon be receiving and donate them to charities.

With 1.5 million Reform Jews in North America, and each U.S. household receiving a rebate check of up to $600, that could lead to some sizeable donations. In his letter to the Reform congregations, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, UAHC president, estimated that a 400-family congregation, giving an average of $300 a family, could provide groceries for 50 families of three for a year.

"Our Jewish texts teach us that we will be judged by how we treat the least fortunate among us," Yoffie says. If the U.S. government isn't going to help them, he thinks individuals need to.

The UAHC is calling the rebate initiative a Tzedakah Collective. In Hebrew the word "tzedakah" means "justice," but it's usually translated into English as "charity." That difference is significant, says Rabbi Marc Israel, director of congregational relations at the UAHC's Washington D.C. office, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC).

"Charity means 'giving of the heart,'" Israel explains. "Tzedakah is actually obligatory on us." While the UAHC will not require anyone to donate a rebate, Israel says it is asking each household to give as much of it as possible, but at least 10 percent of the rebate.

"Ten percent is the traditional amount that the Torah talks about in terms of giving to Tzedakah," Israel explains. "Interestingly, it also says we shouldn't give more than 20 percent, because we're not supposed to become impoverished. For very few people in our congregations would a $600 check be 20 percent of their income, though. We're asking them to give at least 10 percent of it."

The Tzedakah Collective will allow congregation members to pool their resources and make significant contributions to various groups. The UAHC is leaving the details of the collective and its eventual beneficiaries up to individual congregations, but it suggests they contribute to programs that will be under-funded in the new federal budget.

"This tax bill, which disproportionately benefits the wealthiest segment of society, will place in jeopardy the future of the Medicare trust fund, Social Security, and social service programs," Yoffie says.

The UAHC stresses that this collection should go to outside groups, not to a synagogue itself. The Tzedakah Collective will begin in July, when the first rebate checks arrive, and continue throughout the summer, as more families receive their rebates.

The Reform Jews aren't the only ones encouraging Americans to donate the money they'll get back from the government, however. Third Millennium, a nonprofit group of GenerationX'ers concerned about long-term national problems, especially Social Security and Medicare reform, launched a web site to help people donate their rebate online. The site, www.donaterabate.org, encourages web users to choose a recipient from the 700,000 nonprofit groups listed at Helping.org.—Anne Graber

More info:
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
Religious Action Ceter of Reform Judaism
UAHC's letter on the Tzedakah Collective
Third Millennium
Donaterebate.org
Helping.org

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