Donor Fatigue

As the Jewish Community grows locally and worldwide, it needs more funding to support a robust infrastructure for all the resources in our Kehila. The need for funding inevitably leads to more fundraisers both locally and globally. With the vast proliferation of smartphones and social media, fundraising campaigns around the world can be in your daily feeds and status updates. The Jewish Community is genuinely outstanding in its philanthropy and charitable giving. According to recent studies, American Jews donated an average of around $10,588 per household to charitable causes in 2022 (most recent available data). Jewish households generally give significantly more than non-Jewish households, with the average gift size over $2,500 higher. Following October 7th, American Jews donated a significant amount to Israeli charities, with Jewish federations across North America raising over $850 million for emergency relief campaigns focused on Israel. With all this tremendous generous giving comes a certain amount of fatigue. People are overwhelmed by the seemingly endless solicitations from organizations and causes that they might even value. There is a certain feeling of "here, we go again" whenever we hear about the next fundraiser. There are murmurings of "I am getting hit up again" and other phrases that probably cannot be mentioned in this column. There is a fascinating insight from this week's parsha that can offer a new perspective and opportunity for us to reframe the notion of giving particularly to communal causes. The context of this episode is that the Jewish People were charged with contributing to the first Capital Campaign in our history. G-d tells Moshe to instruct the people to contribute much of their resources for the construction of our first central house of worship, known as the Mishkan. The Mishkan was also known as the Tabernacle, and people contributed their precious metals, delicate fabrics, and specialty wood for this important communal project. It is striking that the actual language recorded in the Torah in the charge that G-d gave to Moshe was וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה. This is translated as "they shall take for Me a contribution." The language appears incorrect as people were asked to GIVE and it is being recorded and being given the opportunity to RECEIVE. The Rabbis teach us that, in fact, the language could not be more precise. The reality is that when someone contributes to a worthy cause, he receives something more significant in return. The person is receiving the satisfaction of knowing that he belongs to something much bigger and more meaningful than himself. The Talmud records the story of an antagonist who challenges Rabbi Akiva by asking if G-d loves the poor, why did He not just provide them directly with sustenance? The Sage responded that, of course, G-d could have provided (I am paraphrasing here) all the shuls, schools, kollelim, important causes in Israel, etc, with a fully funded budget that would not have any deficits and would never need to fundraise. However, there is one significant downside to that paradigm. We would not be allowed to give and receive merit. It is for precisely for that reason that the Torah states וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה or you shall RECEIVE for Me a contribution. A small number of people who contribute are in the habit of saying to the person who solicits them, "Thank you for the opportunity." In this fleeting world that we find ourselves in, it is genuinely a merit to be able to contribute to a worthy cause. The next time someone solicits us for a worthy cause, it would be appropriate to keep this in mind. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch

Disruptor In Chief

The notion of a disruption does not usually have positive associations. Disruptors generally cause disruptions and, for the most part, require some subsequent correction or tidying up. Recently, I was looking at someone's LinkedIn profile, and he listed "disruptor" as one of his positive qualities. This got me thinking as to why someone should be proud to be a disrupter. I looked into the issue and found that a disruptor can be positive if the individual actively challenges the status quo, questions traditional methods, and seeks to implement innovative solutions or approaches. Many innovative products in society are only here because some individuals are willing to be disruptors. As we are less than one month into the second Trump Administration, there is a vast gulf of opinions on whether this presidency is the greatest in history (let's redo Mount Rushmore) or if this is the biggest failure. There is one quality that all fans or foes would agree on, and that is that President Donald Trump is a disruptor. The disruptions have set up a dizzying few weeks of discussions on everything from buying Greenland to annexing Canada as the fifty-first state. (It's hard to imagine Tim Horton's coffee being an American product). The disruptor-in-chief took things to a new level with his bombshell announcement on Gaza. Up until recently, if anyone in Israel or elsewhere suggested even the voluntary emigration of Palestinians from Gaza, that would be considered absurd. I can't speak for others, but I'm not sure how many thought this proposal would ever come from the Whitehouse. While I am not a political pundit, and this is not a political op-ed, certain issues are bigger than politics, and in my mind, this certainly qualifies. While it is too early to tell if this idea is realistic or very distant from reality, the mere proposal has already changed the entire conversation. The focus of the conversation has become why neighboring Arab countries are not doing enough to help the Palestinians. Indeed, King Abdullah from Jordan felt compelled to announce this week on his visit to the White House that he was allowing 2000 children from Gaza into Jordan. This proposal (like it or hate it) represents fresh outside the box thinking. I have been reflecting that we can benefit from applying this fresh outside the box thinking to other areas of life. There are many areas of bottleneck in our personal, communal and professional lives that might benefit from a new perspective that has not been seriously considered. In our journey of life every once in a while, a little disruption may be a good thing. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch

The Price of Eggs

Egg prices are rising again. It seems surreal and borderline unbelievable how expensive the most basic staple of our diet has become. Some restaurants have begun charging a 50-cent surcharge for any egg one orders. In 2019 which seems like decades ago, a dozen eggs were less than $1.50. In the enlightened era of 2025, it is not uncommon to see eggs being sold for over $5.00 per dozen. This dramatic rise is just one example of why food prices, in particular, and the cost of goods in general, have skyrocketed recently. As the essential cost of goods and services continues to increase, people's salaries are not nearly keeping up at the same pace. The anxiety people have associated with Parnassah, or their material livelihood, is not a new issue and will continue to be ongoing until the end of time. Indeed, the prevalent Talmudic view is that even during the Messianic Era, humanity will continue to struggle with poverty and the challenge of bringing home enough funds to afford some food on the table. The Talmud famously says that "providing a person's food is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea." On a superficial level of understanding, this text is somewhat discouraging. After all, it is quite difficult for the sea to split. If earning a basic livelihood is equivalent to splitting the sea, then we are in serious trouble! I heard a fascinating insight on this Talmudic passage some time ago that provides me with a much better understanding. If one recalls the story of the immediate prelude of the splitting of the sea in this week's parsha, the Jewish people had their backs to the sea while the mighty Egyptian army aggressively pursued them. It appeared to be an imminent bloodbath of the nascent nation at the hands of the mighty Egyptian empire. As a people of faith, they cried to God for salvation. The people were praying for a miracle akin to a "David vs. Goliath" moment in which a vastly under-armed underdog defeats the favored heavyweight. They were not praying or hoping for the sea to split from behind their backs and open up a passage of dry land amidst the raging waters. The most dramatic miracle of the ages was equally unexpected in how it occurred. It could have only happened from the ultimate "Redeemer of Israel," who, in today's terms, is the ultimate in an "outside the box" manner and delivers unexpected results. The least likely possibility of the sea splitting behind them was orchestrated by the Redeemer of Israel. Similarly, in our pursuit of our daily livelihood, we often think that our breakthrough will come if a specific sequence of events were to occur. We must keep in mind that the ultimate Sustainer and Provider will deliver the results many times from the least expected source. Until that time comes, let's take a deep breath about the prices of eggs. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yakov Fisch