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