Israelis donate little of their time or money compared to Western countries, a study found. The same is true of Israeli companies, a Hebrew University professor and his team found.
So begins a lugubrious news brief from JTA.
Two immediate responses:
There is a significant exception to the general picture.
The reasons for the general picture are not hard to find.
The JTA brief talks about the need to change Israels tax policies. This might be helpful, but it is hardly the critical point.
That dubious distinction belongs, in turn, to two other realities.
The first is the preponderant and predominant socialist and secular background of the Zionist enterprise, which had little use for Judaism. The disparagement of Judaism was hardly limited to ritual matters such as the Sabbath and kashrut, but extended to tzedakah. People outside of Israel tend to misread this accusation, reinterpreting it to be an accusation of Reform and Conservative Judaism. It is anything but. People outside of Israel tend to misunderstand what Israeli secularism is; it is not non-Orthodox Judaism, which, right alongside Orthodox Judaism, retains tzedakah as a central component of Jewish life. Israeli secularism is different; it is not a reinterpretation of Torah. It is a rejection of Torah. That includes a rejection of tzedakah. The Hebrew University study of the major philanthropy deficit in Israel supplies the evidence. The problem is not stinginess; it is ideology.
The second reality is Israels addiction to Diaspora tzedakah, which the Diaspora has nurtured in Israel. Why give tzedakah if someone is giving it for you, and to you, year in and year out, in huge sums? Already 25 years ago, the percentage of the Israeli budget covered by the UJA and its successor organizations, the UJC and JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America) dropped to nearly zero. Once, the UJA saved Israel. Once, Diaspora tzedakah kept Israel alive. Once, Diaspora tzedakah was a holy mission that rescued the renaissance of the Jewish people in the Holy Land. Those days are long gone but the reflexive, not-well-thought-out giving continued. The priorities of the Jewish people changed, but the giving patterns did not. This served as an addiction for Israelis who figuratively assumed the stance of beggars, gladly taking in all that the Diaspora could offer.
It has become absurd, with Israels percentage of millionaires growing at a greater rate than any other country, but with the mentality of the country still looking to the rich Americans to cover many of its tzedakah needs.
The result of the rigid and outdated giving patterns of the Diaspora? A drastic drop-off in Jewish commitment in the Diaspora, a drastic drop-off of Jewish faith commitment, of Jewish in-marriage, of Jewish identity. And we reach the point in the current discussion a drastic breaking of the habit of giving tzedakah within Israel itself.
We referred earlier to a significant exception. Indeed, some of the most beautiful tzedakahs in the world are in Israel. For example, Leket Israel, which was profiled in our recent Generations magazine; Yad Sarah, which relieves many of the terrible burdens of medical costs; and thousands of smaller, exemplary, idealistic organizations. The trouble is, virtually every one of these organizations was begun by Israelis who retain their Jewish faith commitment, their allegiance to the Torah. This is the minority of Israelis, where the secular ambience still dominates. Hence, writes the JTA, per The Hebrew University finding, Israelis donate little of their time or money compared to Western countries.
Solutions? Let the Diaspora address its own priorities, that is, let it fund serious Jewish education in the Diaspora itself; let Judaism once again define the Jewish people within Israel; and, OK, if you want to amend the Israeli tax code, do that, too. It may be an important technical point, but, note well: The present tax code posed no road block to the phenomenal tzedakahs that do exist in Israel.
The critical point remains: Tax policy does not touch the heart of the philanthropy deficit in Israel.
