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Posts Tagged Nonprofit
Tzedakah: Charity or Responsibility? Perhaps a Little Bit of Both
Posted by Elie in Jewish Knowledge on July 19, 2010
One of the most recognized words in the Jewish lexicon is tzedakah. Though usually translated as charity, the Hebrew-inclined will frequently remind us that the root of the word is tzedek, or justice. The message: that in Jewish tradition the act of supporting those in need is not something done gratuitously but rather compulsorily—one is required to perform tzedakah just as much as one is obligated to respect parents. While this alternate understanding of tzedakah conveys a sense of personal responsibility, I think that viewing acts of tzedakah as an enactment of justice, as well as a form of charity might help us more fully understand the meaning of this integral concept in Jewish tradition.
Maimonides, the famed 12th-century Jewish scholar, wrote an entire treatise on the laws of tzedakah, illustrating that it not only serves the recipient, but also benefits the donor, accentuating virtues of compassion and generosity and leading to personal growth. In other words, tzedakah provides an opportunity to cultivate self-awareness, to foster on an individual level values that are at the core of communal ethics. If only viewed as a mandated responsibility, tzedakah loses this appeal and can easily be overlooked as an element of human development. But if we choose to also highlight its charitable nature, we allow ourselves to tap into the compassion and sympathy that drive us to perform deeds of tzedakah.
Yet the idea of tzedek—think justice and personal responsibility—should still be part of the discussion (Hebrew grammar aside). Jewish tradition has always emphasized the individual mandate to support communal affairs. In biblical times, the Bible targeted the agrarian daily lifestyle, pressing all farmers to leave a corner of their fields untouched for the benefit of the poor. With the formation of Diaspora Jewish communities, every household reserved money for paupers as well as scholars who relied on community support.
Nowadays, the social action craze has taken hold of young and old alike. American teenagers are volunteering in Africa and neighborhood parks are being refurbished. This heightened awareness should also be a motivator for Jews to support organizations and institutions that encourage both continuity and innovation in the Jewish community—which brings me to JPS.
For a whopping 122 years, JPS has continually produced classic Jewish literary works of importance for a contemporary audience. With the ongoing support from the public, JPS has also published innovative works that add to the heritage of scholarly study. Take a look at our website to see what’s new at JPS and perhaps, with a new sense of the dual significance of tzedakah, you will find ways to support our important cause!
For more articles and information about tzedakah, check out these sites:
Chesed and Tzedek: An interview with Ruth Messinger (American Jewish World Service), Yossi Prager (The AVI CHAI Foundation), Simon Greer (Jewish Fund for Justice) featured in Sh’ma.
JPS: Producing Cultural Treasures for Over 120 Years
Posted by Michael in JPS History on March 4, 2010
Chances are JPS books have touched your life in some way. Perhaps you grew up with the JPS Tanakh on your bookshelf. Or, maybe you read a title from the K’Tonton series to your son or daughter, or you use one of the acclaimed JPS Bible commentaries to enhance your own Jewish learning. Regardless of how or when it happened, JPS made it possible for you to connect with Judaism on your own terms and share in our rich cultural legacy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billhd/
You may think of JPS as just a Jewish book publisher, but it’s so much more. Foremost, JPS is a nonprofit organization committed to bringing quality Jewish books and educational resources to all individuals and institutions interested in past and contemporary Jewish life. But, what if JPS weren’t around to fulfill this priceless mission? Look at just a few of the many treasures we would have missed:
- Eve Bunting’s New York Times’ bestselling Holocaust allegory, Terrible Things, with over 25,000 copies in print and recently added to Holocaust education curriculums around the country.
- Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, a masterpiece of Jewish literature and an indispensable reference on Midrash.
- The First Jewish Catalog, the quintessential do-it-yourself guide to Jewish ritual, customs, and making Judaism part of our day-to-day lives.
- The revered JPS Tanakh, hailed by Time magazine as, “A landmark of Jewish religious scholarship.”
These are just a few examples of the thousands of titles JPS has published over the past 120 years that have helped to define Jewish culture in America. And, JPS hasn’t done it alone. Did you know that the vast majority of its publications would have never made it to the hundreds of thousands of readers around the world who enjoy them if it wasn’t for the generosity of its donors and members?
It’s clear that a gift to JPS is an investment in the future of Jewish education, community, and culture. It allows JPS to continue publishing top-quality Bible resources and fine works of Jewish scholarship and culture. And it gives you—customers, members, and patrons—the opportunity to contribute to the wealth of Jewish literature and learning and be part of history.
- Michael
Read a book in your PJs!
Posted by Naomi in Jewish Books, JPS Books on November 19, 2009
The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago recently announced that the PJ Library is launching its free book program in the city. Each month for three years, the PJ Library will send a new, free book to thousands of young Jewish families in the Chicago area. Children receive the gift of a great, age-appropriate Jewish storybook, and families receive the gift of being able to enrich their children’s Jewish learning experiences, and of feeling embraced by the broader Jewish community. Chicago, in fact, is only one of 100-plus communities throughout North America where PJ Library operates – each month, the program reaches over 50,000 children! According to the Chicago Federation announcement,
In each community where it is available, the PJ Library receives enthusiastic praise from parents and grandparents who cite the high quality of the books, and the thoughtful accompanying guides for parents to provide background on topics, among their favorite aspects of the program.
[...]And then, there is the excitement felt by children each month when an envelope arrives in the mail addressed to them, and the joy the parents feel when they watch their children’s faces light up when they learn something new. “The program isn’t just free—that it makes learning about Judaism fun, is priceless,” commented Deborah Cooper, PJ Library program director.
The books that PJ Library selects are age-appropriate and are meant to engage a broad spectrum of Jewish families. Themes tend of focus on Jewish holidays, the Bible, Jewish values, and folklore. Their list even includes a few JPS titles (!), including Mrs. Moskowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks, and A Coat for the Moon (you can browse through the full list of books here).
Wishing all the littlest residents of the Windy City happy reading,
Naomi
Finis: A Jewish Literary Roundup
Posted by Naomi in Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, Link Roundup on August 3, 2009
One of the many hats I wear here at JPS is that of Official Internet Surfer. (It’s a pretty cool hat actually – it’s got this wee little surfboard perched on top… Ok. Cue the tomato-throwing.) In order to keep abreast of what’s happening in the Jewish book world, I keep a close eye on my Google Reader, do a regular scan of the Google Blog Search, and pay attention to the news shared by our many Twitter followers. As a result, I regularly stumble across tons of interesting blog posts, websites, and articles.
Well, I’ve decided it’s high time that I start sharing my findings with my gentle readers. Every once in a while I’m going to do a mini-compilation of my interesting and relevant findings for that day. So here it is, the catch of the day:
Source: http://mortgagemeltdown.typepad.com
● Marc Tracy of Tablet Magazine shares some original, awful Jewish poetry, as a tribute to MyJewishLearning’s Bad Jewish Poetry Contest. “Shall I compare thee to a matzah ball?” Oy vey.
● At Mixed Multitudes, Tamar Fox looks back at a full year of mourning and saying kaddish for her mother. She’s been blogging about the experience this entire year – after reading this post, I think I’m going to go back and read her thoughts from the very beginning. A tremendously moving meditation on an age-old Jewish tradition.
● At eJewishPhilanthropy, Joshua Avedon discusses the “innovation pipeline” for new Jewish nonprofit organizations. His Google Chrome analogy is helpful to those relatively unfamiliar with the world of Jewish innovation and social entrepreneurship.
● According to Beattie’s Book Blog, Merlin Digital has just launched the slimmest e-book device in the market. Is this development good or bad for the book world? It all depends on how you look at it, I suppose.
Happy surfing!
-Naomi
The Jewish Non-Profit Guide to Social Media Marketing
Posted by Alx in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge on July 2, 2009
Source: http://neilojwilliams.net
What a world and oy vey! There is so much digital swirl swooshing around your head every nano-second and you don’t have a clue how to even begin Social Media Marketing for your teeny tiny Jewish non-profit.
Well. We’re here to help.
In the past few months, JPS has moved to the next level with this stuff. Our blog is booming- we have over 1,000 fans on Facebook and over 1,200 followers on Twitter. These media have become three of the top ten referrers of web traffic to our regular website, and our hits have nearly doubled. We’re branding ourselves in a digital world, and I have to say, it’s pretty exciting for a 120 year old Jewish non-profit!
It can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but with a little bit of time you will be writing your own how-to tutorials!
Why Social Media Marketing?
Let’s face it: Most people live their lives online nowadays. They are there to connect, be social, find information, make purchases, and even order dinner. People are integrating their personal lives more and more with their internet lives by communicating only through Facebook and Twitter and saving on cell phone minutes. So why not join them?
The truth is that people don’t go online to be marketed to. People go online to achieve something.
So here is rule number one. Don’t market. Again. I’ll repeat rule number one. Don’t market.
Source: http://i.ehow.com
This is about meeting people where they are. This is about adding value to the internet and providing a resource for people on their own terms. It is not about the hard sell. You’ll just turn people away.
Great! I get it! Now how do I do it?
There are a bagillion web tools that people use daily. Yes, a new one pops up every time you get used to the last one. Yes, it’s hard to keep up with them all. But wait! You’re not alone. As a marketer, you are ahead of the curve. Your eyes are open wider than the general public’s. Their world is moving just as fast as yours, so take a deep breath. You can do this.
Here are some best practices for some of the big guns in the world of Web 2.0.
Facebook:
• Create both a Fan Page and a Cause for your non-profit. (A Fan Page must be connected to a personal profile, so be sure that you have one set up before you dive in. You’ll be glad you did.)
• Join groups of similar interest to your organization.
• Use your page to update fans about things relating to your world, but not necessarily your own work. For example, we post links to Jewish history sites for added value.
• Pull your blog posts into “Notes.” (More on blogging later.) Facebook offers some nifty ways to integrate your media and walks you through all of it.
• Be current. People judge pages based on how often you update. You can always set your Twitter feed to pull in automatically and update your status for you. (Yup. More on Twitter later.)
• Be colorful. The web is becoming increasingly about aesthetics. You want the quality of your logo to be good. Upload images as frequently as possible. Better yet, add videos to your page.
Twitter:
• Twitter is about conversation. So. Have some.
• You can speak directly to people by using the @ symbol and their username. So you should absolutely tell @jewishpub that you read this post and like it.
• Use hash tags (#) to talk about a specific subject or event. When I attended the AAUP conference I would tweet:
• Don’t be afraid to hold Twitter-only contests. This is about getting people involved. For example, every Wednesday at 1:30 we give a free book away to anyone who can answer a trivia question based on something from our blog or website.
Blog:
• You can use a free blogging program like WordPress or Blogger to set up your blog in just a few clicks. (I’m partial to WordPress since you can install it on your own hosting and keep your own URL.)
• This is where you really get to add value to what you do. Since you work so hard for the greater good, you might as well talk about the greater good!
• Be yourself. People need to know that a person is writing and not an organization. If you’re smart enough to know the difference, so are your readers.
• It’s O.K. to plug your own work on your own blog, but the blog shouldn’t JUST be about that. If you work for a Jewish immigration organization, your topics could span from conditions in a certain country to the naturalization process.
• Pretty, pretty, pretty. Pictures, videos, links, colors, and fonts. You don’t have to make people love the look of your site; just don’t turn them away. Remember that simplicity is also good. Google won out over Yahoo! because Google was simple and Yahoo! was hectic.
• Promote the pants off of your blog (In three weeks, our blog has become the number one referrer of web traffic to our main website).
Ok! I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and have a Blog! Now what!?
Remember that these things must work together in order to be able to work at all. You can tweet about your Blog post and send updates to your Facebook fans. You can set your Twitter account to update your Status on Facebook. You can link to all of your “spaces” right from your Blog. (Hey. It’s called a WEB for a reason, right?)
You have to keep up with it. The hardest part in all of this is staff time. I know that we all work hard, and none of us has a free moment in our busy Jewish non-profit world, but it must be done. Have a staffer tweet three times a day and write two blog posts a week. It will take less time than you think after the ball is rolling. Promise.
Once this is all set up and moving, you will start to see the results in just a few months. People will trust you more since you have met them on their level. You will become an expert in your field, because your sites will come up when Googled. People will begin to interact, and you will start to feel like you have made great strides in managing this digital swirl that is swooshing around your heads.
-Alx
Shavuot – it’s not all about the cheesecake
Posted by Naomi in Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on May 27, 2009
Studying. All-nighters. Cheesecake, pizza, and other dairy goodies. Am I talking about college? No. (Well, maybe…) Folks, tomorrow night marks the beginning of the holiday of Shavuot! That’s right, the Jewish holiday where we commemorate the revelation at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. Among other things, many Jews celebrate the day by engaging in all-night Torah study sessions (where’s my Red Bull?), eating delicious dairy meals (my vegetarian-inclined parents love that part), and reading the Book of Ruth.
This lovely article in the Jerusalem Post posits the Book of Ruth as “the book of Jewish kindness and compassion, especially toward those individuals who feel themselves weak and disadvantaged because of life and societal circumstances. This includes the widowed and the orphaned, the alien and the stranger, the poor and the otherwise hopeless.” On a day when we immerse ourselves in the consumption of cheesecake and the study of Torah, we read the Book of Ruth – that wee little book way towards the back of the Tanakh - to remind ourselves that, in the end, Torah and Judaism are about compassion, kindness, and caring for others.
On May 17, Dr. Ellen Frankel, the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Publication Society, delivered the Commencement address for the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership at Brandeis University (you can read the full text of the address here). While she was specifically addressing graduates about to enter the field of Jewish communal service, I think that her message is rather universal.
[...] After much hard work of mind, heart, spirit and body, you have earned the right to call yourselves Jewish leadership professionals. You will now go forth into the world to lead Jewish communities who are much in need of your talents and skills, and who will greatly benefit from your efforts. The North American Jewish community is fortunate to have you as its newest leaders.
[...] But there is one member of your future community who may escape your notice, whose vulnerability is usually not recognized, yet whose welfare and resilience are critical to your success as a Jewish leader. That person is you. The rest of my brief remarks concern the inner life of a professional leader, especially a Jewish one.
Dr. Frankel then makes an interesting point – some of the people who are most often overlooked by Jewish communal workers are the Jewish communal workers themselves. She notes that it is important for Jewish professionals to focus not only upon their professional objectives of bettering the community, but upon their inner personal lives as well. She suggests that Jewish professionals should see their work not as work per se, but as a “vocation – literally, a calling.” By realizing that they are engaged not in work, but in service, they can recognize that through their chosen career paths, they are instilling meaning in their lives. But what exactly is “service”? Dr. Frankel goes on to discuss the meaning of the Hebrew word for service: avodah. After briefly explaining two potential definitions of avodah – slavery and work – she suggests that the most important meaning of avodah is worship, or holy service.
[...] During the time when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, avodah referred specifically to the sacrifices performed there by the priests. Once the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the sacrifices were replaced by prayer; avodah came to mean “worship.” However, if words are truly meant to replace gifts of animals and grain, they need to represent a genuine sacrifice, the forfeit of something of personal value in exchange for being drawn closer to God, which is the literal meaning of korban, the Hebrew word for sacrifice.
But how can we give up something through our words? How can we sacrifice something so intangible? How can we make our work into “holy service”? What do we need to give up in order to serve a higher purpose in our lives?
Jewish tradition offers several wise answers to these questions. I’d like to conclude by sharing them with you. I invite you to carry these teachings with you as you take up your work in the world. They have stood me in good stead in my career and in my personal life.
The second century rabbinic anthology known as Pirke Avot, one of my favorite Jewish books, teaches that giving up something can be the key to gaining something even more precious. Rabbi Ben Zoma asks: “Who is wise?” And he answers: “The one who learns from everyone.” He goes on: “Who is strong? The one who conquers his or her impulses. Who is honored? The one who honors others” (4:1). In other words, to be wise requires that we give up the pretense that we have all the answers, listening instead for other truths. To be strong requires that we sacrifice our willfulness, making room for the needs and desires of other people. To be honored requires that we subordinate our ego, acknowledging that we live in a community filled with people likewise created in the image of God.
To do these things is to engage in holy service.
[...] Consider your work as holy service, giving fully of yourself to a purpose greater than yourself, offering your talents, energy, intelligence, and commitment to those you serve. Much needs to be done to repair our troubled world. There are many broken hearts and spirits in need of mending. Our community is now particularly hurting from economic losses and betrayals. Each one of you can make a genuine difference – if you engage in holy service.
[...] Each of you has something precious to offer the world, a great gift that is only yours to give. Give it wholeheartedly but don’t forget to enjoy the fruits of your labor: wisdom, strength, and honor. Don’t forget that you, too, belong to the community you serve.
-Naomi
Do a mitzvah with every JPS book you buy!
Well our last promotion was a smashing success! It’s all over now, but don’t despair… when one door closes, another invariably opens.
Starting today, when you use the code “5BATW” at checkout, not only will $5 be taken off your total purchase, but JPS will also dedicate 5% of the sale to its Books Around the World Mitzvah Project program.
Through Books Around the World, JPS hopes to send “over 5,000 pounds of free books and educational resources to underserved communities, organizations, prisons, hospitals, Christian seminaries, and Jewish day schools in America and abroad.” Check out this list of organizations that have already benefited from this wonderful program.
So what should you do now? Just click here to get started. Browse around, and select the books you’d like to purchase for yourself or for friends. Don’t forget to use the code “5BATW” at checkout. Spread the word, and do a world of good (ok, that was your cue to throw the tomatoes).
Offer good until 6/19.
-Naomi
News From JPS- Take 25% off JPS Passover titles!
- Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky Awarded 2011 National Jewish Book Award for JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth
- The University of Nebraska Press and The Jewish Publication Society Announce Collaborative Publishing Agreement
- New Commentators' Bible: Numbers -- Available This Month!
