Whether the cause is planting trees in Israel through the Jewish National Fund or a capital campaign to help expand the local synagogue, it's difficult to find a Jew who hasn't, at the very least, dropped some loose change into a tzedakah box from time to time. Desert Mountain High School junior Kari Broder and Jess Schwartz College Prep junior Sarah Damsky are two of about 150 Valley-area teenage Jews who have taken the act of giving to the next level.
Both girls are participants in B'nai Tzedek, an international Jewish organization that provides grants to numerous charities. It is run locally by the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix, has 40 locations across North America including Canada, and launched its first branch overseas, in London, in September.
Founded 10 years ago in West Springfield, Mass., by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, B'nai Tzedek's goal is to get recent bar and bat mitzvahs to donate $180 of the gifts they receive in order to begin their own miniature philanthropic endowment. Other donors then gift $320 to bring the fund up to $500. Each year, the teens donate the interest accumulated to a charity of their choice. They can also add to their fund, which increases the amount of interest acquired and thus enhances giving power. A fund can be opened anytime between the year leading up to a child's b'nai mitzvah and his or her senior year in high school.
"I've always been involved in community service," says Damsky. "It's something I'm passionate about. But I've never been able to do what I wanted with my money."
Working on the executive board, which is a selective process, holds much greater responsibility. Twenty-three Valley teens, including Broder and Damsky, are on this year's Greater Phoenix board, which is in charge of dividing up a substantially sized fund to local charities as they see fit. The teens visit the organizations to which they decide to donate. After grants are handed out, board members follow up with the charities to ensure that the monies are being put to proper use. If they choose, they can also volunteer time, which most, if not all, do.
"It's a way to not only give money to help but also to give time, and to really get a chance to see the effects," Broder says.
"It's not just giving money away, it's teaching teens to be philanthropic," says Gail Lansky, B'nai Tzedek's national director. "I think it's important to teach teens to give back. We're reaching them at the point of b'nai mitzvah, when a couple of significant events in their lives are happening. A b'nai mitzvah is entering the adult community and with that comes adult responsibility."
If, for whatever reason, a teen cannot afford the $180 to get his or her B'nai Tzedek fund up and running, Damsky says not to worry. She says there are plenty of donors in the community that are willing to assist students in starting their own fund.
She adds that because of the close monitoring of funds one is able to take part in both before and after donating, "it's also a way to efficiently make the most impact on a specific organization."
This school year, Jess Schwartz College Prep has implemented an extracurricular philanthropic club similar to B'nai Tzedek. Named ROPE (Root of Philanthropy Education), it was originated through RAVSAK, a nonprofit international Jewish community day-school network. After raising funds, students go out in the community and research charities to see to which organizations they would most like to donate tzedakah and in what areas these organizations need help the most.
Andy Schwebel, the director of student life at JSCP, uses the example of going to a grocery store to purchase food for a homeless shelter. He says that while this is certainly helpful, the shelter might have a deal in place with a grocery store to acquire goods at cost. As a result, replacing the rundown copy machine in the front office could be the best way to make the most use of the money donated - but there would be no way of knowing this without proper research.
"(Philanthropy) has moved from 'Let's go volunteer at a homeless shelter and then go to Starbucks for coffee' to 'Let's really go and understand what this is all about,'" says Schwebel.
Several other schools in the area take part in regular tzedakah work.
The King David School collects tzedakah from students on a regular basis. They give to several charities throughout the course of the year - most notably the American Diabetes Association, for which Head of School Nammie Ichilov says they are one of the top 10 scholastic fundraisers in the state.
"Tzedakah isn't this peripheral value that we try to do," Ichilov says. "Living life through a Jewish lens, we have an obligation to help others, part of which is tzedakah."
Phoenix Hebrew Academy participates in "Jump for Heart," benefiting the American Heart Association, hosts math-athons for St. Jude Children's Hospital and gives to other charities.
"(Tzedakah) teaches children the basic concept of charity, that we have to help someone, that nobody else is going to do it," says Rabbi Isaac Entin, principal of PHA. "So it's not so much the amount (that's raised) that's important as much as the fact they are participating."
Pardes Jewish Day School incorporates tzedakah into its Jewish studies curriculum. In the past, students have raised money to throw a sick child a going-away party prior to leaving on a trip provided by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. They have also donated to organizations that help prevent animal cruelty.
"Tikkun olam is one of our core values at Pardes," says Assistant Head of School and Director of Jewish Life Rabbi Erica Burech. "We try to show the students that everything in the curriculum leads to that."
Emily Zappa, the day school administrator at the Barness Family JCC Day School, says that students participate in many acts of tzedakah over the course of the year. She adds that one of the most popular is the "Race for the Cure," an event that raises money for breast cancer.
