Happy Giving Tuesday! Now’s the time to donate all those Black Friday and Cyber Monday savings you accrued.

In a year where everyone needs at least a little help, it can be daunting deciding where to give. And did you know that Jews invented #GivingTuesday? Are you even surprised?

And so, here’s a list of just a few ideas for Jewish organizations that will gladly accept your money— including some of which you may not have heard:

COMMUNITY

There are lots of great groups that allow you to connect to those who you wouldn’t necessarily encounter— but you should. For example, NewGround is an interfaith organization focussed on uniting Jews and Muslims at a time when we all need to look out for each other. Or, more generally, Repair the World is on the up and up, establishing a presence in more and more cities— they do a little bit of everything, from advocacy to neighborhood outreach to Jews and non-Jews alike, but their key mission to organize others to help their communities. Footsteps takes those trying to transition in community; it helps men and women attempting to leave ultra-Orthodox communities and acclimate to mainstream society.

And just want to relax and talk, with old friends or new? OneTable funds Shabbat dinners. That’s right; you can get a microgrant to host a Jewish meal. Give it a meaningful theme, or take a break to just be with others. You earned it.

INCLUSIVITY

The Jewish community is increasingly realizing just how diverse it is, and there are lots of organizations helping it along. Take Jews in ALL Hues, which advocates for Jews who “do not fit the ‘box'” (Jews of color, Jews by choice, Jews of partial non-Jewish heritage, etc.). Or, donate to LGBTQ organizations like Keshet (they’re the big one) and JQ Youth (geared towards Orthodox families).

EDUCATION/SPIRITUALITY

Learning is a lifelong process in Judaism, and we have organizations that reflect that fact. First of all, PJ Library gives Jewish books to children. How could you not love it? And for any age, Sefaria allows you to create your own source sheet (please give for the Jewish nerd in your life).

There are also more and more non-traditional or pluralistic yeshivot out there, and they tend to stay local. They each have their own shtick you can look into, but just a few are SVARA, Mechon Hadar, and The Academy for Jewish Religion.

HEALTH/ECOLOGY

JScreen is working to prevent passing on Jewish genetic diseases like Tay-Sachs, so that’s obviously important. But not all health issues are congenital, which is why you have groups like Beit T’Shuvah, an addiction rehab program for and by Jews.

And we can’t be healthy unless our world is, so there are programs like Hazon that present Jewish contributions to sustainability (their Adamah farming fellowship, for example, is super neat-o). And since you can help at any scale, Netiya encourages houses of worship to find spots for gardens on their property.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

These are Jews we’re talking about, and Social Justice, both in the community and out, is a biggie. With any political organizations with very political bents, you may want to check up on their policies in detail before you make donation, but:

Maybe start with Challah for Hunger, which organizes folks to bake challah and sell them for charity. Then, groups like Bend the Arc, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and T’ruah collectively cover everything from the broad umbrella of criminal justice to workers’ rights to voting rights. Rabbis for Human Rights operates similarly in Israel. And the National Council for Jewish Women may seem like an obvious choice on a Jewish charity list, but it’s been a tough year for women, and they do important work in areas like reproductive rights.

CREATIVITY

Hey, it was a Jewish woman who first said that we need bread and roses, so you may want to give to a cultural institution. So Art Kibbutz supports and network Jewish artists of a range of media. Fargesn specifically encourages Jewish filmmakers to create projects tied in with advocacy. And the Yiddish Book Center is always in need of help preserving a crucial part of modern Jewry’s cultural past.

Finally, we would be remiss to omit our parent publication, Tablet Magazine, a non-profit that’s been doing amazing work during these troubled times.

STILL haven’t found what you’re looking for? Slingshot has an amazing curated list of organizations (a few are on this list). Or, try GiveWell (not Jewish, but the founder is), which vets and recommends charities based on effectiveness if you’re ever on the fence.

Also, for individual campaigns, check out Jewcer, which is a crowdsourced fundraising platform (think IndieGoGo or Kickstarter). Something there will catch your eye.

And remember, even if it’s not Tuesday, you can still give tzedakah.

Happy giving!

Images via Pixabay, Pexels, and Flickr (by Rikki’s Refuge).

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From the outside, Life Boutique Thrift looks just like any other secondhand shop in Brownstone Brooklyn. Take a step inside, however, and you’ll discover that this Park Slope store actually quite different from the others. For starters, it’s the project of Hershy and Leah Mayer, an Orthodox Jewish couple from nearby Borough Park. It’s also a charitable enterprise: all of the profits go to Chai Lifeline, an organization that provides support services (including a summer camp) for Jewish children with life-threatening illnesses.

“It all started when a friend called me and said ‘I have 200 never-used vintage pocketbooks that were left to me by my late mother. Can you find a way to use them for tzedakah (charity)?’” Leah explained in her warm, soft voice. “At the time of this fateful phone call, my husband was not working because he had just sold his business. We both had extra time on our hands and started to increase our volunteer hours at Chai Lifeline. We were wondering about how to get involved with the organization in a bigger way. And when we suddenly got the call from this friend, it was like bam! Let’s use these pocketbooks to start a vintage shop that raises money for Chai Lifeline!”

Soon other valuable pieces, like Chanel dresses and Versace belts, started pouring in from philanthropists, friends, and personal acquaintances. According to Leah, they experienced a stroke of ‘divine providence’ when a friend offered to rent out a storefront in the notoriously expensive neighborhood below market rate. “We totally lucked out on that,” she said with a wide grin.

Life is now a neighborhood fixture, beloved by artsy Pratt students, long-time locals, and those who simply “get pumped by the sh*t in the thrift shop,” to quote Macklemore. Named one of the best shops in Park Slope by TimeOut New York, many of their items are sold at a fraction of retail store prices (hello, $40 Salvatore Ferragamo heels!). In addition to clothes and accessories, there are records from the 70s, loveseats from the 50s, typewriters for Hemingway-wannabes, smoking pipes, and dozens of other tchotchkes and curiosities.

Millennials and art students on shoestring-budgets aren’t the Mayers’ only customers though. Their second location further north in Park Slope curates more upscale designer pieces—think Burberry, Valentino, YSL—as well as merchandise from retailers like J.Crew and Banana Republic. This storefront is smaller and cozier, with a more boutique, high-end vibe (no knick-knacks, records, or furniture). Recently, the Mayers opened a third shop in Fort Greene, offering a combination of thrift and boutique. Despite their differing aesthetics, all stores are extremely organized with color-coordinated racks and friendly, Yelp-approved staff.

“I love that we have many Jewish shoppers,” Leah says as she waves hello to a regular customer walking through the door. “Many of them come to the store with several bags of donations after a big house cleaning. But then they leave the store with several bags of purchases too!”

Life is pretty much the perfect place to transform your self-indulgent consumerist impulses into eco-conscious, meaningful good deeds: pick up a couple of lovely 60s frocks to wear to synagogue for the High Holidays (and do your Bubbe proud!); buy your hosts a cool vintage lamp instead of the same old bunch of flowers. And if you don’t need anything at all, make a donation to Chai Lifeline. ‘Tis the season for tzedakah.

Life Boutique Thrift can be found at: 515 5th Ave, Brooklyn (South Slope); 66 5th Ave, Brooklyn (North Slope); 469 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn (Fort Greene).

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RollingStone.com reports that Neil Young has cancelled his Tel Aviv concert, scheduled for July 17, due to the escalating conflict in Gaza and Israel. With rockets being intercepted daily above Tel Aviv, and 30,00 fans expected to show up to Hayarkon Park for the gig, the security risk was simply too great.

“It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we must cancel our one and only Israeli concert due to tensions which have rendered the event unsafe at this time,” said a representative for Young. “We’ll miss the opportunity to play for our fans and look forward to playing in Israel and Palestine in peace.”

But, happily, there’s a small silver lining to the disappointing news: Young has pledged to donate money to two organizations that foster musical collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian youth—the Louise & Tillie Alpert Youth Music Center of Israel (AKA Beit Alpert), and Heartbeat.

According to The Times of Israel, Beit Alpert “serves as the home to music ensembles of children from all over Jerusalem, including the Arab Youth Band and the Ensemble for Jewish & Arab Youth.” Hearbeat, which was founded in 2007 with funding from Fulbright and MTV, runs programs supporting about 100 youth musicians from across Israel and the West Bank. Their programs are scholarship-based, “ensuring equal access to all.”

Neil Young, you’ve got a Heart of Gold.

(Image: DFree / Shutterstock.com)

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J.J. Abrams, the force behind “Star Wars: Episode VII,” is offering one lucky fan the chance to win a walk-on role on the super-secretive set of the movie. All you have to do is give a bit of tzedakah, via the ‘Force For Change’ charity campaign the director is spearheading for UNICEF.

“We want to put you in the movie, in Star Wars,” Abrams explains in the promo video. “You get to come to London, where we’re shooting the movie mostly at Pinewood Studios…You’ll get to meet the cast, go behind the scenes, and see the whole movie-making process. But more than that, we’ll put you in hair, makeup and wardrobe, and you’ll actually get to be in the movie.”

Various items are being auctioned off Kickstarter-style—there’s a ‘Force for Change’ t-shirt for $100, and an advance private screening for you and 20 of your best friends for a cool $50,000. (If only.) Happily, everyone who donates $10 or more enters the draw to win the set visit.

Money raised will benefit UNICEF’s Innovation Labs, which supports the development of all sorts of cool gadgetry to improve the lives of children in developing countries, like solar-powered learning kits, and mobile phone apps to help reunite families in the event of an emergency.

Click, donate, and may the force be with you. (C’mon, I had to.)

Image: Omaze

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• Things got a little weird yesterday on Twitter when the woman operating the @Sweden handle—as part of the country’s nobly intentioned experiment to let a different citizen tweet/represent the country each week—started asking why some people hate Jews. We’d refer her to Henry Blodget, but she seems nice, if terribly naive.

• In honor of Pride Month, the IDF posted a photo on Facebook of two male soldiers holding hands, claiming they were a gay couple. The photo attracted a great deal of attention (of all types) but has since been revealed as staged. Only one of the soldiers is gay, and both serve in the office of the military spokesman who posted the photo.

• Andy Samberg hopes that his new British TV show Cuckoo will “cement the special relationship between our two great countries.” We just want more digital shorts.

• In her new music video for “Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas),” Regina Spektor puts toast on her face, sings to animatronic caterpillars, and sets things on fire. We think she’s wonderful.

The post Daily Jewce: James Deen, a Swedish Twitter Snafu, IDF Gay Pride, and More appeared first on Jewcy.

Tzedakah boxes are things of childhood memory for many Jews, except me. I tithed. Growing up with a Baptist mother, a Methodist father and educated in Catholic schools, the idea of giving charity was not lost on me. I can remember my mother reaching into her pocket book every Sunday morning to fish out crisp dollar bills for my sister and I to put in the collection plate that was passed around. I don’t remember what it felt like to put that money in the shiny gold plate, because it wasn’t my money.

Fast forward two decades and now I’m a Jewish woman with a giant student loan balance. The promise I made in the mikveh comes with the responsibility to give funds according to our Jewish tradition. Student loan payments aside, the idea of giving money rather than time sometimes seems like a cop out. Why get your hands dirty helping the poor when you can write a check and not think about the people in need? Just giving money rather than time and energy seems like a way of avoiding the situation by throwing money at it.

Yet Jewish tradition requires each person give ten percent of their financial earnings to people in need. We’re obligated to do so not just as a nice thing to do, but to bring us closer to God and to atone for wrongdoing. Living in a city like New York, giving to people in need comes with an entirely different set of conflicts. If I give money to the homeless person asking for spare change on the subway, how can I be sure that they will use it for food rather than alcohol or drugs? Would it be better to give my money to an organization that works toward helping people in need or give to individuals living on the street?

Taking a cue from one of my conversion rabbis, I’ve gotten in the habit of adding money to my tzedakah sack (it’s a cloth bag rather than an ornate box) when I’ve ignored a panhandler on the subway or walked by a homeless person on the street. I say a little prayer asking God to bless the person and when I get home I put all of my spare money into my sack. Depending on the day it’s a few pennies or a few crumpled up dollar bills. I’ve got all of this money–now what?

Where Do You Give? , a project of American Jewish World Service, just launched their new interactive website asking Jews to “Re-imagine Tzedakah for the 21st Century.” As you click through the website you will find links, videos, and guides around tzedakah as well as a design contest which opens on January 10. Reading through the site and listening to the stories of people who are already actively engaged in giving helps put the idea of tzedakah into perspective. We’re obligated as Jews to give tzedakah. Where we give is where we can find passion in a time-honored tradition.

Where do you give? Click here to add a video to the Where do You Give? site. Camera-shy? No worries: add a note here instead

The post Tzedakah: Because It’s The Season Of Giving (Or So We Hear…) appeared first on Jewcy.

The shofar is sounded each day in the month of Elul. Each day when we hear its cry we are urged to wake up, take notice, and take inventory of our lives. With Rosh Hashanah behind us and Yom Kippur ahead, I’ve been thinking of what the sound of the shofar is calling me to do in this year, how I can heed its call to make changes in the lives of others.

JTA seems to have read my mind: Make the shofar blast a call to serve and Prayer and Justice Work-Perfect Complements are two articles that focus on how we can use this season as the catalyst for action. Jon Rosenberg writes, “The questions become ever more timely as we welcome the year 5772. Hunger, poverty and unemployment pervade our communities. Cities and towns across America face severe budget cuts that threaten the viability of crucial social service programs. Individuals and families are struggling.”  The words are powerful, even overwhelming–it seems like too much. How can I, one person, impact these problems? How can I make these changes?

Continue reading this article on Pursue’s website.

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