Tzedakah L’Shma

Sick of Luxury Tzedakah Raffles? Oorah Auction Offers ‘L’Shma’ Option

Every year when Oorah sends out its Chinese Auction booklet, a few letters come in to our office decrying the promotion of luxury items to the Jewish community.

One auction catalog recipient in Mattersdorf, Israel, wrote a few years ago to complain that the very materialism he had left America to avoid had tracked him down, thanks to the Oorah catalogue that landed in his mail box.

Criticisms come in two forms: First, the full-color, glossy photos of luxury prizes whet the appetite for items that are out of many people’s financial reach, fostering frustration and discontent. Secondly, the constant parade of luxury items by this and many other tzedakahs trains people away from giving for the sake of the mitzvah.

In fact, one noted fundraiser commented that if tzedakahs could attract donations with nothing more than a simple letter, they would need half the donors to attain twice the totals. The reality, however, is that a simple letter doesn’t do the trick, and the result is that tzedakahs are locked into a battle of glitz, with ever-glossier auction brochures displaying ever-costlier merchandise.

Oorah sees this option as a great chinuch opportunity for parents. They can flip through the pages and look at the prizes with their children, and then explain why they are taking the option of giving their donation l’shma. Will people take the option, or decide that for the same $5 donation, they might as well have a chance at getting something in return?