Posted by Menachem Traxler
8 articles
What a Bag of Lentils Tells the Person Who Receives It
Food assistance does two jobs. The first is calories. The second is a message, and the people doing the giving tend to think about it far less than the people receiving. A family that opens…
Plan the Giving First, Then Fit Israel Around It
Most families who care about tzedakah plan an Israel trip the same way. They build the days around the Kotel, the Old City, a hike, a good dinner, and then they add a line near…
Why Your Children Need to Pack Food With Their Own Hands
Your family can write a check to feed the hungry from anywhere in the world. You can set up monthly donations, sponsor meals, even adopt entire families through various programs. All of these matter. None…
Teaching Tzedakah Through Action: Why Families Need Hands-On Giving Experiences
Jewish families face a peculiar modern problem: we've made giving too easy. Write a check, swipe a card, click donate. The transaction completes in seconds, but what does a seven-year-old learn from watching their parent…
Why Every Family Member Should Be Able to Pack Food Together
The phone call came on a Tuesday. A grandmother in her seventies wanted to bring her extended family to pack food for families in need, but her grandson uses a wheelchair. Could they still come?…
Planning a Family Trip to Israel That Actually Matters
Most families return from Israel with a camera roll full of tourist shots and kids who remember the gift shop better than the Western Wall. The problem isn't the destination. It's that we plan Israel…
Why Community Fridges Work When Charity Programs Don't
The first kosher community fridge in the United States opened recently in memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the American-Israeli hostage killed by Hamas. The timing feels significant. While Jewish communities nationwide grapple with how to ch…
Tzedakah Is Not Charity: Why Judaism's Approach to Giving Changes Everything
The conversation about tzedakah versus charity keeps surfacing because people sense something important lurking beneath the surface. They're right to push on it. The distinction between these concepts isn't academic hairsplitting. It's the…