J5: Charity

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Ice breaker

Hand out some/all of the following sentences on a sheet of
paper and ask for them to be completed. Alternatively, write them on the board and ask people to finish them orally. Their answers will help all of you to define the issues.

1. Giving is...
2. I can best help people by...
3. Tzedakah really means...
4. When I am really in trouble I feel...
5. To ask for money makes me feel...
6. Fundraising is...
7. A needy person is...
8. When someone asks for help I feel...
9. If there is anything in life I don't want to be deprived of it is...
10. A person's greatest need is...

A few of these can lead to a discussion that could last for an entire assembly. If you do this, remember to bring in the different Jewish ideas as you go along.

Tzedakah is not charity

Do a short play with caricatures of the two aspects of tzedakah. There is the passionate student who passionately shouts and screams about poverty but doesn't really do much about it, and there is the wealthy businessman who gives millions but doesn't concern himself with any of the details. Each character could sell his philosophy and the audience could vote at the end who they prefer.

How much is enough?

Cut out some big glossy pictures that represent things that everybody wants or thinks they need. e.g. food, car, hi-fi, house, nice clothes, family, TV, religion, perfume etc. Prioritise these needs with your audience. Which ones could they live without? Can the answer to that question be objective or does it depend on the person? Explain how Judaism believes in supporting people in the way they are used to. This leads to some intriguing questions that are worthy of discussion:

· If a poor tipsy guy on the street asks you for some change, and you reckon he's just going to spend it on booze, do you give him anything? Do you ask him what he's going to spend it on? Do you have a right to know?
· Have you got the right to decide what another person really needs?
· Can we expect the poor to not want to have the luxuries that we have?

Tzedakah for everyone?

Use a big picture of concentric circles to explain how Jews prioritise who they help. Allow your audience to fill in the various rings. Tzedakah to Israel and to non-Jews are interesting to try and prioritise and can lead to a heated debate.

The Eight levels

Write out each of these levels (un-numbered!) on a big piece of card and call out eight volunteers from the audience. Instruct each one to hold up their card in full view and make them stand in a random order. Ask your audience (individually or together) to prioritise and so reorder the cards. As the discussion changes, get the card holders to change places. Any change must be justified by the person who suggested it. How near do they come to Maimonides ordering? Why is theirs different?

Small world - large problem

· Brainstorm all the different places in the world where aid is needed.

· Ask for a show of hands of how many people regularly read about, or watch on TV, what is going on in all these places.

· Who of your audience will admit and discuss the fact that they avoid these issues.

· Have a debate: "More people should live simply so that more people can simply live."

· Does our global village help us be involved in tzedakah or does it hinder us?

Institutional verses Optional

This issue too can lead to an exciting debate, especially the national lottery aspect. To make the discussion more dynamic and visual, why not put a lottery ticket on trial? Call witnesses and vote whether it should be destroyed. For a fun ending, if you find it guilty, you could perform capital punishment on it by burning, tearing, or eating!

Tales of tzedakah

· These can be used to back up sides of the debates mentioned above, or on their own to promote discussion.

· You and your audience could tell your own tzedakah tales. Share with them some of your personal experiences.

A tradition of tzedakah

· If you or one of your friends can act well, do a scene where an old Jew slowly hobbles in and tells the audience all about the tradition of giving in Judaism. Take them through history with made up personal stories and mention all the ways Jews help each other.

· Invite a representative from one of the Jewish charities to come an address your audience.

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