By: Renée Rockford
President & CEO
If you can’t tell from your email inbox, next Tuesday is Colorado Gives Day, a statewide initiative that encourages philanthropy and celebrates giving in Colorado. What could next week’s day of giving have to do with this week’s parsha, Vayetze? In Vayetze, Jacob promises God that he will give a tenth of everything he receives. At the time of his pronouncement, he has nothing, but he promises that whatever is in store for him, one-tenth of it will be gifted to others.
Ma’aser Kesafim in Hebrew refers to the tithing of money or “giving a tenth” of what one earns. The giving of crops, “terumah,” refers to crops given first to the priests and then to the Levites. Terumah literally means “lifting up.”
We all have something to give. By giving, we show that we are responsible for those less fortunate in our communities and, more broadly, in the world.
We can give by volunteering our time. Helping others can help us realize how we are blessed in different ways, especially when we feel things are missing in our own lives. Or, we can give financially, beginning with teaching our children to set aside a small part of their allowance and continuing on to make philanthropic gifts. Before and since October 7, Jewish organizations everywhere have worked on multiple fronts locally, nationally, and across the globe tending to every facet of Jewish life and continuity. What must be done in our world will take each of us individually and all of us together. And in the words of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z’l, “I believe that what elevates us in life is not what we receive but what we give. The more of ourselves that we give, the greater we become.”
Please email Renée Rockford at rrockford@jewishcolorado.org with questions or comments.