Source / Courtesy: Haaretz.com
At what point should the Diaspora communities say to Israelis that enough is enough- we will give, but we will not allow those in your own society to shirk their responsibilities?
Jewish communities worldwide help out Israel's poor. e.g Galilee was rebuild after the second Lebanon war. Every Jewish community has a desire to give to essential Israeli services.
The past few years have seen a whole new generation of wealth being created within Israel. The collective worth of Israeli’s 16 billionaires stands at just over 45 billion dollars and Israel now hosts 10,153 millionaires, a 20-percent increase from the previous fiscal year.
With all this money sloshing around at the top of the system, it’s more than a little disappointing that Israeli soup kitchens still feel the need to come around to the global Jewish diaspora, cap in hand, looking for vital donations to help those on the bread line in Israel.
Categories: Asia, Israel, Middle East
Israel is considered a developed country, which scores high in the human development index. The annual change in the distribution (Gini) coefficient from the mid-1980s to late 2000s is positive at 0.6 per cent. It has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.
I am not saying that things are heaven in Saudi Arabia, however, acts of charity are quite common, as you will have noticed from my posts.
I myself, when on Hajj, observed a few such acts of kindness, where people just were seeking the pleasure of Allah. This from cool water distributed in the traffic jam (with biscuits to go with it) to the fact that when in a restaurant when I wanted to go and pay my bill I was told that it was already paid for …
May I tell a story, which I read in a booklet about ‘Jewish jokes – collected by Jews’.
Once upon a time Mr. Goldberg came to his Rabbi and said: “We should help Mrs. Rosenblum. She owns 20’000 Pounds to a money lender and if she does not pay him back by next Monday she will loose her house.” The Rabbi said “yes, I will announce on Sabbath to the community”. On Sunday the Rabbi called Mr. Goldberg and said “Sorry, I was only able to collect 18650 Pounds, what should we do?” and then, as a second thought the Rabbi said: “Mr. Goldberg, what is your relationship with Mrs. Rosenblum? Up to now I did not know that you care for any members of our congregation so much?”
Mr. Goldberg replied: “I am the money lender”… !
When acts of charity are everyday practice and just for sake of Allah they don’t make news!