Count on 'us'

The Passover Haggadah, the archetypal Jewish liberation story, reminds us of collective destiny and mutual responsibility. As such it provides a fitting framework for contemplating our response now to people suffering as a result of economic dislocation.

As we celebrate Passover we recount what God did for us, we celebrate our departure from Egypt, we recall our emancipation, we recognize our becoming a people. Who is the wicked son in the story? The one who separates himself from the community, who refers to his fellow Jews not as “us,” but as “you,” thereby abrogating his personal responsibility.

That responsibility, encapsulated in the maxim, “Let all who are hungry come and eat,” remains as relevant for us today as it was for past generations. It means that we as a community assume collective responsibility for caring for those in need.

The Jewish people throughout history have always maintained communal structures for providing that care, and always have relied on tzedakah (righteous giving) to pay the cost.

In Chicago that communal structure is the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation, which raises the requisite tzedakah dollars and uses them to efficiently fund the agencies that provide direct services to families, children, the elderly, the unemployed, the ill, and the hungry, as well as to advancing Jewish education, culture and advocacy.

For more than a century the system has consistently and reliably served hundreds of thousands of people, through good times and bad for the general community.

Right now the times are not good; a new group of people, the “new poor,” is emerging as jobs are lost, mortgage and utility payments go unpaid, and family relationships are strained. The situation of the chronically vulnerable also has worsened.

As the needs increase, so too does the challenge to the system to address them. Agencies rely not only on the contributions of individual donors to meet their budgets; they also count on significant support from government and private foundations. For some agencies, government grants account for more than 60 percent of their budget; for others foundation philanthropy provides as much as 30 percent of needed dollars.

As the economy has worsened, both public and private sources have been cut, and the end is not yet in sight. The state of Illinois, which itself has suffered from budget gridlock and shortfall, is failing to make grant payments, while many foundations have stopped accepting funding requests. Agencies are being asked to do more, but they're having to do it with less.

That's a paradox that only our Federation system is designed to address. Individual agencies may be vulnerable, but the system as a whole remains robust because of the assets it brings to the table.

The first asset the system brings is us—the same “us” that always has taken collective responsibility for sustaining those at risk. As generous donors to JUF's Annual Campaign, we provide the critical funding, before and after government and private foundations give. For example J-Help, the new initiative that assists newly distressed individuals and families, reflects the commitment and generosity of donors who are rising to do more at a time when more is desperately needed.

System-wide planning is another area where Federation brings collective coordination and economies of scale, thereby helping to preserve services. Working together, Federation and its agencies identify where, what, and for whom the needs are greatest. By pooling these functions and other services, we deploy resources efficiently and avoid wasteful duplication.

Coordinated planning enables agencies to sustain their core programs even if hours at some facilities need to be curtailed and less-essential services need to be suspended during this time of crisis. It is our responsibility to shepherd the community resources—dollars and expertise—so that the system as a whole continues to provide the vital services we’ve collectively built.

The Exodus, the seminal event of the Passover story, provides an interesting lesson for our time. We who identify as part of the community understand that we share a common past and a common future. It's something we celebrate.

This year there are many whose celebration is tempered; for those blessed with relative bounty, now is the time to help them.