Philanthropy Fellowship, 2010-2011
The Philanthropy program is an example of our fellowship offerings. Past fellowship topics include Bio-Medical Ethics, Business Ethics and the Jewish Life Council.
The 7 session course invited participants to reflect on personal values, study Jewish sources about giving priorities, and teach each other about worthwhile causes and organizations.
Participants looked at key issues in philanthropy through the lens of Jewish values and Jewish texts. These included: the obligation to give back to the community, Jews being responsible for one another, Jewish continuity, the obligation to help the poor, the balance between helping Jews and non-Jews, the community and your direct self-interest, how much to give, and Maimonides’ hierarchy of giving.
As a group, participants in this fellowship were given $5000 to distribute by consensus to charities. The group chose to donate to AJWS, Save a Child’s Heart, Leket and Lev la Lev.
