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NEWS
Chessed Organizations Function in Tremendous Vacuum
by M. Halevi
Yad Sarah, a famous chessed organization which needs
no introduction, was founded by Rabbi Uri Lopolianski and
has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Currently, it
sponsors a wide variety of chessed and voluntary
activities, compensating for what the health system does not
provide to citizens in distress.
An exhibition of photographs organized by volunteers is
currently on display in Jerusalem's Binyanei Hauma. The
exhibition, which captures the breadth of Yad Sarah's
activities and is titled accordingly--"The Many Faces of Yad
Sarah"--is comprised of one hundred pictures taken by
Israel's top-ranking photographers. Like other organizations
founded by chareidim that serve everyone, Yad Sara is held
in awe even by many secular newspaper correspondents.
One of them, Albert Suissa of the Jerusalem weekly Kol
Ha'Ir, suggested that the importance of all these
chessed organizations is a direct result of the
indifference and disregard of the governmental
authorities.
He notes that Jews have always been volunteers and
contributors. "Worldwide Jewish welfare and charity
organizations are viewed as prime examples to emulate. The
rule is simple: In a world devoid of justice, the
tzadik must do tzedoko. Just as the obligation
to do tzedek is an absolute value, and is not linked
to the character of the doer or the recipient, so
tzedoko has an element of doing justice in a
distorted world."
Mr. Suissa takes the materialistic and ambitious society to
task for neglecting its needy members. The question is: who
are the forces helping those non-profit organizations, which
are multiplying in our distorted society, become empires of
public service? And who created the tremendous vacuum in
which these organizations are required to function? Doesn't
an examination of the contributions given to a needy
citizen, that are supposedly given with chessed,
uncover that he legitimately deserves these things?
Precisely why, in a capitalistic society controlled by a few
tycoons, has a vast philanthropic industry been formed? In a
world depending so greatly on volunteer work and
contributions, could there be a somber and thoroughly
corrupt society hiding behind the scenes, content to let
those charitable organizations do the work for them?
The photographs don't deal with that. However, the
perceptive observer might see the State behind it, as a
machine that manufactures the indigent and cripples, but
doesn't assume responsibility for its deeds, flinging them
instead on the kindness of its simple citizens.
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