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Thursday October 4, 2007

Getting a jump on the art of giving

For anyone worried that today’s youth might end up a lost generation, our story this week on teen philanthropy should come as welcome reassurance.

As it turns out, the kids are all right.

With local teen foundations pulling in increasing numbers of junior philanthropists, the Bay Area Jewish community is doing its part to develop the next generation of givers.

To make this happen several Jewish community teen foundations are now dotting the landscape. The programs teach teenagers how to raise funds, select worthy charities and donate to them, all on their own.

Over the last four years, active Jewish teens have given away nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Beneficiaries include Jewish and non-Jewish charities, from the Bread Project and the Jewish Coalition for Literacy, locally, to Magen David Adom and the Bedouin Women’s Embroidery Project in Israel.

As the story points out, the Bay Area is at the forefront of a growing national movement promoting Jewish teen philanthropy.

At first glance, the notion of generous teens seems counterintuitive. Kids are supposed to be self-absorbed, disengaged from the wider world, focused only on their parochial concerns, right? Wrong.

Allowing young people to investigate areas of social concern and develop the skills to repair the world empowers them. Just as those youths are coming into their own, a supportive Jewish community can give them a lasting lesson about tzedakah.

There’s a touch of poetic consonance in running the story on Simchat Torah, one of the most joyous holidays on the Jewish calendar.

Simchat Torah celebrates the yearlong reading of the Torah and rolling the Torah scroll back to the beginning.

Likewise, with every new generation, the Jewish people must also roll back to the beginning. We are commanded to teach our children Jewish history and Jewish prayer, and to steep them in Jewish values. We give it our best shot, then hope those values take hold and that the next generation will take up the mantle of leadership.

Successful programs like the Jewish community teen foundations — administered by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Endowment Fund and the Jewish Community Foundation of the Greater East Bay — prove those efforts do pay off.

We congratulate all the participating teens, and urge them to keep up the good work. And to our readers we wish a joy-filled Simchat Torah and a hearty Shana Tovah.

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