c. 2006 Religion News Service

TEANECK, N.J. _ They are part of the scenery every Sunday in this city’s Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods _ Israeli, Russian and Brooklyn Jews going house to house asking for money.

In an uneven stream, poor widows, parents of ill children, men out of work, and emissaries for Israeli schools and charities descend on streets around Teaneck’s dozen or so Orthodox synagogues.

The trips are regularly fruitful.

In just weeks of unannounced stops to Orthodox neighborhoods in the New York area, many “collectors,” as they are called, can receive several thousands of dollars _ often more than $10,000 _ from other Jews who try to follow their religion’s instructions on charity.

This unusual model of giving, unfamiliar to those outside the neighborhoods _ even to many Conservative and Reform Jews _ is a fact of life in many Orthodox neighborhoods.

Here in Teaneck, the number of collectors has skyrocketed in the last year, largely because of Israeli government cutbacks in social services and payments to families with children, according to rabbis and community members.

The most reliable measure of the growth is the number of certificates issued to collectors by a local charity board. Called the Teaneck-Bergenfield tzedakah committee (tzedakah means charity in Hebrew), it distributed 300 certificates last year, up from 180 in 2004.

On two recent Sundays, down the road from a Teaneck synagogue, hired drivers pulled up near houses where Orthodox residents have known records of generosity, or to other houses identified as Jewish by mezuzahs _ the enclosed parchments that Jews place on door frames.

An Orthodox man from Israel, Rabbi Menachem Rubin, made the rounds, collecting for a Jerusalem school and rehabilitation center he heads that caters to young girls who once lived in poverty in Russia.

“We run on a minimal budget,” Rubin said. “When the (Israeli) government made budget cuts, it cost us about $360,000 a year.”

In the United States for three months to collect in Orthodox neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey, Rubin carried a brochure on the center, Bat Zion, as well as the Teaneck-Bergenfield tzedekah committee’s certificate vouching for his cause.

Nearly two-thirds of the people with the certificates collect for worthy institutions, tzedakah committee members say. The rest generally seek money for themselves or their needy families.

Several of these collectors, when asked, told of personal problems _ injuries or long-term illness keeping them from work, too little money to raise a family or pay for a daughter’s wedding _ but asked their names not be published. They did, however, show their tzedakah committee certificates.

The certificates have become an essential tool, serving as unofficial licenses for collectors.

The tzedakah committee began issuing them in 1999 after rising concern about swindlers. Only after investigating applicants and confirming claims with known rabbis overseas will it print a certificate with the person’s name, said David Schild, who heads the committee.

Many donors are unlikely to give people more than a dollar or two _ if that _ unless they have the certificate, he said.

“The whole thing is to protect the community from a charlatan or a thief,” said Menachem Stamler of Teaneck, a committee member who has a list of 100 rabbis in Israel he can call to verify an applicant’s story. “People come to us with letters (from overseas rabbis), but letters can be forged, and they have been forged. The idea is to find information about the person and about the program.”

Every major religion _ Christianity, Islam, Hinduism _ emphasizes charity.

Judaism’s multifaceted teachings are often read to say a Jew should never refuse a needy Jew. Yet they also say anonymous giving or helping someone become self-sufficient are considered higher forms of charity.

Many Orthodox Jews follow Jewish guidelines to donate 10 percent of post-tax income to charity, Schild said.

“It’s not uncommon for a family in Teaneck to give between $20,000 and $100,000 a year in tzedakah,” either through community funds, organized national charities, or at the door, he said.

Some prefer to select their own charities and give through the mail. But regular givers at the door say they generally view the half-dozen or so doorbell rings on Sundays as welcome opportunities to help people, even if most of those donations are not tax-deductible.

Stacey Barth, another Teaneck resident, said she gives just a small amount to solicitors without the certificate, using those occasions to teach her children about charity.

“Anyone who comes to my door, I won’t turn them away without anything. I have each of my kids give them something,” maybe a dollar, she said. “That way I’m not turning them away empty-handed.”

Much of the collection system operates under the community’s radar.

Most collectors live in Israel. While in the United States, they generally stay in Brooklyn for free as guests of charitable organizations like L’Hachnusas Orchim, Hebrew for “Taking in Guests.”

Once on American soil, they hook up with drivers who take them to predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. The drivers, who work independently but are known in Jewish charity circles, typically charge at least $25 an hour, or sometimes a third of a collector’s total take.

Collectors, some of whom travel in small groups with the same driver, are willing to pay the fees in the hope that drivers will take them to homes that have been generous in the past. They generally stay out for several hours at a time, often they carry a boxed lunch.

The collectors may return home in a month with $7,000 to $10,000, often much more, Schild said.

One Israeli guest, Dovid Kohen, a father of eight, said through a translator that he came from Israel to collect because he lost his teaching job outside Tel Aviv four years ago and remains unemployed.

The approximately $1,000 he paid for airfare from Israel was well worth it, he said. In one month, he collected almost $8,000 in Orthodox neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey.

Opening a folder he takes on collecting trips, he showed pictures of his children, ages 1 to 14, saying government support for his family has dropped sharply.

Still, bad experiences with solicitors are not uncommon, according to some Teaneck residents. They tell stories of overly aggressive collectors showing up at other people’s weddings, waiting for someone to come home, or complaining a handout is too small.

“I had someone once hand the money back to my children and tell me it wasn’t enough,” said Barth, of Teaneck. “My children didn’t know what to do. … The man said to them, ‘It’s not enough money.’ It was horrible. I asked him to leave.”

Rabbis said the certificates, besides weeding out scammers, have improved givers’ spirits by making them more confident the collectors are honest.

Giving, said Schild, “was supposed to be a beautiful (element) of our heritage _ opening the door to someone in need, and with an open heart giving tzedakah. Instead what was happening was, when the doorbell rang, people sort of cringed.”

Avi Aviner, a Teaneck resident whose house regularly attracts collectors, said that on a recent Sunday, when he wasn’t home, a woman rang the doorbell, inserted her foot inside when his daughter opened the door, and became angry upon learning Aviner wasn’t home.

Still, he said he tries to give whenever he can, especially to people with certificates.

“I’m not judging a person because they don’t know how to behave,” he said. “They maybe deserve some charity. A person who schleps from home to home to ask for $2 here and $5 there, I believe you shouldn’t judge, and should give whatever you can give.”

KRE/JL END DIAMANT

(Jeff Diamant covers religion for The Star Ledger in Newark, N.J.)

Editors: To obtain photos of Orthodox Jews soliciting for charity, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.