{"id":2846,"date":"2010-12-22T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=2846"},"modified":"2023-12-28T18:04:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T23:04:46","slug":"the-waving-o-the-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/22\/the-waving-o-the-green\/","title":{"rendered":"WAVING O’ THE GREEN"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nThe highest paid<\/strong><\/span> Jewish communal worker in America is Steve Hoffman, president of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland — a united charities for Jews. Hoffman makes $687,000 a year.<\/p>\n

He makes more than double the Atlanta federation president’s salary; 86 percent more than the Detroit chief; 56 percent more than the Chicago president; and more than the boys in New York.\u00a0 [Source: Forward<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

This gives Cleveland Jews another excuse not to give tzedakah<\/em> (charity). \u00a0Donors want reasons not<\/em> to give.<\/p>\n

“That’s disgusting.\u00a0He should be in private industry,” said a friend of mine.<\/p>\n

Another friend stopped<\/strong><\/span> giving to the federation because a volunteer called and asked my buddy to up his pledge. My friend didn’t like the personal touch; he stopped giving altogether.<\/p>\n

I asked the federation to switch my pledge solicitor.\u00a0 I was in the federation’s real estate division — where the heavy-hitters are — and I didn’t want a phone call from an owner of a “lifestyle” shopping center, on principle. Now I have a friend who solicits me.\u00a0 And with email, it’s all pretty painless.<\/p>\n

I give.<\/p>\n

\"\"But when I read in the Forward<\/em> last week that Steve Hoffman is making two cents for every dollar the Cleveland campaign raises, I had second thoughts on Hoffman’s two cents. \u00a0A sizable chunk of the federation’s annual $28.8 million campaign is going to Hoffman.<\/p>\n

On the other hand,<\/strong><\/span> Hoffman is no doubt a capable executive, dealing with very finicky donors around the clock. He also oversees the federation’s enormous endowment and philanthropic funds. He was offered $687,000 a year and took it.\u00a0 That’s not a crime. He’s probably a good guy. Just an overpaid good guy.<\/p>\n

In my father’s day, the federation published an annual blue book that listed everybody’s contributions.\u00a0 My dad was proud he was “anonymous.” \u00a0My former rabbi, Michael Hecht, differed.\u00a0 Rabbi Hecht said it was best to attach your name to your contribution so peers would be embarrassed and\/or motivated to give more. \u00a0(The bell rings . . . Rabbi Hecht vs. Maimonides.)<\/p>\n

The best place to give — at least in the non-Jewish realm — is to the Salvation Army.\u00a0 The Salvation Army is a religion. \u00a0The Sallies — the troops — are almost like nuns. The Sallies don’t spend much on overhead.\u00a0 They are in the streets, doling out food.\u00a0 And don’t forget about their brass bands.<\/p>\n

Every year I write on my Salvation Army donation: “I’m Jewish.”\u00a0 I got a call from the major once.\u00a0 He didn’t mention the Jewish part.<\/p>\n

The most ardent<\/strong><\/span> fund-raising drive ever, surprisingly, was at Klezkamp — the artsy klezmer convention.\u00a0 A spirited 80-something New Yorker took center stage and asked for pledges.\u00a0 He announced the pledges and checks . . . $18, $25, $36, $50.\u00a0 A musician gave $5,000.\u00a0 That was Gates-ian.\u00a0 When all the pledges were counted, the speaker said: “Here’s something I learned from our Irish friends.\u00a0 It’s called the waving o’ the green.”\u00a0 He took a dollar from his wallet and waved it. Klezkamp volunteers with buckets circulated through the crowd to collect bills the audience waved back.<\/p>\n

It was good theater, somewhat creepy, and somewhat effective.\u00a0 A buck goes into the bucket. \u201cTransparency” in action.\u00a0 Nobody at Klezkamp was making $687,000 from that bucket.<\/p>\n

—-<\/span>
\nPlease see the post below too.\u00a0 It’s fresh paint.<\/span>
\n—-<\/span>
\nAnd win a free CD — One Ring Zero’s Planets<\/em> — by entering Zeek<\/em>‘s First Klezmer Liner Note Contest<\/a>. Zeek<\/em> is a Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture. I wrote the rules for the Zeek <\/em>contest. Click here <\/a>to enter, or just to read the nutty rules.<\/span>
\n—-<\/span>
\nYiddishe Cup plays First Night Akron <\/a>(Ohio) 7:30\u00a0 Fri. , Dec. 31.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The highest paid Jewish communal worker in America is Steve Hoffman, president of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland — a united charities for Jews. Hoffman makes $687,000 a year. He makes more than double the Atlanta federation president’s salary; 86 percent more than the Detroit chief; 56 percent more than the Chicago president; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klezmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2846"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31300,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846\/revisions\/31300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}