=lonfnd1a Zenith Staff Loan Fund, Document 1 Steve Amdur, Zenith Camp, Campra, CH-6718 Switzerland 26 July '05 -- 19 taMUZ -- 20 Jumaada al-Thaany ------------------------------------------------------------------ On 25 July '05, at Bank Raifeissen, Olivone, CCP 65-7122-1 BC 80350 Tel: 091--874-2121 FAX: 091--874-2120 olivone@raiffeisen.ch www.raiffeisen.ch I established *** Account 10073.61 *** into which contributions may be deposited. I suggest that contributions be made only directly to that account, via check or electronic (SWIFT) bank transfer. IBAN / Valuta (whatever that is) is: CH70 8035 0000 0010 0736 1 / CHF I am the Titolare Tipo di conto is: Conto privato I must emphasize the previous two lines: At present I and only I can withdraw funds from this account. That is, there are at present no safeguards against my embezelling donations. If there are any further significant donations to this account -- I would suggest a minimum donation of SF 100 -- which is the present value of the account -- then co_signers and other safeguards can be established. If the account reaches any significant value -- eg SF 1000 -- then I cam amd most likely should phase myself out of the picture. In particular, two or three senior figures in or close to Zenith should make the decisions of who receives loans. Any papers regarding this account are available on bona fide request for a small donation to the account, minimum SF 25. -------------------------------------------- I envision this account as folows: This is a "Free" -- ie, non_interest -- loan fund, in the Jewish tradition of (if I recall the traditional phrase) Gemilut Hasidim. It is intended primarily for Zenith Staff members -- primarily Workcamp Staff, secondarily Cheese Staff, thirdly Teaching Staff. It is intended to fund needs, not indulgences. The clearest example as can give of such needs is: In past years, some Zenith Workcamp Staff from Poland have had to hitch_hike to or from Zenith Camp, for lack of funds. In one such case, two young women nearly got into a very difficult situation. In another case, a loan enabled a volunteer from Poland to come to the workcamp. One may note that for many years Polish volunteers were a mainstay of the Workcamp Staff and Camp Staff. So this fund is intended to cover such needs as transportation, medical / dental needs , et al. It is not intended for cigarettes, etc. This fund is intended to meet the needs of people who have very little money. So ability to repay a loan, especially short-term ability to repay a loan, should not be a criterion in making loans. ------------------------------ So now, a few philosophic notes: The Jewish notion of tzdaka , loosely and misleadingly translated 'charity' is, I guess, related to the Greek notion of 'dike', translated 'justice', which we find first and maybe most clearly in Heraklitus. So we find the notion of tzdaka re_emerging in the 'dialectical materialism' of the Jewish_German societal_philosopher Karl Marx as: "to each according to his needs, from each according to his ability." It may be seen that the notion of tzdaka is entailed by the Shma. Incidentally, the SO has not taken Judaism much into account. It gets little mention by HIK nor by PVK. As for another SO teacher, "All that he knew of Judaism could have been poured into a thimble with room left over for a short dry martini." The Shma is a conjunction, pq , but most ignore the 2nd half of that conjunction. The Shma is said twice a day, at morning and evening prayers. Yet some have led SO chants of the first half only of the Shma. The Shma is: ShMa' YiSRAeL '' AeLo(k)eI_NU '' AeChaD conjoined to the 2nd half: V____AHav_Ta AeT '' AeLo(k)e_NU AND you shall love the Divine b_KaL Lvav_Kha wiht all your heart U___B____KaL NaFShe_kha and with all your soul U___B____KaL MAoDe_Kha and with all your possessions It is the commandment to serve Heaven with all your possessions that entials tzada. Incidentally, the Shadow of the Sufi Order is the Soupy Order. That is because in Arabic and Hebrew the same letter stands for F and for P . And in Hebrew vowels are not written ( with the exception of Alef, Yud, and Vav, and those seem to be of later use as vowels). So therefore the word Sufi boils down to SFI , and can be read either 'SuFi' or 'Soupy'. QED McGee. But I digress, and am nodding off on my keyboard. Wrap Draft 2 Now. 'Charity' is etymologically from the Latin word 'caritas', of the heart. Hence it implies an emotive motivation (!), not necessarily dependent on justification (!). 'Tzdaka' is of course related to the word 'tzadik', a righteous person. Hence it implies decision-making based rationally on ethical criteria, independent of the emotional state of the giver. Better a drunken cursing Longshoreman who gives a twenty-dollar bill to an old woman on the street, than a spiritual tea_total_er who gives only a smile. Once in Graubunden I was struck by a somewhat ingenious definition of tzdaka. That definition should be somewhere on one of my Websites , I will try to remember something like it now: The obligation to give, within the 'realistic limits' , to those the ratio of whose ZCHUT ('merit') to NEED , exceeds one's own As for 'realisitc limits': the Talmud (which is simply a catch_all for whatever we could save of the wisdom of Jewish culture after the national and cultural genocide of the Babylonian and Roman conquests and forced transfer of population) says; One should give as tzdaka at least a tenth of what one possesses - - whence the USA Christian notion of 'tiithe', in the 19th and I suppose previous centuries -- but one should not give more than 20 percent, "lest he himself fall in need of tzdaka." So I says to Linda: As this applies to one's financial resources, to too it should apply to one's emotional resources. Says I. And that is what they used to call, in the USA, in the good old days before the Bushies captured it -- 'burn-out'. OK, I think that's enough for now. I should wrap this up, check that the camels aren't eating the computer, and go to sleep. ---------------------------------------------------------------- sa, Campra, 26 July '05 -- 20 taMUZ ----------------------------------------------------------------