Practice your Jewish values on #GivingTuesday

Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, you partake in the phenomenon known as Black Friday. You get up with the rooster, drive to the mall and set off on a hunt. Perhaps you have already perused the stores’ fliers and chosen the deals you must fight for. You will buy inexpensive products – whatever they may be – and then you will come home and try to find somewhere to store these most likely unneeded clothes, knickknacks and electronics. How many pairs of jeans, albeit cheap ones, does one need, after all? Possibly, you will wrap up your purchases and hand them out during Hanukkah. This holiday, why not spend your time, money and energy on something that’s more meaningful and lasting than a tchotchke?

This time, instead of participating in the hysteria of Black Friday or engaging in the consumerism of Cyber Monday, engineer your own Hanukkah miracle by getting involved in #GivingTuesday. Started in 2012 by New York’s 92nd Street Y, the initiative, in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, promotes charity and volunteer activities to support nonprofit organizations. The name was likely inspired by the Twitter hashtag – a phrase that follows a pound sign and is used to identify tweets on a specific topic. The event’s website explains the thinking behind the concept, “On Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, charities, families, businesses, community centers and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.”

Funds running low this year? You don’t have to give money to participate. Contribute by raising awareness, donating goods and services or volunteering – offering involvement beats apathy.

The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island is participating. Brian Sullivan, director of Marketing, says, “The Alliance will be taking part in #GivingTuesday for the first time since its inception. Our participation this year will be limited to social media, with the hopes of growing it into something larger in the coming years.”

Trine Lustig, vice president of Philanthropy, adds, “We are excited to join this international phenomenon that celebrates generosity. We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for finding bargain sales. Now we also have a day for tzedakah.”

Those who took part in the 2013 event generated roughly $19 million, growing donations 90 percent from the amount raised just a year before. Will these figures be surpassed once again in 2014?

Already, the number of partners has quadrupled since the inaugural year, climbing past 1,300. Stomach full of turkey, nourish your soul next. And don’t forget to document your efforts with #UNselfie photo to inspire others. Judging by last year’s stats of #GivingTuesday reaching 700 tweets per minute, the initiative is an effective means to reach more than 2 billion Twitter and 300 million Facebook users.

Irina Missiuro is a writer and editorial consultant for The Jewish Voice.