Update: EA for Jews has launched! Here is the forum post with details. To learn more visit eaforjews.org, and if youâd like to get involved please fill out this quick form. Thanks all!
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EA for JewsâUpÂdate and call for volunteers
Yes! I have actually created a facebook group and will go public with a post on this forum and elsewhere soon. The reason I havenât shared it thus far is we are still deciding on a name for the organization as a wholeâthereâs been quite a bit of discussion as to whether âEA for Jewsâ; âJews for EAâ; âEA and Judaismâ etc is best. Iâll post an update on the forum shortly, likely this week.
Thanks @Weatequince! Iâd love to chat more about this ideaâsend me a message here or fill out the form with your contact info and we can discuss.
Thanks Josh! I completely agree. Iâve been in touch with the founder of Jewish Effective Giving and my plan at this point is to make the EA for Jews (or whatever the name we decide on is) a much broader site, not duplicative of the Jewish Effective Giving site. We would however plan to partner with Jewish Effective Giving in the sense that we would direct folks who are interested in speaking to their (reform) synagogues about effective giving to the Jewish Effective Giving folks.
Thanks for starting this project! Iâm not an audio engineer but I am a musician with a lot of audio editing experience (and relevant software), and Iâve got a few ideas to share about how to make the sound quality better on these. Send me a message if youâre interested in chatting. I could potentially also help out with audio editing directly though my schedule is a bit full at the moment.
On mobile but not for some reason on the web version there is a âmore platformsâ button that gives you an RSS feed that should work on any player: https://ââanchor.fm/ââs/ââ62cbeec4/ââpodcast/âârss
Sorry, I was unclear! GWWCâs list of members who have taken the pledge is public but yes the dashboard is (as far as I can tell) just for you to record donations privately.
Thank you!
A few âsoftâ or somewhat meta suggestions:
Getting things done. There are a variety of online courses, I havenât taken any and so canât recommend them but I do recommend skimming the OG book and taking time to implement its recommendations wholeheartedly to see if it works for you. Summary of the general approach here.
Negotiation. See also Getting to Yes.
Thanks for sharing! This could be added to this great post compiling EA Syllabi and Teaching Materials; Iâve suggested this in a comment there.
Thanks for this resource! @velutvulpes just posted one that you may want to add: Ethics and the Future seminar at Yale.
I now do (almost*) all my donations through a donor-advised fund which has tax and convenience advantages I discussed in this post. It automatically keeps a record of all my donations. Itâs not a public record, just for my info. [Edited to clarify that Giving What We Can offers you a âdashboardâ to record donations, but unlike whether you have taken the pledge the exact donations you have recorded are not public].
*I occasionally donate to facebook fundraisers or other âone offâ donations that I donât do through the DAF and these I donât track anywhere.
For more on health impacts you might want to take a look at this Slate Star Codex post which has a decent objective overview, also a good discussion in the comments. The circumcision debate is somewhat fraught; maybe thatâs an understatement. Regardless Iâll be interested to follow the discussion here.
Hi Calebâthis is probably not quite what youâre looking for, but an example I sometimes use of the importance of looking into the effectiveness of a charity before you donate is this
âPeople donated millions to the âBlack Lives Matter Foundationâ but it turns out that is a charity that isnât associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, but rather is one random guy who plans to use the charityâs funds to âbring police officers and members of certain neighborhoods together for an annual buffet dinner and other gatheringsâ and âa program that would distribute bulletins featuring positive news about police for display at local businesses.â I doubt either of those have been demonstrated to be effective interventions!
Thanks Jeremy! Great minds think alikeâIâve got a collection of sources Iâve been compiling on this topic as well and weâve hit a lot of the same ones. Luckily there are plenty of arguments on all sides of just about every issue addressed in the talmud; so no doubt the concept of helping your community first is present, so too is the preeminent importance of saving a life over other values (pikuach nefeshâ); see also Mishneh Sanhedrin 4, etc,. and other concepts that align more with EA principles. AnywayâIâll shoot you a message and Iâd love to discuss further!
Absolutelyâthis is my intention in both regards. First, in my ideal vision the website would have content that appeals to both religious as well as non-religious Jews. So in addition to highlighting or discussing traditional commentary on, say, tzedakah from the tanakh and talmud Iâd also like to highlight Jewish thought broadly related to social justice throughout history. Luckily there is thousands of years worth of content to mine in both regards!
Thank you Alex and Jeremy ! This input is very helpful, and has informed some discussions Iâve recently had with potential volunteers about what we should call the group.
Alex, Iâve talked with Caleb from your organization, but I think it would be great to bounce some ideas off of you as well re: this branding issue which it seems youâve given a lot of thought to. For now Iâm still going through the list of folks interested in volunteering but once we get a bit further along Iâll send you a message!
Thanks AviâI think you are right, from what I can tell the kidney donations discussed in those sources are largely within their community. (Although I wonder if they end up triggering any âswap chainsâ?)
I appreciate your perspective on the orthodox community, too, which I have relatively little personal experience with (one side of my family is orthodox but I grew up loosely reform). While in general I agree orthodox Jews are probably not the group most likely to get into EA, I figure thereâs still value in offering some information for any EA-curious orthodox folks out there (though I donât think that will be much of a focus of this site if I end up setting it up).
Thanks Gordon! I think an pan-interfaith group would be great! Iâd love to compare notes and hear more about what your group is up to.