How Giving Tuesday Gives Back

I have always been skeptical of made-up holidays –the ones that fill 365 days with celebrations like National Taco Day (first Tuesday in October) or National Father-In-Law Day (July 30). I’m not a big fan of those holidays created by marketers either, but if this is a way to build the economy, I guess I can go with it.

But Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (Tuesday, December 3 this year) has a special resonance. Giving Tuesday is the nudge that keeps the gratefulness going, whether it’s giving money, time or your voice within your local community — what I respectfully see as our small corners of the world.

Giving Tuesday gives me a chance to recalibrate–the time and opportunity to practice being the person I want to be right now — as well as the person I can and must become. This is uncomfortable territory for some, demanding time and practice. But one of the honors, for me, is to help non-profits with missions I can respect, like the work of Hadassah.

From my grassroots introduction to the organization in my community in the 1990s to becoming the first life member in my family, I have given what I can because Hadassah stands for Jewish values, traditions and beliefs. It supports women, their leadership, their voices. I am only one of 300,000+ voices, but I don’t feel alone.

And #GivingTuesday populates an online search with so many other organizations – colleges, charities and community-based non-profits to support. For our family, it’s a shout out to the local volunteer fire department as well as contributing to student emergency and scholarship funds at my alma maters.

The Thanksgiving leftovers? They’ll be close to completely eaten very soon after Thanksgiving Day. The Black Friday sales? They’ve been on for months. Small Business Saturday? Thank you, American Express. But the Tuesday after Thanksgiving? Twenty-four precious hours to make a change, take a stand, unleash your generosity. And if you do it with heart, it can be giving as good as it gets.

Lauren is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place, to celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and to share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 450 columns in the Times of Israel Blog and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.