L ifestyle /C ulture
Digital Platform ‘Pushka’ Modernizes Tzedakah
LOCAL SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
ROSS LEFKOWITZ doesn’t
carry cash with him anymore,
and he doesn’t think other
millennials do, either.

The Bucks County native no
longer walks past a tzedakah
box at shul and stuffs in a
dollar bill or slides in a few
loose coins, but he still believes
that fulfilling the mitzvah of
tzedakah is just as important
now as it was before credit
cards, Apple Pay and Venmo
rendered cash nearly useless
to him.

As a solution to this
modern-day problem, Lefkowitz,
28, created a modern-day
solution: Pushka, “a digital
tzedakah box,” which launches
next month.

Users sign-up on the Pushka
website with their credit card
or bank information and
select from a host of Jewish
organizations to which they are
interested in donating. Pushka,
powered by the fundraising
platform Sparechange,
automatically rounds up money
spent on purchases and donates
it to the user’s desired nonprofit
organization. Lefkowitz, who has a
background in mechanical
engineering, an MBA and a
minor in computer science, was
inspired to create Pushka while
studying the Jewish commenta-
tive text of Pirkei Avot. In one
commentary, Sephardic philos-
opher Rambam introduces the
argument of giving a smaller
amount of tzedakah daily
versus giving a larger sum once.

“His encouragement was
to give every single day,”
Lefkowitz said. “Frequency
You are invited to
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SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
is more important than size
because you’re cultivating this
sense of generosity.”
To ensure his idea of
Pushka was spiritually aligned
with modern Jewish values,
Lef kowitz consulted with
Mamash! Chabad Rabbi Doniel
Grodnitzky, who frequently
rubs elbows with both young
Jewish professionals and
Jewish nonprofit leaders.

Grodnitzky assured
Lefkowitz that even if an
individual is not going through
the physical motions of giving
tzedakah, they’re still doing
just as much of a mitzvah by
giving virtually and passively.

“Mitzvahs do not need
intention,” Grodnitzky said.

“You can do a mitzvah by
accident.” After several meetings with
Lefkowitz over the past 12
months, outside and socially
distanced, Grodnitzky was on
board with Pushka. Mamash!
Chabad became the first
organization to sign-up to
receive donations.

Before Pushka goes live,
Lefkowitz has been hard at
work assembling a “launch
cohort” of 30-40 local Jewish
organizations to where users
can donate. He’s reached out
to synagogues and Hillels that
might be interested.

Beyond giving Jews a way
to fulfill a mitzvah daily
and effortlessly, Pushka will
provide an opportunity for
nonprofits to build connec-
tions with donors in a way they
haven’t previously, Lefkowitz
said. “Nonprofits are going
through a change in the way
that they do development
and fundraising,” he said.

“The traditional approach of
fundraising from a handful
of strategic donors is not very
sustainable. Organizations are
looking for ways to tap into the
community and engage with
the masses.”
Building relationships with
donors takes time and lots of
JEWISH EXPONENT
Ross Lefkowitz created Pushka to modernize the mitzvah of tzedakah.

Courtesy of Ross Lefkowitz
The traditional approach of fundraising
from a handful of strategic donors is not very
sustainable.” ROSS LEFKOWITZ
good rapport.

“It’s always a challenge for
nonprofits to make that first
ask, to get people involved in
a donation, to create a donor
relationship,” Grodnitzky said.

Through Pushka, the
connection between donor
and organization happens
seamlessly and automatically.

Moreover, organizations
on Pushka can share donors.

Users can select to donate
different percentages of money
to multiple organizations.

One of the local Hillel
directors Lefkowitz recruited
was excited about not having
to worry about the compet-
itiveness of finding donors.

The director told his friends
from other organizations about
Pushka, hoping they’d join too.

“He didn’t feel like he
was competing for dollars,”
Lefkowitz said.

Though the platform won’t
officially launch until after
the High Holidays, it’s already
garnered a handful of users.

Last month, Mamash! Chabad
hosted a Pushka Popsicle Party
happy hour for young Jews to
learn more about the service.

According to Grodnitzky,
more than 30 people signed up
for Pushka there.

Pushka is only available
in the Philadelphia area for
now, but Lefkowitz hopes
it will grow to a national
audience. Grodnitzky believes
in the power of Pushka, too.

He said it has the ability to
make an impact on the world
and fulfills a crucial compo-
nent of Jewish righteousness:
“making mitzvot as accessible
as possible.”
To sign-up for Pushka, go to
pushka.fund/. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



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