Dear Lakewood Scoop,
I am writing to raise a concern about a practice that seems to be becoming increasingly common in shuls around town: individuals collecting tzedakah while displaying explicit medical images of patients’ illnesses or injuries in order to elicit donations.
There is no question that many of these people are facing genuine and heartbreaking medical situations, and that their families may be in desperate need of financial assistance. The community has always shown tremendous compassion and generosity toward people in need.
At the same time, I believe there should be a line when it comes to how those appeals are presented.
Displaying graphic medical images in a shul can be deeply uncomfortable and disturbing, particularly for children and teenagers who may be present. A person should not have to encounter explicit images of a serious illness or injury simply because they walked into a shul and someone is collecting money.
Our community understands the importance of tzedakah and does not need graphic images to teach us to care. There are many ways to communicate the seriousness of a medical situation—through written descriptions, letters, or discreet informational materials—without putting explicit images on display.
This is not a criticism of the individuals or families seeking assistance. Their circumstances may be extremely difficult, and they deserve our support. My concern is specifically with the method of fundraising and whether there are more appropriate ways to appeal to the generosity of the community.
I think this is actually hurting their chances of someone coming over to donate.
We can—and should—remain a community that gives generously without sacrificing dignity, sensitivity, and basic standards of appropriateness.
Thank you for considering this.
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Agreed. Even certain details shouldn’t be made public.
B”H
Maybe they can keep the explicit images covered up and ask the prospective donor if they could show it to him or her, and try to keep it so others can’t see. A donor might need to see that the claim if for real and the urgency – as evinced by pictures – might result in a greater amount being donated or even that a donation would be considered at all.
Unfortunately, there are so many collectors. If you daven in a large Shul it’s not uncommon to encounter 30/40 meshulachim in one shachris. They are desperate and need to stand out amongst the many so that you don’t just motion to them that you don’t have money on you. This is what works. Did you donate nicely or did you just walk away disturbed by the images? How about taking the opportunity to be thankful to Hashem for your small “problems” instead of the gehenom that this person is going through?
Maybe they can stand in pajamas or wear a purim costume? Would you then acknowledge the fact that its gone too far? I actually give regardless. Being desperate doesnt allow for inappropriate collection behaviors.
It’s one thing to show censored pictures of the family in question or the sick person in better times but quite another to show what should be kept private and is only being shown for shock value.
How about being nosei beol
It’s not contradictory to feel for someone and at the same time not want your child to be traumatized.
This has been going on for years. Why is it a problem now?
I couldn’t agree more. Some people may not react as much but for a Yid with hartz, it can be very disturbing and even traumatizing. Causing pain to another in order to raise money doesn’t sound right.
Not only are they disturbing, they are also demeaning for the choleh.
And as someone mentioned, human nature is that we tend to distance ourselves from disturbing images, so rather than attracting donations, these pictures repel them.
Yeah, I was wondering if anybody else noticed this.! I’m not even a guy, so I’m never in Shul. I was simply shopping for Shabbos on my way out of the grocery store and I took a double take and I was like wait ,, is that someone holding images of their colonoscopy?! I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Yes I love giving tzedaka and I’m so grateful to be on giving end .. but whatever those images were … it was pretty jarring …
hoping the struggling get healing and never need to collect again ! Amen.
During the intafada there were suicide bombings and the papers had on a weekly basis many gruesome pics, many people complained and a question was brought to the gedolei hador should they stop? The answer was unequivocally let the yidden in américa feel the pain of our brothers and do not stop.
That was a tzaras rabim. This is a tzaras yochid.
That is true for the hamon am as a general approach, but if someone struggles with anxiety, depression, or similar challenges, they have control over deciding whether to open the newspaper or website to begin with. Once they do, the news is there in its reality without sugar coating it. But in a shul or outside a grocery store, where they have to go by necessity and pushing a picture into their face is without their consent and they have zero control over whether to look at the image at that moment, that is different.
Yea, Sedom had such rules