How a couple decided to donate 15 percent of everything they owned, and what it taught them.

There is a generosity of spirit that Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman and his wife, Mindy Glickman, exude. Say you offer a “thank you for your time,” they will counter that they are never actually busy. “There is always room in our garden for more seeds,” the rabbi says.

The couple has made seeding that garden something of a lifestyle. After 28 years leading a reform synagogue in Connecticut, after the pandemic hit, the Glickmans found that like many people, they felt lonely. They bought a van (named Seymour) and took three separate road trips – one focused on visiting United Ways in the South, another that took them to 38 Jewish congregations all over the country and a third focused on visiting ACLU chapters. (They also visited all seven of their children.) “A Jewish value we have is tzedakah [charity],” Mindy says. “We set aside money in advance that we get to give away. It’s kind of fun.”

The third trip led them to Monterey, where they now live while Glickman is serving as interim rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel Valley. He and Mindy spoke to the Weekly about the charitable project they embarked on through their road trips, ultimately covering tens of thousands of miles and donating along the way, eventually to every United Way chapter (over 800) in the U.S., and more than 5,000 friends of library groups. They call the initiative Giving Locally, Everywhere (GLeE).

Weekly: What motivated the idea of the road trip?

Jeffrey Glickman: An idea hit me, a revelation, like a freight train: Things that happen far away affect us locally. If a strange disease happens far away, it can affect you locally. If someone feeds their community lies, it doesn’t matter where they are, it can affect you locally.

I talked to Mindy and said, “Now is not a time for us to invest in stocks, it’s time to invest in people.”

We totaled up everything we had – cars, house, retirement fund – we sold off 15 percent of it for giving to charity over the next few months.

Did that change your life materially?

We have become way happier with way fewer things. We came with one checked bag and one carry-on each. I tell people, I’m really an oak tree but I came out here like an acorn.

I have always had a catch-and-release attitude for things. You have joy in acquiring it, joy in owning it, and joy in parting with it. To get that triple joy is incredible.

How did you decide what groups to donate to?

We use words like giving and philanthropy and charity and donations and they are so misleading, they miss the point. It’s not giving, it’s your innate responsibility. That you feel good about tzedakah is a side benefit; you do it because you’re obligated.

There is a Jewish teaching that says, a beggar that comes to your door does more to help you than you do to help the beggar. People understand it with dog shelters, like who rescued whom?

You don’t give because you like to give or because there’s a match. You don’t even wait for someone to ask. You give because you are a citizen and that is your responsibility. Period.

Why approach it through small, local chapters?

We didn’t want to be donors, we wanted to be customers. We became members at every NPR station in the United States, over 200.

I challenge you to commit $10. What’s a state you’ve never been to?

Tennessee.

Pick a rural place on the map, and call up the local library or NPR station there. Say, “Hi, I’ve never been to where you’re at, and I might never get there but I am curious to hear what the needs are in your community but I am going to help you do that and I’m going to make a donation of $10.”

The people on the other side of the phone might say something like: “Oh my god, someone from Seaside, California wants to know what we are doing?”

That validation is worth so much more than $10. The $10 lubricates it, but I don’t know any easier way to bridge the horrible divides in our country.

Was that a lesson you discovered on your road trips, or a goal you set out with in advance?

It was a hypothesis proven true.

How did vanlife go for you?

Jeffrey: There is a Yiddish expression, when there is love in a house, no bed is too small.

Mindy: Especially when you have noise-canceling headphones.

Learn more about GIVING LOCALLY, EVERYWHERE and listen to their podcast at turntothewonderful.com/glee