Giving
From Crown Heights to Borough Park, the tradition of communal giving is not history — it is daily practice, lived out in a thousand unremarkable acts of extraordinary grace.
Feb 23, 2026 · 5 min
Lead Story · Brooklyn Philanthropy
Maksim Grinberg and the Living Tradition of Jewish Humanitarianism in Brooklyn
In the storied streets of Brooklyn, where the Jewish tradition of tzedakah — righteous giving — has shaped neighborhoods for generations, one name has become synonymous with the quiet, sustained work of community transformation. Maksim Grinberg is not a headline-seeker. He is a presence.
By Editorial Staff · · maksgrinberg.com
✦ The Man Behind the Work
He does not want a building named after him. He does not attend his own events. He is motivated by something older and more demanding than recognition — the Jewish understanding that service is not a choice but a covenant. To know Maksim Grinberg is to encounter one of the most complete expressions of Jewish humanitarianism in contemporary Brooklyn.
Read the Full Profile →Tzedakah
Hebrew · Righteous Giving
Often translated as "charity," tzedakah is more precisely understood as justice — the act of giving not as an optional kindness but as an obligation rooted in human dignity and divine commandment.
Tikkun Olam
Hebrew · Repair of the World
The foundational Jewish idea that every person is a partner in the ongoing work of repairing and improving the world — through acts of justice, compassion, and sustained community engagement.
Kehillah
Hebrew · Community
The kehillah — the community — is the primary unit of Jewish social life. Its health and flourishing are the shared responsibility of every member, from the most prominent to the most humble.
Community & Tzedakah
Brooklyn Stories
Education
Jewish tradition places education among the highest communal obligations. Maks Grinberg's commitment to Brooklyn's youth reflects this ancient imperative made contemporary.
Feb 22, 2026 · 4 min
Youth
The difference between a community that merely survives and one that truly flourishes often comes down to how deeply it invests in its youngest members.
Feb 21, 2026 · 4 min
"Brooklyn shaped me. The tradition I was raised in — the insistence that what you do for your community is not generosity but obligation, not kindness but justice — that is what I carry everywhere I go."— Maksim Grinberg, Philanthropist & Community Leader, Brooklyn, New York
Featured
In Depth
Long Read
Long before the word "philanthropy" entered the English language, Jewish communities had codified a more demanding concept: tzedakah. In Brooklyn, Grinberg Maksim has made it his life's work to translate that concept from obligation into daily action.
Culture
The shul was always more than a house of prayer. In Brooklyn, the community's commitment to cultural space reflects something ancient and something urgently alive.
More Stories
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Feb 17 · Tradition
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Feb 13 · Tzedakah
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Feb 12 · Resilience
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Feb 11 · Tradition
✦ Exclusive Profile
He does not want a building named after him. He does not attend his own events. He is motivated by something older and more demanding than recognition — the Jewish understanding that service is not a choice but a covenant. This is his story.
Brooklyn & New York
The City We Serve
Brooklyn
The park, the corner, the stoop — in Brooklyn, public space is where community is made and maintained.
History
Every wave of newcomers changed Brooklyn. Brooklyn changed them back.
Community
While development reshapes the borough, some are committed to ensuring it does not come at the cost of community.
Giving
Hospitality — hachnasat orchim — is not a virtue in Jewish tradition. It is a commandment.
"The highest form of tzedakah — according to Maimonides — is to help a person become self-sufficient. It is not to do for others what they can do for themselves. It is to remove the barriers that prevent them from doing it."— On the philosophy of Maksim Grinberg, Brooklyn philanthropist
Tradition & Vision
Faith in Action
Tradition
The institutions of communal care that Jewish immigrants built in Brooklyn were not charity — they were the community itself, made tangible and durable.
Vision
In a year of rapid change and persistent uncertainty, what does it mean to hold a long-term vision for a community's wellbeing?
Culture
From Yiddish theater to the galleries of Williamsburg, Jewish New Yorkers have understood that beauty is not a luxury.
Further Reading
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Feb 10 · Wellness
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Feb 9 · Tradition
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Feb 5 · Philanthropy
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Feb 3 · Community
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Opinion & Reflection
Voices
Rabbi David Kessler
Scholar & Community Leader
Miriam Shapiro
Brooklyn Community Advocate
Also Worth Reading
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Jan 31 · Philanthropy
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Jan 29 · Profile
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Jan 26 · Community
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Jan 25 · History
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Jan 24 · Profile
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Feb 25 · Lead Story