Tzedekah Ministries: Being a faithful presence

Tzedakah Ministries has spent many years practicing a quiet kind of presence - showing up, building relationships, and trusting that God works over time. Among Jewish communities, especially those not easily approached, the work is rarely dramatic. More often it is patient, personal, and sometimes misunderstood. This reflection looks back on several moments from the past year that together tell a story of perseverance.

In the summer, a small mission team arrived from Tyler, Texas. There were eight of them, unsure what they would encounter in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, where large Hasidic and Haredi communities spend the season.

They walked the streets offering simple gifts - water bottles, small bags, brief conversations when welcomed, silence when not. Many interactions were brief. Some people declined politely. Others paused longer than expected. What stood out was not how much was said, but that conversations happened at all.

Across the different sects - Lubavitch, Satmar, and others - the team discovered that kindness often opened doors words could not. They left aware that most seeds in this kind of ministry are planted quietly, and rarely in view of the planter.

Not every moment felt peaceful. At one point a billboard inviting people, in Yiddish, to “Explore Messiah” was vandalized by young men who were angered by its message. The damage was repaired quickly, but the incident served as a reminder: being present sometimes means being unwelcome. Yet even in tension, conversations continued, and people kept finding their way to the ministry’s website, curious enough to look.

For Amy Downey, the year also marked twenty-five years of ministry among the Jewish people, and twenty-one years since Tzedakah began. The miles traveled and conversations held blur together now. What remains clear is the pattern: patient relationships, occasional opposition, unexpected openness, and the steady conviction that God is at work even when little is visible.

The story is less about visible outcomes and more about faithfulness - returning, listening, and speaking again, trusting that over time some seeds take root.