Jewish Leaders Assess Charity Oversight in Wake of Scandal

Jewish leaders in New York and New Jersey are eying tighter oversight of their charities following last month’s arrest of three Syrian Jewish rabbis in connection with an alleged money-laundering scheme, reports The Jewish Week.

Measures under consideration include discouraging control of discretionary charity funds by individual rabbis and routine audits of the charitable organizations. An international group of Jewish donors is also mulling a ban on grants to organizations that use a federal tax loophole on religious groups to avoid full financial disclosures.

“Our community has an obligation to exceed the standards that the government is imposing, specifically in the areas of transparency and governance,” said Mark Charendoff, president of the Jewish Funders Network.