Jewish tradition teaches that anyone on a mission of good deeds will be saved from harm,[1] and so, on each trip, Siegel followed this age-old custom and asked friends and relatives for a dollar or two to give away to Tzedakah upon his arrival in the Holy Land.
Once in Israel, Siegel went in search of "the Good People" (he refers to them as "Mitzvah Heroes"), ordinary Israelis who were doing extraordinary work, simply by trying to make the world a better place.
Within a short time, he learned of the efforts of such people as Hadassah Levi, who made her life's work the rescue of abandoned babies with Down syndrome from hospitals, Myriam Mendilow, who found Jerusalem's poor, elderly residents on the streets of the city and gave them respect and new purpose in her program, Yad L'Kashish (Lifeline for the Old), or Uri Lupolianski, a young teacher who started Israel's now famous lending program, Yad Sarah, in his living room.
From that first $955 Siegel collected and gave away, Ziv Tzedakah Fund grew to be an organization that in 2007 completed its 32nd year of operation and distributed more than $14,000,000 primarily to small programs and projects in both Israel and the United States.
Siegel is the author of 29 books on such topics as practical and personalized giving, healing and humor, and has produced an anthology of 500 selections of Biblical and Talmudic quotes about living life called Where Heaven and Earth Touch.