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Boris Smolar's
'Between You
... and Me'
Editor-in-Chlef Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1971, JTA Inc.)
JEWISH POVERTY: There is the mistaken opinion among many
in this country that Jews are a well-to-do element; that not all of them
may be rich—or even in the "upper middle class"—but that there is
no poverty among them.
Nothing is further from the truth than this notion. The number of
Jews living on welfare and seeking aid from philanthropic agencies
is quite substantial. It is estimated to be about eight per cent of the
entire Jewish population. Moveover, during the last 10 years the num-
ber of Jews receiving various forms of aid from Jewish charitable
institutions has increased more than 30 per cent.
' The Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds estimates
that more than $70,000,000 a year is being allocated by central com-
munal sources for local Jewish services. A large part of this sum is
being spent for needs of impoverished Jews.
To get an idea of these needs, it is sufficient to point out that 68
Jewish family services—only 68 of the several hundred functioning in
the many Jewish communities in this country — have reported that
their monthly average caseload is over 19,000 families. Specialized
Jewish casework agencies exist in most of the cities with over 5,000
Jewish population.
Family agencies provide only a limited amount of economic aid.
Their main work is concentrated on family counseling. Often they
conduct their activities jointly with child-care. Thirty-nine Jewish child
care agencies for which data is -available reported taking care of more
than 6,900 children during the year, keeping them Mostly in foster
homes or in residential centers. During the same year, 77 Jewish
homes for the aged, which are supported by Jewish community funds,'
reported having about 15,000 beds and caring for about 19,000 residents.
But the number of Jewish aged living in poverty and in need of
social and welfare services runs in many tens of thousands. In New
York City alone there about 100,000 needy Jewish aged outside of those
living in homes for elderly persong. There are also Jewish families
which must receive aid in cash. More than 2,000 of such families were
aided last year in the communities with a sum of ;2,500,000. This phil-
anthropic assistance is supplemental to the aid which poor Jews are
entitled from state and municipal institutions. While no specific data
on the number of Jews dependent on communal and government wel-
fare is available, this number is estimated to reach 500,000.
•
•
•
STREET SCENES: It is sufficient to take a walk in the poor sec-
tions of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and other cities with
a large Jewish population to realize the extent of poverty existing
among Jews. In Greater New York, where 2,500,000 Jews live, one does
not have to go far to see Jewish poverty at its worst. A visit to Wil-
liamsburg and Crown Heights neighborhoods in Brooklyn, or to areas
like Morris Park and Hunts Point in the Bronx, or to Coney Island
and Brownsville, or to the Lower East Side of Manhattan-or even to
New York's Mid West-Side and Upper West-Side—provides a clear pic-
ture of the poverty in which Jews live there.
Jewish poverty may not be as visible as black poverty, but this is
because Jews are traditionally known as a people seeking to avoid
resorting to philanthropic aid, unless their situation has reached such
tragic height that they cannot help themselves and are forced to seek
charity. Last Passover there were quite a number of congregations
throughout the country which had to provide Matzo and Passover
food to Jews in their neighborhoods. -
Even in Miami, to where wealthy Jews escape for the cold winter
months and live in luxury, one can find neighborhoods with very poor
Jews in need of philanthropic aid. They came to Miami for the climate,
because of their poor health, but they hardly have any income to
support themselves, except those who live on social security. And even
these must count every cent.
The elderly are, of course, the majority among the Jewish poor.
But there are also many who have not yet reached the age of 62, the
minimum age for social security. A good many of them are former
small store keepers and grocerymen who, having been ousted by the
growing number of supermarkets, can no longer earn a living. It is
hard for them to find employment because they are over the age of
50, and they must wait until they are eligible for social security if they
are entitled to it as self-employed. Some of them are not. In the mean-
time, whatever savings they had accumulated have evaporated. They
find themselves compelled to resort to charity, especially when they
have children to educate.
They are not entitled yet to social security, so they are also not
entitled to benefit from the Medicare health system. When sick, they
must visit a private physician and this costs heavy ffioney. The physic-
ian prescribes a medicine, and this too is costly. Their help can come
only from Jewish charitable institutions. Once upon a time, they were
among the lower middle class people; today they are among the very
poor with hardly any outlook to earn enough to support their families.
•
*
•
INFLATION EFFECT: Even among the elderly Jews who receive
social security benefits, the poverty is strongly felt, because the month-
ly checks they receive are hardly sufficient to meet their eitpenses for
rent and food.
The Jewish federations are trying to find some kind of employ-
ment for the needy—whether they were ousted from work because of
economic changes or because of their age. The federations maintain
their own employment bureaus for this purpose, which do their best,
but with results that are meager.
OPP
•
ff
Ps%
18th Century BCE Burial Cave Found at Bazar
JERUSALEM — A rock-hewn
burial cave, dating back 18 centur-
ies BCE, was accidentally dis-
covered Jan. 4 at Razor by a team
employed by the National Parks
Authority. It contains close to 150
pieces of pottery, of which some
120 are whole and in perfect con-
dition.
The finds include a number of
beautiful vessels.
The burial cave, which dates to
the Middle Bronze II B period, is
the largest of this period to have
been discovered at the site.
The discovery was made while
the team was working on reinforce
ing rock-hewn steps in the water
system which dates to the period
of the Kings of Israel. This work
is being undertaken in the course
of preparing the system for public
between seven and nine skeletons,
two simple swords which are typ-
ical of the period, a spearhead,
two toggle pins and five beads.
Most of the pottery is character-
istic of the beginning of the Middle
Bronze II B period, while some
of it is characteristic of the trans-
ition period between this and the
preceding age.
It can be assumed that the cave
was hewn out before the upper
city was fortified in the Middle
Bronze II B period, a supposition
borne out by the fact that it is
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, Jamary 22, 1971-13
Meet a
taste
mported from
ia da
Oldest Distiller
visits.
The burial cave is hewn into the
southern slope of the tel of the
upper city underneath the south-
ern steps alongside -the shaft of
the water system.
Two days of excavations were
led by Prof. Yigael Yadin, head
of the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem's institute, of arch=
eology, together with Yigal
Shiloh, a team of students from
• the institute and Baruch Hofri
of the Razor Museum.
Also found were the remains of
situated on the southern slope of
the tel.
Its original opening, discovered
still sealed by a blocking stone,
lies beneath or extremely close to
the line of the city wall as it was
in the Middle Bronze period.
At this time it would appear
that there was an unwalled settle-
ment on the site of the tell of the
upper city — a conclusion reached
in the 1968 dig carried out on the
site. The cave was apparently con-
cealed from those living in Razor
in subsequent periods.
' Canadian
To Review Budget Bids
of 7 National Agencies
NEW YbRK—Financing of serv-
ices of seven national Jew is h or-
ganizations in 1971 will be de-
termined at a two-day meeting
of the Large City Budgeting Con-
ference at the Waldorf Astoria,
New York, Saturday and Sunday.
Lawrence H. Williams of Cleve-
land, recently elected chairman of
the budgeting conference, said that
the weekend conclave will com-
plete the cycle of budget reviews
of national Jewish organizations
begun by the Large City Budget-
ing Conference at the 39th General
Assembly of the Council of Jewish
Federations and Welfare Funds in
Kansas City last November.
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Impressive taste ...
supremely Mellow,
richly rewarding.
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