the
cost of

Examining the spiritual
return on the financial
investment.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

AppleTree Editor

Z

oe Marcus always knew she
wanted her children at a Jewish
day school. She wanted them
to get a Jewish education, and she
wanted them to be surrounded by
Jewish friends.
What was never clear was how she
would pay for it.
Seventeen years ago, Marcus came to
Metro Detroit. She was looking for-
ward to being part of a large Jewish
community. She had divorced and
remarried, the mother of three young
children. Marcus enrolled her two sons
at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan
.Detroit in Farmington Hills.
Meanwhile, her husband, Howard,
was starting a new business. Zoe, who
lives in Southfield, was back in school.
Soon, it would be time for Madison to
go to school. The couple had another
daughter, Michal, as
well. At the time, the
family faced "ever-
increasing Hillel tuition
[and] diminishing
scholarship opportunities."
By the time Aaron was in first
grade, Marcus already was worried.
Interviewed for a 1988 Jewish News
story about the challenging costs of
leading a Jewish life, she said she
could only tell her son "I don't know"
when he asked if he would be able to
stay at Hillel.
It didn't take long to find out.
Marcus eventually took her two sons,
Aaron and Cale, out of the school.
Madison has only attended public
schools, as has Michal.
"I just couldn't afford to keep them
in," Marcus says. "Aaron stayed for
four years, and every year the tuition
went up.
"It was a difficult decision," she says
of leaving Hillel. "And while I don't
have any regrets about our lives, I
know what my children missed by not
being at Hillel; they missed being sur-
rounded by things Jewish all the time."
Today, the median income of a
Jewish family with children is between
$75,000 and $85,000, says Professor
Gerald Bubis, founding director of
Jewish communal service at the

L

Tr

Hebrew Union College Jewish
Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in
Los Angeles and Alfred Gottschalk
professor emeritus there.
Bubis has spent many years study-
ing the costs of living a Jewish life.
He compares the $75,000 figure to
a Jewish family who wants their
children to go to day school and
summer camp, and belong to a syn-
agogue and a Jewish community
center, and give to Federation, and
who face a tremendous cost in hous-
ing prices in recent years.
"They've got to have anywhere from
$120,000 to $150,000 to do all that
without impoverishing themselves," he
says. This means "the whole process of
getting an intensive Jewish life, with-
out substantial help, is beyond the
reach of most Jews," he says.
A great deal has changed for the
Marcus family since the 1988 Jewish
News article. A great deal has changed
for the general Jewish community as
well. Everything costs more.
That seemingly overwhelm-
ing annual tuition at Hillel
17 years ago: $3,950, which
sounds positively modest by today's
standards. Hillel tuition now is
$11,600.
Day schools. Hebrew schools.
Synagogue dues. Trips to Israel. A
bar/bat mitzvah celebration. Kosher
food. Membership at a JCC. Jewish
overnight camp (about $2,000 for one
month). Holiday fare (everything
from a sukkah to matzah for
Passover). Youth organizations. Senior
citizen homes. What Jewish family
isn't wondering, "How am I going to
pay for all this?" and "Is it worth it?"
It is worth it without a doubt, says
Rabbi Herschel Finman of Oak Park.
Being Jewish, with all its financial
demands, is inarguably a blessing.
Rabbi Finman is observant and the
father of seven children, which means
he knows all about the monetary chal-
lenges of living Jewishly. He also is
involved in kiruv work, bringing Jews
back to their religion, which means he
helps families come to terms with
what may appear to be overwhelming
financial demands.
"It costs, but it's our responsibility,"
Rabbi Finman says.
"Even when it comes to the most

COVER STORY

financially challenging — a day school
education — it's also our joy," say
Mark and Susan Lichterman of
Huntington Woods. The Lichtermans
are the parents of three children, all of
whom attend Hillel.
"A day school education is a gift
that every Jewish parent should strive
to give his/her child," Susan says.
"We made the decision to send our
children to day school despite the huge
financial commitment and despite the
often-heard concern that day school
children are sheltered from the 'real
world,"' she says. "We made the deci-
sion because we have such a short time
to influence our children and help
mold and shape them into committed
members of the Jewish community as
well as into upstanding citizens of the
larger community we live in before
sending them out on their own."

Meat, Milk

...

And Money

Some of the financial burdens Jewish
families take on are a matter of choice
and of social pressure, such as a costly
bar or bat mitzvah party. Similarly,
while youth groups and Jewish sum-
mer camps may foster a commitment
to Judaism, they are hardly require-
ments of living a Jewish life.
Food, however, is one of those
things people don't want to do with-
out. And if you keep kosher, you'll
pay. Legitimate reasons exist for the
higher cost of kosher food, Rabbi
Finman says. "It's a smaller market, so
that means a greater price. It's a ques-
tion of low supply and demand."
Take pricey kosher cheese, for exam-
ple. The issue here is vegetable rennet.
Treif(non-kosher) cheese is made with
a meat-based rennet; kosher cheese
requires its own special rennet that is

not, of course, much in demand in the
rest of the market.
Even with the high cost of kosher
food products, "the spiritual benefits
of keeping kosher far outweigh the
additional costs," Rabbi Finman says.
"A Jewish body is meant to run on
kosher food."
That kosher meat and cheese is cost-
lier than its treif counterpart is a fact.
Still, the kosher market today is much
more competitive and sophisticated
than 17 years ago, and the savvy con-
sumer can find good deals on such
items as frozen kosher chicken and
kosher cheddar cheese at places like
Sam's Club and Costco.
Those who don't keep kosher cer-
tainly feel the pinch around certain
holidays, especially Passover, when
most Jews opt to buy traditional
kosher-for-Passover foods that are very
costly. Add on the high cost of provid-
ing food for a family seder, and the
expense is significant.

School Days, School Days

Jewish families who want day school
experiences for their children usually
find tuition takes the biggest bite —
even greater than taxes and mortgages
— out of their pocket.
Day school tuition is "the biggest part
of my budget," Rabbi Finman says.
"But with Judaism, what you put into it
is what you're going to get out of it."
The tuition at local private day
schools, religious and secular, varies
greatly by school and by grade. For a
sense of consistency, this article will
consider the cost of third grade.
This year, third-graders at Hillel pay
$11,600 (same for all grades) — the

COST OF LIVING on page 31

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2005

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