Year
Rabbi
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Re
Southfield-based Lawrence Technological University students and local
Jewish teens brightened the exterior of Yad Ezra, the kosher food pantry in
Berkley, where new gardens will grow produce for clients year-round.
and-a-half ago — and virtually all are
Jewish. Whereas before the recession the
Met Council saw a lot of haredi Orthodox
families and the elderly, there has been a
dramatic increase over the last two years
in non-haredi Orthodox families and the
non-observant, Rapfogel said.
One of the Met Council's new clients
is a 53-year-old grandmother who had
an administrative job in a Jewish day
school but was laid off in June 2009. She's
still collecting unemployment, which
she supplemented a few times with food
vouchers from the Met Council.
"I'm looking to work',' she said."I'm
not looking to collect Medicaid or food
stamps. Ifs very hard when you have to
depend on your children to help you. Ifs
not a good feeling'?
Ifs impossible to know just how many
Jewish poor there are in America. A 2004
study by the federation umbrella orga-
nization — now known as the Jewish
Federations of North America — found
730,000 Jewish individuals, or about 15
percent of the country's Jewish popula-
tion, living in economic distress, either
below or slightly above the federal pov-
erty standard. That was before the cur-
rent recession.
The federal poverty guidelines them-
selves are woefully outdated, say many
experts in the field. They are set at
$10,830 annually for an individual and
$22,050 annually for a family of four.
"Today, $10,000 does not seem liv-
able said Joshua Protas, vice president
and Washington director of the Jewish
Council on Public Affairs.
The JCPA is working in Washington
to prevent proposed cuts to the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, or SNAP (formerly known as
the federal food stamp program), as well
as the child nutrition reauthorization
bill, which provides 19.4 million children
with free or subsidized school lunches,
among other things.
"That includes a substantial Jewish
population," Pmtas said.
Ironically, the U.S. Senate recently
passed its version of the bill that pro-
posed funding in part by making addi-
tional cuts to SNAP. The JCPA is trying
to head off similar cannibalization in
the House of Representatives version of
the bill.
In addition, the Washington office
of the Jewish federations is working to
prevent a proposed 25 percent reduc-
tion in the Emergency Food and Shelter
Program, which provides supplemental
economic relief to millions of Americans
through faith-based community pro-
grams and public providers. The cuts
would be for fiscal year 2011, which
begins Oct. 1.
But many Jews in desperate economic
straits fall outside the purview of these
federal programs. For them, the private
Jewish charities are their only lifeline.
In Chicago, 42,000 people — 20 per-
cent of the region's Jewish population
— received emergency food assistance
through the Jewish United Fund/Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
Next Meal on page
32
bed, 5 ii alom
Congregation `beth Shalom
is PrO14?) to announce the installation of
our new spiritual tea?)er
Rabbi Robert camen
1<abaltat 6habbat Services
'Rabbi gamer's mentor anb frienb, 'Rabbi 'Or. Tliezer ‘Oiamonb
will leab the installation ceremony
`Friday. October 22nb
6:00 p.m.
5habbat Ginner following
$36/abult $15/chia
Lunch 6- Learn with `Rabbi ‘Or .{Oiamon?)
`FinUng Meaning an?) irgetevance
in `Prayer for the Vt4oZ)ern Jew
5atur4f, October 23t--,
following services
$20/A&ilt
Alin
145
fn vVeicoming
Rabbi Robert Gamer
2+8.5+7.7970
• www.congketlIslialom.org
1+601 Lincoln Road • Oak Park, Michigan +8257
1627850
October 14 • 2010
31