“People often believe that ‘Jewish’ and ‘poverty’ is an oxymoron. They don’t fully understand the impact of the problem.”
A young man answered my call for cleaning help; he biked fifty miles because he couldn’t afford the bus ride.
Do we ignore Jewish poverty because it challenges our image as a ‘model minority’?
“There is a perception that Jewish poverty is an oxymoron. There is a tremendous sense of denial about how many Jews truly need help.”
Being poor is not a sin — but treating the poor unfairly certainly is.
A young man answered my call for cleaning help; he biked fifty miles because he couldn’t afford the bus ride.
We were high-class and lower-middle money — apparently unforgivable in the Jewish world, since we’re underachievers and under-earners.
Sixty-one percent of survivors live on less than $23,000 a year, which is double the poverty line.
Our rabbis all agree Jewish poverty is pervasive — and swept under the rug. What to do about it is where many disagree.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate acts of generosity. It is that my brain still does not know how to comprehend new wealth that I didn’t earn.