a little truth to rid the myth
it's been pretty much handed to me in a silver basket three times: i'm Jewish, and therefore have money. or, that Jews are the richest people in the world.
it's complicated as a Jew to think about something like this. especially if you have grown up in a middle-class area, and the only real Jewish community you've known is one that is comfortable, and, well, has money. you want to break the stereotype because, goddammit, it's not my fault my dad knows how to do good business and just so happens to be Jewish at the same time; or, because you know there must be Jewish poor out there, you've just never seen it.
this is all coming in the wake of last week's Torah portion (or parasha -- a little insight on my eljay name, there, ah?), in which it talks about how not just a person should act, but a community, and a business, in fact. not only this, but there's recent news that the largest kosher meat-packing plant in the United States was just raided, with an amount of around 400 illegal immigrants arrested on the premises. there's also a few outcries of a meth lab inside the place, and weapons being sold for drugs, amongst other human violations like abuse and animal rights violations. i can't go into this just yet, but it's embarrassing as a Jew and as a person who observes kashrut. anyway, the point here is, bout money, no? let's return to the topic at hand: the poor.
there's an excellent magazine out there. it's written by young Jews for the young Jewish public. it's online at www.newvoices.org, and it's called New Voices, an appropriate and wonderful title. i once wrote for them, on an article about a few hip Jewish blogs, but that's besides the point -- it was a bad article, anyway, admittedly. well, New Voices put out an interesting article in march (i was browsing the features) about the Jewish poor, focusing on New York, the second largest population (though i thought it was buenos aires, but whatever) of Jews outside of Israel. it helps shed a little light on the situation, and gives us a little more of an idea that Jews are not just rich, middle-class who own businesses, but are normal people living just above the poverty line, making about 21 grand a year.
here's the article: The Jewish Poor
now as for me, i can't say that this brings me a small bit of joy in being able to let loose a little statistic, disproving an ignorant theory...but at the same time, complicating my view of the Jewish community -- there sure are plenty of people out there who see Jews as mainly middle-class citizens, and most Jews included. so how do we break that? how do i break that?
andrew
it's complicated as a Jew to think about something like this. especially if you have grown up in a middle-class area, and the only real Jewish community you've known is one that is comfortable, and, well, has money. you want to break the stereotype because, goddammit, it's not my fault my dad knows how to do good business and just so happens to be Jewish at the same time; or, because you know there must be Jewish poor out there, you've just never seen it.
this is all coming in the wake of last week's Torah portion (or parasha -- a little insight on my eljay name, there, ah?), in which it talks about how not just a person should act, but a community, and a business, in fact. not only this, but there's recent news that the largest kosher meat-packing plant in the United States was just raided, with an amount of around 400 illegal immigrants arrested on the premises. there's also a few outcries of a meth lab inside the place, and weapons being sold for drugs, amongst other human violations like abuse and animal rights violations. i can't go into this just yet, but it's embarrassing as a Jew and as a person who observes kashrut. anyway, the point here is, bout money, no? let's return to the topic at hand: the poor.
there's an excellent magazine out there. it's written by young Jews for the young Jewish public. it's online at www.newvoices.org, and it's called New Voices, an appropriate and wonderful title. i once wrote for them, on an article about a few hip Jewish blogs, but that's besides the point -- it was a bad article, anyway, admittedly. well, New Voices put out an interesting article in march (i was browsing the features) about the Jewish poor, focusing on New York, the second largest population (though i thought it was buenos aires, but whatever) of Jews outside of Israel. it helps shed a little light on the situation, and gives us a little more of an idea that Jews are not just rich, middle-class who own businesses, but are normal people living just above the poverty line, making about 21 grand a year.
here's the article: The Jewish Poor
now as for me, i can't say that this brings me a small bit of joy in being able to let loose a little statistic, disproving an ignorant theory...but at the same time, complicating my view of the Jewish community -- there sure are plenty of people out there who see Jews as mainly middle-class citizens, and most Jews included. so how do we break that? how do i break that?
andrew