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Food Stamp Solidarity and Humility
Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, is taking the Food Stamp Challenge during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He is living on the Food Stamp allowance of $21 for the week. He is keeping a diary and blogging during this time.
Jewish tradition demands that we leave the corners of the field and the gleanings of our crops for the poor and the stranger. The Torah prescribes a special tithe for the stranger, the orphan, the widow and the Levites. Deuteronomy says unequivocally in the name of G-d: “There shall be no needy among you.” One only need walk down the streets of any major urban area to see that we have failed to do as we are commanded.
With Rosh Hashanah past and Yom Kippur looming, I look inward. How have I met my obligations to G-d? Where have I failed? How can I improve next year? It is with those questions swirling in my head that I am currently undertaking the Food Stamp Challenge to highlight the problems with the current assistance system and kick off JCPA’s year long campaign.
Twenty-one dollars. That’s the weekly amount allotted for individuals under the current federal food stamp assistance program: one dollar per meal per day. The inadequacy of the amount forces individuals to forgo foods most of us take for granted as everyday necessities. The staples are unhealthy and boring. Food stamp recipients do not go to Starbucks or Whole Foods. They also consume a low-quality diet that compounds health problems.
America is the world’s wealthiest nation. Yet poverty remains entrenched among us. The U.S. Census Bureau says an alarming 36.5 million Americans (roughly 12 percent of the population) live in poverty. Some 26 million of them rely on food stamps for sustenance.
This situation cannot be allowed to fester out of indifference. That’s why Jewish communities across the United States are coming together this month to launch a Jewish Council for Public Affairs-sponsored, year-long anti-poverty campaign. The name of our confronting poverty initiative is “There shall be no needy among you.” Our first action is the food stamp challenge..
I’m joined by JCPA Chair Lois Frank, U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, plus members of more than 20 Jewish communities from around the nation in experiencing firsthand, if only briefly, what those forced by circumstances to survive on food stamps must endure week in and week out.
Those elected officials taking the challenge with me underscore more than an interest from government – they highlight the interfaith commitment to this issue. Keith Ellison, the only Muslim member of Congress, takes the challenge with me during the Muslim holy time of Ramadan. Congressman Grijalva and Chris Van Hollen, Christians, join us as well. Jew, Christian and Muslim all led by our faiths and our consciences working together to highlight the needy among us and hope to serve as an example.
In a few days the great prophet, Isaiah, will tell us as he always does in the Yom Kippur liturgy, that the reason we are fasting is the feed the hungry and to clothe the naked. He is clear. When he issues his challenge to us, we intend to tell him about the challenge we have undertaken. We want Isaiah to smile wide and to be able to say: “My people are listening!”
Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, is an activist, organizer, attorney, rabbi, and advocate for social justice.
By Steve Gutow |
September 19, 2007; 1:59 PM ET
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Posted by: Gxzkiyc | December 13, 2007 11:32 AM
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Posted by: Gxzkiyc | December 13, 2007 11:32 AM
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Posted by: Gxzkiyc | December 13, 2007 11:32 AM
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Posted by: Gxzkiqk | December 13, 2007 5:33 AM
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Posted by: Gxzkiqk | December 13, 2007 5:33 AM
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Posted by: Gxzkiqk | December 13, 2007 5:32 AM
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JJ, I thnk you're missing the rabbi's point. His concern was not the method of deivery of Food Stamp funds, but the paltry amount.
While it is true that there are those who abuse and basically make a living by playing the social services system, there are also those who are attempting to use it for the purpose for which it was originally created - to provide TEMPORARY financial assistance to those who have hit a rough patch so that they can provide food for their families while they get back on their feet.
The changes over the last few years to the public assistance systems were intended to weed out those who were abusing the system, but they have instead simly punished those for whom need and hunger are quite real. Nutritious, healthful foods aren't cheap - the cheap foods are the ones that will lead to nutritionally-related health problems further draining the public coffers, since it's a pretty safe bet that if a person doesn't have money for food, s/he doesn't have money for health insurance, either, and is most likely enrolled in Medicaid. Instead of funding cheap, unhealthy food, and then shelling out money to treat the health problems it causes, wouldn't it make more sense to provide sufficient funds to buy decent food?
I know what it's like to be broke and try to feed your children. There was a time when my daughter was small and I was between jobs that I had enough money to either buy enough good food for one person, or enough cheap garbage food for two. I bought enough good food for one, fed it to her, and I went hungry. I applied for food stamps during that time. The invasive personal questions were bad enough, and then I was chastised for owning a vehicle (not a luxury car, mind you - a 12 year old Datsun pickup truck with over 150K miles on it) , and asked why I hadn't sold it for food money. I was asked of framily members or friends ever bought me groceries or gave me money. How much and how often? That was considered a source of income, and would reduce the amount of food stamps I was eligible for. I was asked if anyone took me out to eat on a regular basis - in other words, they wanted to know if I had a lover. That would also reduce the amount of food stamps I was eleiglble for. At the time, I was also looking for another apartment I could afford, because I had a scumbag of a landlord who had offered to let me live rent-free. All I had to do was allow him access to my bed. I guess it was a good thing I didn't tell them about his offer or my having refused it. They might have seen that as refusing gainful employment.
I don't have a problem with some of my tax dollars going to provide food for a family that has lost its main source of income while they seek another means of support. I have, on more than one ocassion, taken people I know in that situation to the supermarket, and written the check for their groceries myself.
Posted by: lepidopteryx | September 21, 2007 9:14 AM
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