Rachel Schwartz & Steve Schrauder on “Poverty and Jewish Community”
To the Editor:
Ilana Horwitz’s insightful article “Poverty and Jewish Community” correctly highlights the challenge of reaching Jewish individuals who exist on the margins of communal life. She notes that the infrastructure of mutual aid, while powerful, can inadvertently exclude those lacking strong social connections.
We at the Jewish Relief Agency (JRA) of Philadelphia were saddened to read that Kari, a mother in our service area, felt that there hadn’t been “any outreach from the JRA or any of the resources around here.”
This experience reflects the painful reality of isolation for some in our community, and as an organization dedicated to helping those caught in the crisis of food insecurity, JRA does not wait for the vulnerable to come to us; we actively seek them out.
To reach Jews who might not be connected to traditional food programs, we recently partnered with Chesed Philly to provide 118 food boxes as gifts to their clients. This effort was a tangible gesture to remind individuals — who may feel isolated or too ashamed to ask — that JRA is here to help and that they are not forgotten. As a result of this outreach, 13 new families have signed up to receive food packages from JRA. We all need various kinds of help throughout our lives, and as so many of us have experienced, asking for it can sometimes be the greatest barrier to receiving.
This is where the collective responsibility of our community meets the necessity of individual action. Hillel the Elder taught in Pirkei Avot (2:4), “Do not separate yourself from the community.” The maxim is applicable to all members of the community, as we are all givers and receivers in different ways. By demonstrating consistent, visible, and dignified outreach, we hope to build the trust necessary to close the gap between those we serve and those who, sadly, remain isolated from the communal help they deserve. Our commitment is to make sure that geography, class, and family structure never prevent anyone in the Jewish community from accessing aid.
This is why Horowitz’s focus on the social-bonding potential of horizontal and vertical relationships is so on point. It is tremendously difficult for any nonprofit organization, no matter how dedicated, to reach and sustain assistance for individuals who have fundamentally removed themselves from all communal touchpoints. Our safety net is built on relationships, but it requires a connection point — a rabbi, a school, a friend, or even a single phone call — to activate. Our constant work is to widen the net, remove the stigma, and lower the barriers to entry, and we call on anyone who could use our help to take the first, brave step of contact.
We noted with appreciation that, in their streamed Sapir Conversation on December 18, Horwitz and Phil Getz acknowledged JRA’s invaluable work. We feel likewise about Sapir and thank you for devoting attention to this important issue facing our community.
Ilana Horwitz responds:
The letter from the Jewish Relief Agency (JRA) leadership is a welcome reminder that the gap between need and access is one that dedicated organizations are actively working to close. As I noted in my earlier research on Jewish communal responses during Covid-19 (“Ties in Tough Times: How Social Capital Helps Lower-Income Jewish Parents Weather the Economic Hardship of COVID-19,” published five years ago in Contemporary Jewry) JRA was able to continue food distribution to more than 6,000 clients monthly during the pandemic and began delivering food directly to clients who could no longer visit food banks. JRA’s work is exemplary, and their new partnership with Chesed Philly is exactly the kind of proactive outreach needed.
That said, Kari’s experience as described in my article is not a criticism of JRA; it is a data point about what isolation feels like from the inside. It is also worth noting, in connection with Emily Weiner’s letter, that this interviewee is an LGBTQ+ Jew — someone whose economic vulnerability is compounded by the particular barriers that LGBTQ+ Jews face in accessing communal support. One of the central findings of one of my studies quoted in the article — “On the Edge: Voices of Economic Vulnerability in U.S. Jewish Communities” — is that economically vulnerable Jews often have weaker communal connections and that LGBTQ+ individuals are overrepresented among those facing economic distress. JRA’s own insight that their safety net “requires a connection point (e.g., a rabbi, a school, a friend, or even a single phone call ) to activate” underscores the structural challenge. For someone like Kari, who is navigating both economic vulnerability and the alienation that LGBTQ+ Jews often experience from Jewish institutions, those connection points may simply not exist.
This is not a failure of any single organization, but rather a structural reality that demands a communal response. This is precisely why I am grateful that organizations such as JRA are committed to widening the net.
Emily Weiner’s letter and the story of her friend Susan powerfully illustrate the structural reality. Our research documents specific challenges that LGBTQ+ Jews experiencing economic vulnerability face: lack of family support when families have rejected them based on their sexual or gender identities, painful experiences of institutional rejection, particular medical and mental health needs, and — since October 7 — increased difficulty finding comfort in progressive spaces that are not specifically Jewish.
Our recommendations call for reimagining Jewish communal life to reflect diverse family structures and economic realities, including creating programs that serve LGBTQ+ Jews and supporting initiatives that resonate with Jews whose lives don’t align with traditional communal norms.
Susan’s story captures how Jewish identity doesn’t disappear when people leave institutional Jewish life. A box of kosher food delivered to an affordable senior apartment in Philadelphia’s gayborhood kept that connection alive. Weiner is right that Jewish communities must proactively build bridges to LGBTQ+ organizations and individuals — not wait for people to come back on their own.