By Donald H. Harrison
(Photo: Shaaray Tefilah, New York)
SAN DIEGO — Speaking at a Shabbat luncheon at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Rabbi Jonathan Stein, secretary of the national Mazon board of trustees, said that hungry people receiving government food stamps obtain the equivalent of $4.50 per day, which based on three meals a day, works out to $1.50 per meal.
The buffet luncheon, sponsored by the Conservative congregation’s former president and spouse, Ira and Susan Lerner, offered generous portions of herring, gefilte fish, bagels and cream cheese, vegetables, salad and fruit. Had someone gone to a restaurant to buy a similar meal, it would have required several days Food Stamp allowance.
All this hit home for me this weekend when I stopped at a fast food Mexican restaurant and ordered a soft drink, in this case horchata. Given my choice of small, medium, or large, I chose “small” and the bill came to $2.15. Sipping the rice-based drink, it occurred to me that the cost was the equivalent of nearly 1 1/2 meals for a Food Stamps recipient.
Rabbi Stein, a former president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), who has occupied pulpits in New York City (Shaaray Tefilah), San Diego (Beth Israel) and Indianapolis (Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation), now divides his time between New York City and San Diego, living with his wife Susan approximately a half year in each city.
The Reform rabbi told a Conservative Jewish audience at Tifereth Israel Synagogue that included host Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal that the number of people who go hungry in the United States each day amounts to 48 million — considerably more than the entire population of Canada, which is estimated at 35 million. The number means that 1 in 7 Americans do not regularly get enough food.
Of those hungry Americans, he said, 15 million are children and 5.4 million are seniors.
Furthermore, he said, 26 percent of U.S. military families require some federal food assistance because the service personnel’s pay cannot cover family expenses.
“This really gets me!” the rabbi said. “Our government doen’t pay enough to enlistees, so many have to use other government programs for food.”
Native Americans are among the poorest Americans, with one out of four living in poverty, according to the Mazon research cited by Stein.
Mazon, a Hebrew word for “food,” collects money to underwrite other charities that distribute food (such as Jewish Family Service’s Hand-Up Pantry in San Diego) and also lobbies in Washington for greater subsidies for the nation’s hungry.
Lobbying efforts are important, said Stein, because all the private charities, churches, synagogues and the like are able to sustain, in the aggregate, only 5 percent of the nation’s hungry. Funds from government account for 95 percent of the assistance.
Stein urged listeners to adopt such Mazon programs as donating 3 percent of the cost of a bar mitzvah party, or a wedding reception, to Mazon. For example, he said, a $20,000 wedding (inexpensive by some people’s reckoning) would generate a $600 contribution. Additionally, he recommended that people calculate how much money they spend for meals each day, and donate that amount, on Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and atonement. Another program ties food donations to the Passover seder.
Mazon’s main offices are in Los Angeles, where Abby Leibman serves as executive director. Those seeking further information on ways to aid the hungry may contact that office at (310) 442-0020, or visit the Mazon website at www.mazon.org .
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com . Comments intended for publication in the space below must be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the U.S.)