1 min read
The most telling phrase in our lead story is that there is no such thing as financial immunity to the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
One of the greatest myths about our community — beloved of antisemites but sometimes an assumption made by some Jews — is that very few of us struggle financially. The evidence has always been clear that this is simply not so but it has become all the more stark in recent weeks.
What is true is that some people do feel a sense of shame in having to ask for help. Now, of all times, that is misplaced. The exponential rise in demand for food banks, the crippling debt that some now face and the looming realisation that many within the community will lose their jobs even if they are currently furloughed, means that when we do finally move out of the crisis we will face a very different reality.
Charities such as Paperweight and Work Avenue are invaluable resources whose services are needed now more than ever and whose work — and expansion — needs to be funded.
In that regard, we remain fortunate to have benefactors who are so generous in their philanthropy. This week, for example, the JLC has co-ordinated a £3 million fund to support social care.
But we ought also to use this crisis to prompt a more profound examination of how we operate as a community. Too many of the basics of Jewish life — such as shul membership — involve the outlay of significant sums of money.
For many, that is not a problem. For many others, however, it is and, rather than ask for help, they can feel pushed away or somehow second-class. There is nothing good about this crisis. But it does offer an opportunity to think.
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