Orthodox Poverty and Wealth

I see great wealth in the Orthodox community. I see great poverty in the Orthodox community. In the liberal Jewish community I personally have not encountered poverty. My cohort both Orthodox and secular have had an economically relatively easy life. When I was young, kolel people used to say to me ‘Why go to college? America is so rich you can live off the crumbs.’ They were right. The post war period has been an incredible run. I am afraid our children, frum or not will not have it so easy. I see it everywhere. Young have to hustle and even then it’s iffy. In the case of Orthodox with large families the parents frequently are unable to help the next generation. Not so for liberal Jews where parents frequently subsidize their children’s perpetual identity crisis. The very rich have gotten filthy, astronomically rich. The middle class have fallen behind. Here are some more thoughts on the topic, some of which were inspired by the comments on the blog askshifra

Yeshivas and day schools are the primary cause of Orthodox poverty. The OU reports communal rabbis are faced with increasing shalom bayit issues, marital problems, because of the economic difficulties caused by the high costs of educating kids in day schools. Middle class people can’t get scholarships for their kids. By the time they finish paying tuition they are poor enough to be eligible for tuition reductions. Catch 22. There are formulas for dealing with this issue, since it is structurally similar to the problem the poor face when they try to get off welfare. I don’t know why they are not standard practice. It is outrageous that tuition committees require second mortgages and the like before giving any discounts.

The deeper problem is how to bring the school costs down. Every city should look into developing a tuition fund. Liberal Jews MUST be made to understand how important school vouchers are for the survival of the Orthodox Jewish community. The cynical part of me says they understand fully well how it would benefit the Orthodox world, and it is precisely for this reason they oppose vouchers. The attitudes of the major Jewish organizations like the AJC and ADL to vouchers is driven by many considerations. One of these is, in my opinion, anti -Orthodox sentiments.

Many Orthodox Jews have a lower standard of living than their parents even when they are professionals, and even after they have accumulated sizable debts. Most Orthodox women work, if at all possible. In order to make ends meet many resort to extreme measures, cutting back on expensive foods, no vacations, no eating out and much more. I see the effects of belt tightening here where I live. Evanston with its large college population has 70 restaurants. The community of people who eat kosher in Chicagoland should have on a proportional basis approximately 21 restaurants. There are around 7 including diners and very minimal places.

People who have difficulty making ends meet still give money to charity, at least a few percent. I find this trait so very impressive.

In the frum world people say, as an irony of contemporary life, poverty starts at $100,000. It is an exaggeration, but not by very much. I would think a family of six in the New York area that aspires to a low- end upper middle class life, i.e. some family vacations, some eating out, some entertainment, two cars, etc. must think in terms of $250,000 gross and maybe more. A more serious upper class life for a family with five kids buying more than a minimal home, not wealthy, just really comfortable, (e.g. a brownstone in a charedi equivalent of Park Slope say the five towns, a pied a terre in Jerusalem or a place in Florida, colleges and professional schoolsfor the kinderlach, trips to Israel and Machu Pichu, Pesach at a hotel for the extended family, mildly lavish life cycle celebrations, a position of significance in the community) is $400,000 plus. Low- end rich starts at a million dollars income annually. Very rich $50 million. I am curious to hear if readers agree with my estimates.

Neighborhoods that are walking distance from a desirable Orthodox shul are pricier than those that are not, apples for apples. Many families would be able to lower their cost of living and find better and cheaper housing if they moved to less Orthodox neighborhoods and cities around the country. The fear of the unknown, of finding a job, of being able to do a good shiduch with their children keep many close to home. Here is an area where a lot can be done. There are many small Orthodox communities around the country that would be excited if new frum couples moved in. It is a typical case of asymmetric information and the solutions are well known.

Money and the need for more of it is the driving dynamic force in the community. The old joke makes this point in a sly way. A car hit an elderly Jewish man. The paramedic says, "Are you comfortable?"- The man says, "I make a good living." Parenting, daily prayers and the quest for money keep most Orthodox Jews very busy campers. There isn’t a lot of empty time for fun and mischief, sports and culture or scholarship and self improvement. With the exception of the community of Talmudic scholars there isn’t very much time for extended Torah study.

In reading the blogs on the economics of Orthodox life, I felt that the situation was made much worse because Orthodoxy is a face-to-face community. It’s as if everybody was asked to go into a room, they locked the door and threw the key away. The need to keep up with one’s circle of friends and acquaintances, the need to impress others, accentuates the pressure to maintain a certain lifestyle. In life almost everyone has up years and down years. It becomes a lot easier if in a down year you can cut back. In a face-to-face community, tightening one’s belt is much more difficult. Orthodox life in smaller cities and towns is less of a pressure cooker. And it goes without saying, that in liberal Jewish communities, which are not face-to-face communities, the economic struggle is a lot easier, even if you factor out the cost of Yeshivas and day schools.