August 6, 2009

New Jersey Jewish News is inviting community leaders and our readers to write short essays suggesting issues they regard as critical to the state and the state of the Jewish community ahead of November’s election for NJ governor.

This week: Reuben Rotman on extending the social service safety net and Roger B. Jacobs on New Jersey-Israel relations.

To offer your own take on “What’s at Stake,” send your ideas (no longer than 300 words) to editorial@njjewishnews.com and write “Stake” in the subject line.

Reuben D. Rotman is executive director of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest.

Extending the safety net

Much has been written on the state of the economy and its impact on our local Jewish community. As we head into a gubernatorial election, it is important to remember that Jewish communal institutions are increasingly finding themselves to be front-line partners with government in extending the safety net for those in need.

Today, Jewish Family Service of MetroWest and other Jewish communal agencies help families apply for government entitlements and support resources. Despite these connections, many “cracks” exist within the network of available services. Philanthropic dollars are now often extending the limited support that government can provide.

For JFS, cases of individuals who lack adequate support are all too common. New Jersey’s social service system is inadequate to serve the needs of adults who suffer from chronic mental illness. With deinstitutionalization and a lack of in-patient resources, agencies such as JFS are increasingly being asked to care for community members who the government feels should be living “independently.” While JFS has established a Case Management Unit, providing psychiatric social work and case management services, we acknowledge that these clients often need additional resources and staff time to more fully enhance their quality of life.

With healthcare reform gaining greater traction, much attention will be focused on an affordable and achievable partnership with the states. Families who are able to maintain private healthcare coverage are becoming increasingly rare as those who have lost employment now find it impossible to afford continuing health coverage under COBRA. With hospital closures, limitations on charity care, and Medicare under review, the discussion is that much more complex.

Jewish Family Service remains committed to providing a professional, timely, and effective response to our community’s social service needs. We remind the community that the responses that we all deserve are ones that unite community activism, partnerships with the public and private sectors, professional caring, and philanthropic support.

 

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Roger B. Jacobs, an attorney in West Orange, is a vice president of the NJ State Association of Jewish Federations. The views expressed here are his own.

Israel and New Jersey: affairs of state

At first glance, support for Israel may appear to be a peripheral concern for the governor of New Jersey. However, we have a strong New Jersey-Israel Commission which has evolved with bipartisan support over many years. The state maintains a business office in Israel specifically for the purpose of developing bilateral relationships.

I am not suggesting that a candidate for governor should have a foreign policy position on Israel. Rather, Israel should be part of the governor’s domestic, development, and growth strategy. Support for Israel and concomitant support from the Jewish community is critical.

In recent elections, Jews still voted reflexively for Democrats, evidenced by the 78 percent support for Barack Obama in the presidential election. I suspect that these numbers have softened, based upon the president’s recent pronouncements on Israel and its settlements. As a result, the “Jewish vote” is quite fluid.

Both candidates for governor have an opportunity to garner support in the Jewish community by articulating a clear policy regarding Israel, whether or not it is in sync with the president’s policies.

In New Jersey, where there are more than 500,000 Jews who participate actively in the electoral process and from whom financial support of candidates is robust, it is imperative that candidates think about Israel’s role in the Middle East. It may sound hackneyed to repeat that Israel is the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East where the rights of women are respected, where sexual orientation is protected, where free speech and press flourish, and where individual rights are paramount.

Both candidates should travel the length and breadth of Israel to explore the perils that face Israelis in daily life and then comment upon them.

They should explore Israeli scientific advances with an eye toward adapting them to meet our state’s challenges, like fostering efficient growth and development while preserving our wetlands, highlands, and other natural resources.

Israel deals with multi-cultural issues, as we do in New Jersey. Candidates should comment on the inclusive nature of that society with regard to the issues of integration and the absorption of large groups from Ethiopia and the Soviet Union.

As Israel continues to absorb, integrate, and assimilate people into its society, are there developmental models we should be considering to deal with many of the problems we continue to face in our state?

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