by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

September 25, 2008

Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills scrapped the High Holy Day sermon he’s been working on since March.

Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield is thankful to have a social worker on staff.

Synagogues are firing out mass e-mails reminding people that their congregations are their families, and that their rabbis are always available to offer counsel in times of crisis.

After a month that has shaken the financial world to its foundations, synagogues throughout the region are meeting with people who have lost their jobs, whose retirement savings have been wiped out, who simply don’t know where to turn with their anxiety about the future.

“It’s hard when you’re dealing with 450 families and there are many people with major financial losses,” said Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler of Ahawas Achim B’nai Jacob & David in West Orange. “It’s not necessarily the people who had a lot in [the market] and lost a lot who are coming to me. There’s a ripple effect down to the average person trying to make ends meet. That’s who is really struggling now.”

A nervous mood has taken over at his synagogue after a month in which Merrill Lynch was sold in a fire sale, Lehman Brothers collapsed, the federal government took over insurance giant AIG, and the administration proposed a $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

“People here are concerned about tuition, the price of kosher food. I just want people to know that I’m here for them, and I have a mitzva fund I can use to help them,” the rabbi said.

Zwickler was among a number of rabbis who e-mailed congregants.

Calling the synagogue an “extended family,” he offered his help to congregants “in any way that I can.”

At Temple Ner Tamid, Rabbi Steven Kushner said he was working together with the synagogue social worker to counsel those people affected. The synagogue is one of five in the MetroWest area participating in a pilot program that has added social workers to the congregations’ professional teams. The project, begun in 2007, is funded largely by the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey with support from Jewish Family Service of MetroWest NJ.

At Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, a significant portion of the congregation has taken a direct hit as a result of the financial upheaval.

“I was overwhelmed when I realized how many members are part of that community,” Gewirtz said, referring to Wall Street.

He picked up the phone and started making calls — among the first were to people in the business who could help him understand exactly what was happening from their perspective.

Before that Monday, Sept. 15, had ended, he had not only sent an e-mail to the community, he also had torn up his High Holy Day sermon. He had planned a major address with policy implications for the congregation on intermarriage and religious identity.

“It’s totally missing the point to give a Jewish identity sermon when one of the greatest financial losses is taking place,” said Gewirtz. “People are not sure where they are going, where their specific finances are going. There’s a lot of pain and loss in our community.”

Those working on Wall Street as analysts and investment bankers are not the only ones who are affected — others, working in other overlapping sectors, now have the jitters.

“Erwin S.” of Livingston, who asked that his name not be used, sells insurance industry data to financial institutions.

“No one is buying,” he said recently in the Livingston ShopRite. With sales dropping dramatically, he said, “I’m worried I won’t make my quota and I’ll lose my job.”

A ‘huge jump’

Meanwhile, inquiries for interest-free loans from the Hebrew Free Loan of New Jersey have soared.

“We provided 20 loans in the last three months. Typically, we would have about 20 inquiries and about five loans. That’s a huge jump,” said Reuben Rotman, executive director of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest, which administers the HFLS.

Recipients are primarily using the assistance to retire credit card debt but also to provide more care for elderly parents or spouses, he said. Rotman called the latter situation “very scary because when the loan runs out, the person will still need medical care, and in-home care is very expensive.”

The loans, usually for the flat sum of $3,000, have a grace period of six months before repayment begins.

United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ and its beneficiary agencies, JFS among them, “are very concerned about the recent economic upheaval and the impact on families in our community,” said UJC MetroWest president Gary Aidekman. “We’ve begun to hear anecdotal evidence about the effect the economic turmoil is having on our family, friends, and neighbors. Our agencies are already responding to the needs of many people adversely affected by these difficult circumstances. We are experiencing increasing stress on our social service agencies. Together with our beneficiary agencies, we are assessing the situation and exploring ways to help provide the resources needed to assist families facing crisis due to this economic downturn.”

JFS has already felt and responded to the crisis. Its disbursement of about $75,000 in cash outlays for emergency assistance in the last six months is a 25 percent increase over the previous six months, according to Rotman.

The profile of clients for both JFS and HFLS is also changing.

“We’re now seeing families who never had to worry about money before,” said Rotman. In some cases, “the breadwinner, who thought he or she was secure in a position, now all of a sudden is dealing either with the loss of that job or are about to be downsized.” They are “vulnerable and they don’t have enough savings.”

Rotman is also bracing for spikes in requests for assistance as the bad financial news sinks in.

“I’m expecting it,” he said. “We’re educating our staff in terms of making sure everyone is following the same procedures for screening and eligibility.”

He utilized the most recent board meeting to update members on the status of the demand and to figure out how to bring in more resources. So far, he is estimating a need for double the resources they have been providing.

Finally, he said, he thinks agencies and area synagogues will have to work closely to put together plans for how individuals or families will handle their losses. Solutions may be “painful,” he warned.

“People may not be able to afford that mortgage, or they may have to give up driving. They may have to rethink certain things they do to keep themselves going financially. It’s not going to be easy.”

As head of JFS, he said, he has also witnessed the emotional toll financial pressures take.

“We will also have to manage people’s anxiety. People need coping skills to manage. We will try to help people through the difficulty of making these decisions.”

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