The description of the reasons for poverty, including being “secretly poor” after losing one’s money or being a teacher who has lost the strength to do one’s job, may seem like a part of the quaint, storied past. However, the powerful and moving documentary J£w$ Got Mon€¥ by Sasha Andreas is well worth watching to remind us that, for many of the same reasons, Jewish poverty remains a challenge today (...)
Through interviews with Jewish American people living in poverty in the United States and with people who work in organizations that offer assistance, Andreas’s documentary debunks the potentially dehumanizing stereotype that Jews have a privileged relationship with money. Like any other people, Jews are vulnerable to poverty—and often for reasons beyond one’s control such as declining health or for noble reasons such as caregiving for a family member. Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, shares that he has heard of people who leave their home every day with a briefcase for shame of telling their children and others that they had not worked for 1-2 years.
(...) This shame in the face of poverty is not unique to Jewish culture, but in the context of Jewish culture, the erasure of poverty may produce the additional effect of inflaming the antisemitic myth that Jews are rich. Perhaps one reason that we do not want to think about Jewish poverty is because we indeed wish to forget that with rising antisemitism, Jewish poverty might also be on the rise as well.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/boazs-grainpile-and-ruths-vulnerability/
