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September 21, 2001
Cost of being Jewish
The cost of being Jewish
Spiritual rededication can be extremely expensive.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
The High Holy Days are a time of year when people take stock of
their spiritual lives and, in some cases, dedicate themselves to
becoming more observant Jews. But being Jewish can be very expensive
and a lack of means can prevent people from fully participating
in Jewish life.
The Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. released a report
early in 2001 looking at the prevalence of poverty among Vancouver's
Jews. The report said that one in six Jews in the Lower Mainland
lives in poverty. This is only slightly better than in the community
at large. The report, prepared by Michael Goldberg, said that, among
unattached individuals - singles, divorced, widowed - the numbers
are almost identical among Jews and the general community - 43 per
cent in the general community versus 39.1 per cent in the Jewish
community.
There is also a significant prevalence of poverty among newcomers
to Canada. Recent immigrants take several years to build their incomes
above the low-income cutoff.
In light of these statistics, about two dozen local Jewish agencies
united to form the Poverty Coalition, which is working on an array
of projects including a co-op garden, a community kitchen, skills
training and job placement. These efforts focus on the obvious necessities
of life: food, an income and socialization. But living a fully Jewish
life can cost a great deal more than these "necessities"
permit.
Joining a synagogue costs money, sending children to Jewish day
schools can be expensive, paying for b'nai mitzvah and weddings
can be prohibitive. Even housing costs figure into the mix; a shomer
Shabbat individual needs to live close enough to their synagogue
to walk to services. In Vancouver's exorbitant housing market, living
near a synagogue can mean seeking out a house or apartment in one
of Canada's priciest neighborhoods.
Trying to keep kosher
One of the most obvious expenses of living Jewishly is buying kosher
food. Rabbi Levy Teitlebaum, director of B.C. Kosher, said meat
and wine are the two items where kashering really adds to the price.
In both cases, preparation requires the constant supervision of
a kashrut inspector. In the case of meat, there must be an inspector
as well as a shochet, a Jewish ritual slaughterer. As there are
no kosher slaughterhouses in Vancouver, kosher meat costs are also
higher due to shipping costs.
As an example, whole chicken at Safeway can be about $2.49 per
pound, compared with $3.60 at Sabra's Glatt Kosher. Chicken breasts
at Safeway are $3.69 a pound; at Sabra's: $5.10. Steaks at Safeway
start around $3.50 per pound and go up according to quality. Kosher
steaks run about $10 to $13 per pound.
Leaving the cost of food aside, setting up a kosher household can
be daunting. Consider the cost of two sets of serving dishes, two
sets of pots and pans and two entire sets just for Passover. Even
cheap sets of dishes at London Drugs, for example, would set a family
back $39 to $49 per set of four. That can add up to about $200 for
four sets of the most basic of tableware. A cheap set of pots and
pans runs about $100. Then there is the addition of serving bowls,
utensils and all the associated accoutrements.
The basic economic theory of supply and demand holds that prices
increase as choice of products decrease. People who keep kosher
cannot shop around for deals to the same extent that other consumers
can, being limited in Vancouver to four main kosher food retailers
- Sabra's, Omnitsky's, Kaplan's and Garden City Bakery - as well
as a kosher food warehouse. (Places like Safeway, Choices and other
grocery stores stock some kosher basics like matzah meal, but not
much more.)
On the positive side, products other than meat and wine do not
have large price variances. Many major companies have opted to kasher
their facilities, making such items as kosher peanut butter, soup
or pasta in large enough quantities that the additional costs associated
with the kashering process are diluted. Many of these basics are
no more expensive than their non kosher equivalents. A kosher vegetarian,
for instance, probably wouldn't pay much more for their monthly
food bill than a vegetarian who doesn't keep kosher. But all shoppers
looking for kosher items still have to take the time to check that
the product bears a hechsher (mark of kosher certification).
Teitlebaum acknowledged that keeping kosher adds to a family's
food bill, but said it is a matter of priorities.
"Like anything in life, it could be challenging at first,
but there are people out there doing it; it is not only do-able
but it's rewarding as well.
"It's rewarding because there's an inner peace you feel by
connecting yourself to channelling yourself to God. We believe that
food in general is a medium that keeps body and soul together. We
want to use that medium in a pure way, spiritually, so that our
spiritual arteries, so to speak, are clear, not clogged. If you
look at it in that light, it becomes more of an importance."
Getting holiday blues
Then there is the matter of religious holidays. People who have
comfortable careers in law or medicine, or who have freelance schedules
that they can rearrange, might not have too much trouble taking
off Yom Kippur. Similarly, in unionized work environments, concessions
are usually made to accommodate the needs of religious minorities.
For others, the holidays can provide a serious hardship just when
the money is needed most. For an hourly shift worker, taking four
days off for Passover, two at Rosh Hashanah, one at Yom Kippur,
four at Sukkot, two for Shavuot - as well as turning down Saturday
shifts and perhaps arranging to leave early on Fridays during winter
- could reduce a paycheque significantly.
For instance, at the $8-an-hour minimum wage and an average seven-hour
day, the loss could total more than $600 per year, not including
lost Saturday shifts.
A steep learning curve
Education is central to maintaining Jewish tradition and those
families who want to send their children to a Jewish institution
face the potentially daunting prospect of hefty tuition fees.
In Vancouver, however, lower-income families have a lot of help,
thanks to an agreement between the day schools and the Jewish Federation
of Greater Vancouver. Rather than forcing families to request financial
assistance, all families must divulge their income levels
and the tuition is assessed accordingly.
As an example, Rabbi Mordechai Loiterman, principal of Judaic studies
at Hebrew Academy, said parents who earn $21,000 per year or less
pay $704 for the first student and families with incomes of over
$125,000 pay $6,615 for one child.
Vancouver Talmud Torah has a similar sliding scale. Families with
income under $21,000 pay nothing, said head of school Eyal Daniel.
Those earning more than $80,000 pay $6,500 for the first enrollee,
then receive a discount for each additional student's tuition.
Costs of life cycles
School children get invited to a lot of social events. There are
always birthday parties to attend or field trips that require extra
cash. A family that is struggling might be able to come up with
an occasional bat mitzvah gift, but what about when their own child
is turning 13? What about when it's time to get married? Or when
one has children? Even a brit milah (circumcision) can attract
dozens of hungry guests.
Providing food for Jewish lifecycle events can be intimidating.
Susan Mendelson, a Vancouver caterer, said that catering a kosher
event can cost 15 to 20 per cent more than a non-kosher event. For
large parties, Mendelson's company, the Lazy Gourmet, absorbs the
added cost for the kosher food.
"We just feel that the kosher business is important for us,"
she said. However, if the party is less than 100 or so, Mendelson
has to add a charge because her staff has to go to the shul or another
kosher kitchen for the preparation. Moreover, shopping for 50 people
takes about the same length of time as shopping for 200, she said.
For wedding receptions in hotels, kosher parties are limited to
a small number of high-end hotels in Vancouver and Richmond, a fact
that makes it hard to keep prices down.
Help is on the way
There is a silver lining to this accumulation of bad news. David
Berson, director of community planning for the Jewish Federation
of Greater Vancouver, has been one of the main staff people guiding
the Poverty Forum.
In keeping with a trend that is happening in federations around
North America, Berson said his agency recognizes that, if inclusion
in Jewish life is not accessible, the Jewish community in British
Columbia will be substantially reduced.
Working through the Poverty Coalition and the Jewish Family Service
Agency (JFSA), Federation is breaking down some of the barriers
that prevent financially strapped people from full involvement in
the increasingly vibrant Jewish community here.
Many of the efforts are quite simple. Most community events now
give a number of tickets to the JFSA for distribution to those who
otherwise would be unable to attend theatre, banquets or similar
events.
One of the advantages of doing things through a central agency
like the JFSA, Berson said, is that people are not forced to go
cap in hand every time they want to get involved in something. With
the JFSA acting as an intermediary, the clients are able to find
a dignified way to participate in the community.
For the High Holy Days, most local synagogues provided tickets
for people who do not belong to a shul. They were and are being
distributed through the JFSA.
Lily Lok, intake and basic needs case manager at the JFSA, said
she has received overwhelmingly positive responses from synagogues
as she attempted to amass tickets to High Holy Day services.
"We need to be more inclusive, without shaming people,"
said Lok. Though tickets to High Holy Day services can be expensive
- $500 for a family is typical - membership in a shul is usually
based on a pay-what-you-can afford basis. Rabbis and shul officials
from all the synagogues approached by the Bulletin stressed
that nobody in need will be left out because of an inability to
pay.
Rabbi Ross Singer of Shaarey Tefilah said the scale there begins
at $250 for families with incomes below $20,000 per year and rises
to $1,500 for families earning more than $120,000.
In a way, these are stop-gap measures. But, combined with other
initiatives in the community aimed at providing skills and finding
jobs for newcomers and the under- or unemployed, they stand as a
tangible accompaniment to the good intentions of inclusiveness.
For those Jews who find in themselves a desire to rededicate themselves
at this time of reflection, there are, to be sure, costs associated
with following a strictly observant Jewish life. As Rabbi Teitlebaum
pointed out, though, it can be a family decision to make a sacrifice
for something they deem important. And, as Jewish communal agencies
in Vancouver are proving, it can be an undertaking that a family
with financial problems does not have to face alone.
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