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November 21, 2003/Cheshvan 26 5764, Vol. 56, No. 9
Outside the box
FLORENCE ECKSTEIN
Publisher
The path from school to career to retirement is no longer a straight and sure thing.
Lifelong loyalty of company to employee, and conversely, of employee to company, has been all but eradicated by powerful forces including corporate mergers and downsizing, changing technology, or simply deciding the grass may be greener somewhere else.
In the wake of this national upheaval, an average of 6 percent of working-age Arizonans are unemployed and looking for a job. For a breadwinner, unemployment may mean a 100 percent loss of income and an inability to pay for necessities as well as lux-uries.
As if the financial distress weren't enough, unemployment is embarrassing, frightening and demoralizing to the impacted person and the family.
A synagogue may learn about a member's job loss when that member can no longer pay dues. The traditional institutional response has been to offer temporary dues adjustments and to express sympathy and "good luck."
Now, with requests for scholarships and fee waivers rising, synagogues and other houses of worship across the nation have begun thinking outside the box. They're starting to practice what Jewish sage Moses Maimonides was preaching way back in the 12th century: The highest degree of charity is to help a person find a job and support himself (Mishneh Torah 10:7).
New synagogue programs are helping members and nonmembers deal with unemployment issues head-on, providing a place to network; advice on r‚sum‚ writing, changing careers, job searching and interviewing skills; and, yes, spiritual support.
One program, the year-old Jewish Center Business Forum in New York City (www.jcbf.com), has drawn hundreds of unemployed Jews to its networking events and workshops, according to The Jewish Week ("New front line for job seekers," Nov. 7). Unemployment in New York has "hit every demographic within the Jewish community," the forum's chairman told the newspaper.
Other synagogues in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay area offer similar programs, The Jewish Week reports.
This fall, the Shalom Center at Temple Chai has started a program that provides information, networking and encouragement for job seekers ("Support group starts for unemployed," Jewish News, Nov. 14). Volunteer leaders Lee Eisinberg, a financial consultant, and Dale Kalika, a business consultant and faculty member at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, say their model is a successful program at a Catholic church in Mesa.
As this innovative program develops, it well may inspire other congregations in our community - the sixth largest in the nation - to launch similar efforts to assist Valley Jews struggling with unemployment to find friends, share experiences and get much-needed help in a safe, supportive setting.
Surely Maimonides would be pleased.
Contact the writer at flo_eckstein@jewishaz.com.
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