Thousands of poor Jews who have not understood how to qualify and apply for food stamps can now read about the food stamp program in Yiddish, due to the combined efforts of the American Jewish Committee, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Columbia University’s Committee for the implementation of the Standardized Yiddish Orthography.
The Department of Agriculture is about to issue a leaflet in Yiddish explaining who is eligible for food stamps and how to obtain them. This publication, the first ever printed in Yiddish by the U.S. government, will be available free from Food Stamp Division, Food and Nutrition Service. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250.
At a later date it will be available in synagogues, community centers and other places where Jewish poor congregate. The AJ Committee sparked the idea for the publication, provided consultative service to the government agency and obtained the help of the Yiddish Orthography Committee to ensure that the language and printing were correct in all details.
Ann G. Wolfe, the AJ Committee’s Social Welfare Consultant, who two years ago revealed that thousands of Jewish families had incomes below what the government described as the “poverty level.” described the Yiddish leaflet as “a significant step, perhaps a small one, that recognizes the presence and the problems of poor Jews. It serves to shatter the myth that all Jews are affluent and that poverty does not exist in the Jewish community.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
