Leaders of the city’s rabbinic, synagogual and educational agencies called on members and affiliates today to waive or postpone membership fees, tuition, dues and other charges to Jewish families whose businesses and sources of income were devastated by looting during the July 13 blackout and who cannot afford such payments now.
The plan was announced by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York whose president, Richard Ravitch, said that “as a result of our continuing efforts on behalf” of such Jewish business, “we learned that several families were not planning to attend High Holiday services because they could not afford the necessary fees.”
The joint statement of the agencies said many of the victims had long been contributors and leaders and were therefore “reluctant to accept such assistance, making a proper and vigorous out-reach program all the more important.”
A JCRC spokesman, asked how the synagogue and school officials would find affected families reluctant to ask such help, said the affiliated schools and synagogues were being asked to make it known that such help was available on request.
Joining in the announcement were the Board of Jewish Education, the New York Board of Rabbis, the (Orthodox) National Council of Young Israel, the New York Federation of Reform Synagogues, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and the metropolitan region of the (Conservative) United Synagogue of America.
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.
