A newly formed Ad Hoc Jewish Committee on Hunger has embarked on a campaign of aid to needy Jews combined with a program to help alleviate world-wide starvation. The group said it was basing its program on Jewish customs and tradition, such as the custom of fasting on certain days, collecting food and funds for the poor and refraining from the consumption of the products of oppressed labor.
Rabbi Gerald Serotta, director of the Hillel Foundation at City College, who is a member of the committee, noted the obligation of Jews to be concerned for all of their fellow human beings. “We are constantly reminded that Hillel taught us that, ‘If I am not for myself who will be for me?’ At the same time our great teacher taught us, ‘If I am only for myself, then what am I? “Rabbi Serotta said.
Representatives of the committee said the aim of their program was to increase the awareness of the Jewish community about the world food situation; to encourage a reduced consumption of meat and other scarce resources by Jews, particularly at public functions; and to mobilize the Jewish community to act politically to re-order American priorities in the international sphere. They drew an analogy between the international indifference to the Nazi holocaust and the apathy exhibited by many today toward the world food crisis.
COLLECTION OF GIFTS FOR THE NEEDY
One of the group’s first activities was the collection of “mattanot l’evyonim” (gifts for the needy) on the occasion of Purim combined with the donation of funds collected to organizations which work for world famine relief. For Passover, the committee will make the traditional collection of “ma-ct chittim” (funds for Passover observance) which will be donated to poor Jews on New York’s Lower East side.
At the same time, products containing leavened substances which make them unfit for consumption by Jews on Passover will be collected and donated to the United Farmworkers Collective in New York. The Synagogue Council of America has established a liaison with the farmworkers and many rabbis have declared that non-union grapes and lettuce are not to be eaten by Jews under the strictures of Jewish law which prohibit the exploitation of labor.
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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.
