New York – The percentage of school-age children living in poverty has grown in Orange and Ulster counties and leaped ahead in Sullivan County since the recession took hold, according to figures released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
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The numbers, broken down by counties and school districts nationwide, show a wide disparity in poverty among children ages 5 to 17 within the three local counties, ranging from a low of 4.4 percent in Tuxedo School District to nearly 52 percent in Kiryas Joel.
The federal poverty threshold varies by household size. In 2010, for example, a couple with two children was considered poor if their gross income, including unemployment payments but excluding food stamps and housing subsidies, was $22,113 or less.
Kiryas Joel, ranked as one of the poorest places in America, is a fast-growing community of about 21,000 Hasidic Jews, who prize religious study over secular education and tend to have low incomes as a result. Many families are large — with six or more children — and rely on Medicaid, food stamps and other government programs.
I guess this proves that satmar is right we do not need secular education We can show you some rich guys who did not get a great education
LOL
What a Chilul Hashem ….
The Holy Torah in ki savo tells us that one of the klalos is to borrow( and be dependent) on the nations of the world…..
Get a job!
Why don’t the Satmar stores that are making huge profits selling to people they despise help their brothers?
To #1 & #2 .What bothers you most? That somehow we survive? Shame on you.
It was never meant to be like this. Our past generations were so incredibly careful NOT to allow this kind of thievery to go on.
Food stamps, welfare, WIC, etc are there to assist those who CANNOT work, usually due to a physical or mental disability. We, as Americans, extend a sympathetic hand to single parents and caretakers of the elderly as these people often would work for a living if they could.
Those who CHOOSE to be poor, either by failing to become educated, failing to become skilled in a trade, and/or failing to get up off their fat bottom and do something with their lives deserve N-O-T-H-I-N-G, and should get exactly that.
I wanted a big family. I had one. I also worked darn hard to do it. I went and got an education (as did my wife) and we WAITED just a couple of years to have our kids. We could afford them. We were able to educate them. Now they are all either educated and working or on that path.
If your kids are on welfare, WIC or foodstamps because they have no way to earn a living, you FAILED as a parent. You created a THIEF who dishonestly lives off the backs of his/her neighbors… just like the Rambam said you would. Shame on you!
I also think that a society which encourages people to live on welfare is a society that is doomed to implode and fail in time, a society which will never produce leaders or be a source of pride. A society of shnorrers…is that the Torah ideal?
I have worked for 40 years and paid FULL TAXES to the US Government so that my brothers and sisters should get all the help from the government including Rent Help, Food Stamps, Medicaid, etc. The government needs to spend my money and they might as well give it to my “family of Yidden”
I have no issue with the Satmar or the Kiryas Joel community. I have driven past their enclave many times and it appears that the community is made up of private homes. How did all of these poor people get the money to buy these houses? From the outside it sure doesn’t look like a poor trailer park…but a rather well kept place.
Who said anything about the KJ community not taking care of their own? Where did you see that in the article?
Baruch Hashem there is no one starving in KJ. Not just that, but no one need go without the most minute of necessities, as every conceivable charitable organization takes care of every imagineable need possible. They fund weddings for their own there and the bride & groom have everything they need to begin their lives together. The sick & infirm are well taken care of way above what the secular world can imagine, with the entire family of the sick person being served full meals daily – again & again – until the emergency is over. There are “free” transportation services to see doctors & hospitals all the way into NYC. I could go on & on & on!
What the report does say is that they live below the poverty line, i.e. they don’t “earn” an income according to the levels the government determined persons need. BUT, there are no homeless lounging around, there are no beggars standing on the street corners panhandling, there are no broken windows in homes letting in the cold and looking derelict, there are no cold apartments in the winter with freeing children huddled around one electric heater etc. And the charity that gets distributed there??? Oh! You wish the secular community would “share” the wealth like they do in KJ! You wish! If you would only know!
Mi Kiamcho Yisroel!!!
I am so proud of my brethern in KJ, my fellow Jews.
May the Al-mighty continue to shower you with blessings. Amen!
I want to say that nobody CHOOSES to be poor! I am educated and professional and there have been periods of unemployment, which believe me, is much worse than having a job! Do not look down at your brothers and sisters who are in need and sneer at them to “pull up your bootstraps.” We are Yidden, rachmonim bnei rachmonim, and our role model for chesed is Avraham Avinu, not (l’havdil l’elef havdalim) Ayn Rand.
Oh, and Kiryas Joel need not worry about being the home of the poorest children in America–Detroit has that honor.
Sherry
the reason why it is a chillul Hashem is as follows:
the RambaM writes Hilchos Talmud Torah:
כל המשים על לבו שיעסוק בתורה ולא יעשה מלאכה ויתפרנס מן הצדקה הרי זה חלל את השם ובזה את התורה וכבה מאור הדת וגרם רעה לעצמו ונטל חייו מן העולם הבא. לפי שאסור ליהנות מדברי תורה בעולם הזה. אמרו חכמים כל הנהנה מדברי תורה נטל חייו מן העולם. ועוד צוו ואמרו אל תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהן ולא קרדום לחפור בהן. ועוד צוו ואמרו אהוב את המלאכה ושנא את הרבנות וכל תורה שאין עמה מלאכה סופה בטילה וגוררת עון. וסוף אדם זה שיהא מלסטם את הבריות
Furthermore in Hilchos Matnas Aniyim:
אסור לישראל ליטול צדקה מן העכו”ם בפרהסיא. ואם אינו יכול לחיות בצדקה של ישראל ואינו יכול ליטלה מן העכו”ם בצנעה הרי זה מותר. ומלך או שר מן העכו”ם ששלח ממון לישראל לצדקה אין מחזירין אותו לו משום שלום מלכות. אלא נוטלין ממנו וינתן לעניי עכו”ם בסתר כדי שלא ישמע המלך:
No, I don’t think $ 22000 is enough for a family of four. But it’s NOT up to you to decide how much people should or should not give. A lot of people on assistance don’t declare any income, that’s why they qualify. I know of six figure earner who collect housing and are on medicaid. It’s also immoral that 50% of citizens pay no taxes at all.
Sherry the Communist!
My view of this big picture is having too many children with little income. It doesn’t make sense in this mindset and taking advantage of public assistance to enable them to pop more kids. working in religious environment can be an enrichment but in reality, the income isn’t much so use common sense to stop having kids when the financial picture says, can’t afford tuitions (which is one leading causes of being in poverty besides too many kids) and so forth. I am Orthodox myself but i can’t understand the mindset above. at least my husband and I have common sense to stop having kids on based on one income. Using public assistance is for people who truly cannot work (mothers with many kids can work too, so no excuses, fathers can learn at nights and work during the day).
I truly believe that these people are doing Hashem;s work. They have passed up the luxuries of the modern world to sit and learn torah. Why dont we help them out?
The main hipocrisy which some of the postings on this website is that a large number of fine observant persons have decried these programs as socialist, leftist, communistic programs except when it comes to our brethren. Some would like to destroy any vestige of the New Deal and bring in the glorious philosophy of Ayn Rand the atheist. Bnei rachmonis are the IDF soldiers in the negev and on the golan whether they are obsrvant or not.
Sherry, learn to be a little more thick skinned.
You agree with me?
Just because someone has a dollar more does not make her ‘rich’ nor warrants your maligning her as stingy or not compassionate.
Public assistance is meant as a safety net, NOT a lifestyle choice
Furthermore, obeying the laws of God and man, is something to aspire to not sneer at. As some of your “working poor” misrepresent their income and see no virtue in being good citizens. Obeying the law and paying taxes is for loosers who don’t know how to work the system.
You’re well intentioned but I fear, somewhat naive.
Shalom
What is my ‘Yetzira’? and what does it have to do with anything?
Once again, public assistance in the form of: housing, WIC, medicaid, food stamps is there as a safety net – not a lifestyle choice.
#42, that’s what assistance is for, not for those who don’t work to begin with …
people here dont realize that a large proportion of ppl in kiryas yoel ARE just young couples with their many kids who are in their first few years of marriage BEFORE THEY START WORKING in manhattan or elsewhere.
i expect some ppl here want us to start using birth control to keep us from havimng kids because its a chillul hashem to have children and be poor.
Devorim 22:4: You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen [under its load] on the road, and ignore them. You shall pick up [the load] with him.
Rashi: “with the owner”. But, if the owner walks away, sits down, and says, “Since the commandment is incumbent upon you, if you want to load, load!” you are exempt.
And before some myopic imbecile jumps on me for referring to donkeys – no, I am not calling anyone names nor comparing them to animals. I am, however, pointing out that Torah wants you to help people who help themselves!