Community Magazine January 2009

24 Community magazine T here is an old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” When it comes to sedaka – real sedaka – never before has this been as valid as it is today. And this is the raison d’etre of the Sephardic Food Fund and its current emergency efforts. Trillions of dollars in assets and equity have evaporated during the past few months. Part of the fallout from this monetary meltdown is a significant increase in the number of proud, respected families in our community – in Brooklyn and Deal – that suddenly find themselves literally unable to put food on their tables . These families are too proud to show how desperate they are. They are too ashamed to ask for help. They live in our community, only they can’t pay their rent or mortgage. Some have cars in their driveway, but they can’t afford gas. Their clothing looks the same, but it’s from last year and the year before. And until very recently their bank accounts looked the same. But now they are empty. So now, their cars stand idle in the driveways of homes that have no buyers. They keep lights off to save a few dollars. They turn the thermostat down to the minimum, and pile on the sweaters and blankets. And they beg school administrators to cut them some slack because they cannot make the tuition payments. Yes, they make every effort to appear as if nothing is wrong. As if everything is normal. They hope against hope for a miracle to happen. But this is hardly the economy in which miracles happen. Their desperation grows with each passing day. And panic makes it even harder to see light at the end of the tunnel. Our sages tell us that the amount of sedaka we give must allow the recipient to live in the style to which he is accustomed. Hence it is perfectly proper to give a hungry beggar some change with which to buy food. It is something else entirely, when the individual or family in need lives on our city, near our home … and has an empty refrigerator! We are talking about upstanding members of the community who have now lost everything they owned … We are taking about women and children who live next door to you, who now have no breadwinner ... We Families In Our Sephardic Community Are GOING HUNGRY A M E S S A G E F R O M T H E S E P H A R D I C F O O D F U N D The Sephardic Food Fund is doing something about it.