October 2023 TEN Newsletter

Announcing TEN: Together Ending Need

Four years ago, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Jewish Funders Network established the National Affinity Group on Jewish Poverty, and a long overdue conversation began. Recognizing that 20% of Jews experience the depleting effects of economic insecurity, the group rallied dozens of communities, raising awareness, gathering critical data, and, most importantly, taking concrete actions to support individuals in meeting their most fundamental needs. 

Today, we are excited to announce our new name, TEN: Together Ending Need.

We will only solve economic insecurity together, which is why, like a minyan requiring ten people to show up, TEN represents the essentialism of collective action towards our shared goal. Our evolving name signifies an evolution of our work, alongside the same deep commitment. Across the United States, TEN collaborates with funders, institutions, direct services agencies leading the work, and the wider public to foster a Jewish community where every member has their basic needs met. Over the last several months, TEN has expanded its work following the onboarding of poverty expert Rachel Sumekh as project executive in March 2023. 

Rachel Sumekh

Project Executive, TEN: Together Ending Need
Jewish Funders Network
rsumekh@jfunders.org

NEW REPORT:

The Case of the Missing Narrative: Hollywood, Media, and Jewish Poverty

What is the story of the Jewish people in America today? In order to better understand how Hollywood and the media shape our community's narrative, we set out to explore the stories of Jewish wealth and poverty Americans are presented with on film, television, and in the news media.

Through a new report, we learned that for every TV and film portrayal of a Jewish person experiencing poverty, there are NINE times as many wealthy Jews. Yet according to Pew Research, in 2021, 26% of American Jews had difficulty paying their bills at least once that year. Read coverage in JTA.

Please join us for a webinar led by the report’s author Mik Moore and other guests on October 30th. 

From Temporary Structures to Permanent Solutions: How Jewish Nonprofits Lean In to Address Poverty

by Jon Hornstein
Program Director, The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

Empathy is a core theme of Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that begins this Friday evening. Many Jews who observe this holiday dwell in temporary structures — called sukkahs — for seven days to remember when their ancestors did the same in the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt. For this reason, many have made connections between Sukkot and homelessness.

While living in a sukkah does not replicate homelessness, it helps us empathize with our fellow kin in humanity who are struggling to make ends meet, and consider ways we may support them. Sukkot is therefore an appropriate time to address the third and final question in our blog series on Jewish poverty: What might the Jewish nonprofit sector contribute to the broader fight against poverty?

Read more.