Amid financial crisis, Jewish schools pray for aid
Posted: Friday, November 14, 2008 10:33 AM
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Tel Aviv, Israel
By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
TEL AVIV – Will prayer help deliver world markets? If around 2,500 Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have anything to say about it, hope may be on the way.
Concerned about the health of the global economy, Jews in 11 major seminaries across Israel prayed Thursday night for a fast resolution to the world’s financial crisis – and for Jews who contribute to Israel’s cash-strapped yeshivas.
The religious schools rely heavily on donations from American philanthropists, and consequently, the seminaries have started feeling the pinch from the crash of world markets and the weakening of the U.S. dollar.
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| AP file |
| Ultra-Orthodox Jews participate in a prayer calling for the end of the worldwide financial crisis at the Yeshivat Ha-Ran Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, Thursday. |
The Ateret Shlomo Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, a city just east of Tel Aviv that is comprised predominantly of Haredi Jews who follow a conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, was packed with seminary students on Thursday evening.
The students were studying and debating in a big hall with some bowing back and forth on their chairs while praying intensely.
But at 7 p.m. all eyes turned as their rabbi walked in.
Rabbi Israel Bunem Shriber, the head of the yeshiva took his place in the front row and turned to the students with a strong message: the financial crisis is overseas, but everyone should be prepared because its coming our way very soon.
"You students might ask, ‘What is it my business if a wealthy Jew in America is suffering from economic problems?’ Well, I say that if there is an earthquake in Honolulu it should matter to us since troubles always come closer and closer," said Shriber.
Soon everyone had joined Shriber in wailing in prayer.
On the way out, Aria Englard, one of the seminarians, explained how many of the students were already taking actions to thwart the economic crisis at home. "Our wives carefully calculate what to buy and not to buy. We buy only the basics just so we can last through the month."
The U.S. dollar has fallen sharply against the Israeli shekel in the past year as the financial crisis gathered pace.
Yeshivas are not the only institutions to feel the pinch in Israel: many hospitals, universities and other non-profits also depend on donations and have reported fundraising difficulties in recent months.
