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You are invited to
R Remembrance
Re e emem mbran
meme embr
mbr anc
an c ce e Day
M mor
Me m meme or ial i iorior al Service
Se rvi
Serv rv i ceicei
Memorial InInI In Mem
Memo Memory
o ryrryr y of o f All
A llllll l Loved
L o ve
vedd Ones
On Sunday, September 12th
at 12 Noon
Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski
Family, Friends and Public Welcome
Celebrating each life like no other.

ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL PARK
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215-673-7500 10
AUGUST 26, 2021
Kol Tzedek Aims to Alleviate
Medical Debt in Shmita Year
LO C AL
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
R E C O N S T RU C T I O N I S T
synagogue Kol Tzedek in West
Philadelphia is working on
abolishing the equivalent of $2.5
million in medical debt.

Congregant Adrian Shanker
is asking the temple’s 350
families to help raise $25,000.

According to Shanker, $25,000
can eliminate $2.5 million in
health care bills because hospital
systems sell unpayable debt at
discounted rates. In other words,
if patients can’t pay, hospitals
just try to get what they can.

Shanker says that every $100 is
equivalent to $10,000 in unpaid
health care costs.

Temple members chose a
tzedakah effort that was partic-
ularly appropriate because the
upcoming Jewish year, 5782, is
a Shmita year. According to the
Torah, Shmita is the seventh
year of the agricultural cycle.

During those 12 months, Jews
must take off from working
the land and need to forgive all
debts. Kol Tzedek congregants
believe that medical debts are
especially immoral.

“Health care is a human right,”
Shanker said. “We don’t believe
medical debt should exist.”
Kol Tzedek’s effort is
designed to help low-income
Philadelphians. The synagogue
is partnering with RIP Medical
Debt, a national charity that
works with hospitals.

Penn Medicine is a frequent
RIP partner, and doctors from
Kol Tzedek have contacted Penn
about participating in the effort.

Kol Tzedek has already
raised $20,000, according to
Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari. It plans
on continuing the initiative
through the High Holidays and
into October. Also in the fall, it
will reach out to other hospital
systems, like Main Line Health
and the Children’s Hospital of
JEWISH EXPONENT
Philadelphia. Fornari said the
ultimate goal is to
raise $40,000.

The temple is
asking for donations
as people sign up
for small-group
and virtual High
Holiday services.

Members can also
contribute during
Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur
services. On Aug. 25,
Fornari hosted a
Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari  Photo by Chris Baker Evans
virtual talk with
RIP co-founder Craig Antico. are hoping to inspire other
The topic was Jewish values as communities. The rabbi said
they’ve already reached out to
they relate to debt abolition.

“A core Jewish value is Reconstructionist synagogues in
economic justice and caring other cities.

The New Synagogue Project in
for those most vulnerable,”
Fornari said. And, the rabbi Washington, D.C., Congregation
added, there is no justice in the T’chiyah in Detroit and Kadima
American health care system, in Seattle are considering their
own drives.

only vulnerability.

Keeping yourself healthy, and
Shmita begins in September
perhaps even alive, is not just and lasts for a full year.

an economic decision, Fornari
“Shmita is often talked about
said. But it’s one that can cost as environmental issues and
thousands or even tens of land stewardship. That’s very
thousands of dollars. You don’t important,” Shanker said. “But
even get to hear the price up part of what happens in a Shmita
front. year is release from debt.”
For a low-income person,
“The vision of the Shmita year
the choice is often impossible: a is environmental and economic
necessary procedure or years of justice,” Fornari said.

The rabbi said the synagogue
debt, according to the rabbi.

is trying
to do its part by asking
“Even with insurance, the bill
for small
donations. But he
can be astronomical,” Fornari
said it
would welcome a bigger
said. “It’s completely predatory.”
contribution. Shanker, who leads an
Shanker’s math problem —
LGBTQ+ community center
a $100
donation equals $10,000
in Allentown, encounters the
medical billing process on in alleviated medical costs —
a regular basis. Often, it’s not can be extrapolated, too.

the bill that gets people; it’s
“If someone writes a check
the collection process from for $10,000, they are elimi-
not paying the bill, which nating $1 million in medical
compounds the debt and hurts debt,” Fornari said. “This is
your credit report, Shanker said. going to make a big difference
And with bad credit, it becomes in individual lives.” l
difficult to rent an apartment, or
to buy a house or car.

jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; Fornari
and Shanker 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM