Elizabeth, NJ – In an effort to better understand the financial hardships faced by members of his parent body, the associate dean of a New Jersey yeshiva took part in a food stamp challenge, limiting himself to a $30 food budget for one week.

Rabbi Eliyahu Teitz of the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth was one New Jersey figure, including a dozen state senators and assembly members, who participated in the challenge spearheaded by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey.

“The idea behind the challenge was to become more sensitive to the needs of others,” Rabbi Teitz told VIN News. “In our school, if someone can’t afford full tuition, their application goes to the tuition committee. If their situation is beyond what the board is authorized to deal with, the application comes to me. I am the one who gets the applications of people on food stamps and I am the one who decides how much they should be paying in tuition. It seemed only right that I spend a week living in their shoes.”

Rabbi Teitz elected to take on the challenge, which ran from September 8th to September 14th, on his own, not including his wife and five children in his week-long experiment. Armed with a budget of just $30, Rabbi Teitz ventured to the local Super Stop and Shop to buy food for the week.

“That is the store that is closest to the depressed neighborhoods in the area,” explained Rabbi Teitz. “This is where a significant number of people who live below the poverty line shop and I wanted to shop where they shopped.”

Rabbi Teitz shopped the store’s sales coming home with a box of whole wheat matza, a loaf of whole wheat bread, a box of Cheerios, two pounds of pasta, a two pound bag of rice, four cans of tuna, a bag of baby carrots, four tomatoes, two apples, one cucumber, a quart of milk and the largest head of romaine lettuce he could find in the store. All told his bill came to $25.85, leaving him with just $4.15 left to buy food for Shabbos.

While challenge participants were told they could use basic spices and condiments they already had in their homes, Rabbi Teitz quickly discovered just how difficult dealing with an extremely limited food budget can be.

“Four days into the challenge I realized that the only cooking I had done was to boil water for pasta,” said Rabbi Teitz. “I couldn’t make any real recipes because I didn’t have the building blocks I would normally use. All I used from my kitchen was ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, onion and garlic. I didn’t use the basil from my yard or the other spices I would normally use to make things taste good. The food was very bland.”

Rabbi Teitz found he got frequent headaches because of the lack of protein. Asked if he found himself hungry during the week he emphatically responded, “oh, yes.”

Preparing for Shabbos presented its own set of challenges. Rabbi Teitz bought four chicken drumsticks for $3.77, which became the basis of his Shabbos chicken soup, made only from chicken, water, spices and baby carrots.

“I couldn’t afford an onion or even a head of garlic,” said Rabbi Teitz, who saved those four drumsticks for his two Shabbos entrees.

With no money in his budget at all for beverages of any sort, Rabbi Teitz had no grape juice or wine for Shabbos.

“I would have made kiddush on matza but since my wife and my children were not part of the challenge, I used grape juice instead,” reported Rabbi Teitz. “Shabbos morning there was a kiddush in shul and I brought my matza with me so that I could wash there. I would have just heard havadala in shul, but for the sake of my family I did use grape juice at home for havdala.”

Spending Shabbos with such limited provisions was an eye opener for Rabbi Teitz.

“It struck me that it would be so helpful for people who are poor to be invited for a Shabbos meal because it would save them so much money on their budget,” observed Rabbi Teitz. “But many of those people will say no to an invitation because they are embarrassed that they can’t reciprocate.”

Instead, Rabbi Teitz suggested calculating the cost of a Shabbos meal and donating that amount to a local kosher food pantry.

“It is a less undignified way to help people of limited means,” said Rabbi Teitz. “It can’t be dignified to go to a food pantry no matter how nice it is. There are people who will accept help publicly, not because they aren’t embarrassed, but because seeing their childrens’ hungry faces hurts even more.”

Fresh off his week-long challenge, Rabbi Teitz, whose final supper on the food challenge was matza with lettuce and mustard and an apple, feels that he has gained a greater sensitivity for parents who are having difficulty making ends meet.

“When I see those applications sitting on my desk now, I look at them with a different eye,” said Rabbi Teitz.

While he has not yet shared the insights he gained over the week with the students, Rabbi Teitz hopes to do so shortly.

“I came to several realizations,” said Rabbi Teitz. “There really isn’t much that you can do with $30 and for people who live like this, there is no escape. I did this for just one week, but for some people this is their how they live their lives. If they are not careful and they misspend at the end of the month they just don’t eat.”