It’s not hard to be Jewish, but expensive TB Rosh Hashana 27

The Mishnah on daf TB Rosh Hashana 26b describes a decorative difference between the shofar used on Rosh Hashanah and the one used together people on public fast days. “The shofar that was used on Rosh HaShana in the Temple was made from the straight horn of an ibex, and its mouth, the mouthpiece into which one blows, was plated with gold... And in contrast, the shofarot used on public fast days were made from the curved horns of rams, and their mouths were plated with silver.” (Sefaria.org translation) Today’s daf TB Rosh Hashana 27 answers the question why was the Rosh Hashanah shofar plated with gold and the shofar used on public fast days plated with silver.

§ It was taught in the mishna: The shofarot that were used on public fast days were made from the curved horns of rams, and their mouths were plated with silver. The Gemara asks: What is different there that the shofar of Rosh HaShana is plated with gold, and what is different here that the shofarot of fast days are plated with silver? The Gemara answers: If you wish, you can say: Any shofar made for the purpose of gathering people together is made of silver, as it is written: “Make for yourself two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shall you make them, and you shall use them for calling the assembly and for the journeying of the camps” (Numbers 10:2). And if you wish, you can say: The Torah spared the money of the Jewish people and therefore allows these shofarot to be made of silver, which is less costly than gold.

“The Gemara asks: If so, there too, the shofar of Rosh HaShana should be made with silver plating. The Gemara answers: Even so, the duty of honoring the Festival is given priority, so that it is proper to beautify the shofar of Rosh HaShana. On a fast day, however, since it is not a Festival, there is no need to use gold, and silver is sufficient.” (Sefari.org Translation)

Rashi teaches us where in the Torah we learn to be considerate of the money the Jewish people need to spend in order to maintain a Jewish lifestyle. He cites the case where a house is suspected to be defiled with tzara’at, a mysterious plague “When you enter the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘Something like a plague has appeared upon my house.’ The priest shall order the house cleared before the priest enters to examine the plague, so that nothing in the house may become unclean; after that the priest shall enter to examine the house.” (Leviticus 14:34-36) Before the priest examines the house and makes a determination positive or negative, all the earthen vessels are removed to avoid having to declare them tamai, ritually unfit. There is no way to make these ritually unfit earthenware ritually ready, tahor. Unlike for metal objects, the mikvah waters have no transformative effect upon them. Now earthen vessels are rather inexpensive and easily replaced. Even so, God had compassion on the Jewish people and want to save them all unnecessary expenses; consequently, these earthenware were removed before the house was examined.

At one time it was hard to be a Jew. Not so much today. But it is expensive to be a Jew. Prof. Jack Wertheimer wrote in the magazine Commentary an article titled “the High Cost of Jewish Living.”

“Adding things up, an actively engaged Jewish family that keeps kosher and sends its three school-age children to the most intensive Jewish educational institutions can expect to spend somewhere between $50,000 and $110,000 a year at minimum just to live a Jewish life.

As the various cost lines have risen, in some cases doubling over the past 10 years, the response has been predictable. Many regard day-school education as out of the question, the cost utterly prohibitive. Even within Orthodox communities, some parents feel compelled to pull their children out of day schools. Anecdotal reports suggest that some families interested in placing their children in Jewish educational settings decide not to proceed for fear of embarrassing encounters with scholarship committees. In a reversal of earlier patterns, when Jewish religious involvement was weighted toward the poor, increasingly in our own time only the well-to-do can afford to live fully as Jews, while many in the middle class are in danger of getting priced out.

For Jewish families would respond when “cost becomes a barrier,” the affordability of Jewish living should be a central issue on the Jewish communal agenda today, given the staggering surge in costs coupled with the current economic climate. With some noteworthy exceptions, it is not.” (https://www.commentary.org/articles/jack-wertheimer/the-high-cost-of-jewish-living/)

This article was written back in 2010. We can only surmise that the cost barrier has grown especially due to the financial hardships the Covid 19 pandemic have placed upon all Americans. I’ve read about families making Aliyah in order to afford Jewish schools for their children since these schools are public and supported by taxes. Wertheimer makes a case why intensive Jewish education is a sound investment for the future of the Jewish community and offers some suggestions to ease the financial burden of intensive Jewish education for Jewish families.

Unfortunately, the organized Jewish community has yet paid attention to this crisis.