Today we spotlight Rachel Sumekh, alumnus of the Avodah Service Corps in Chicago ‘13.
In this conversation, Rachel discusses her work as the Executive Together Ending Need (TEN), her time leading Swipe Out Hunger, and the alarming new data showing that nearly 30% of the Jewish community is struggling to make ends meet.
She offers profound insights on how we can address this challenge with dignity, destigmatize the act of seeking help, and bridge the gap that prevents economically vulnerable Jews from fully participating in Jewish life.
Rachel Sumekh: I serve as the executive for TEN, which stands for Together Ending Need. TEN envisions a world where every Jew, regardless of their income, can live a thriving Jewish life and have their basic needs met.
I grew up in Los Angeles. Both of my parents immigrated to the US from Iran, and in the tough moments, it was public benefits—programs like free school lunch and SNAP—that allowed our family to achieve the American dream. When I was stepping away from my position as the executive director of Swipe Out Hunger after more than a decade of leadership, I saw that the Weinberg Foundation and the Jewish Funders Network were looking for someone to really grow the work of TEN.
I was attracted to the work for two reasons. One is my own personal connection to understanding the importance of human services and the impact they have on people’s lives. The second is that I’m a systems-change level person, and it felt like an opportunity to work within the Jewish community to elevate this essential issue.
Avodah: Tell me about your placement and your experience at Avodah.
Rachel Sumekh: I was placed in Chicago at an organization called Inspiration Corporation, where I helped individuals who were housing-unstable access jobs and cell phones and whatever they needed to have more security. It was in that role where I learned that for so many, poverty is very difficult to come out of. Even if you get a job, you need so much more. It has really reinforced my understanding that you can’t just help a person without trying to change the system.
I have taken my experience at Avodah very much into my work every day, because it has put the human face—literally the faces that I still think about to this day that I worked with—alongside the urgency with which we need to update our systems, from government benefits, which are at a huge threat right now, to fighting for a living wage and so much more. That experience was central for me to know what part I want to play in building the dream world.
Avodah: Can you tell us about Swipe Out Hunger?
Rachel Sumekh: Nationally, one in three college students regularly skips meals. When I was a student at UCLA, my friends and I saw this firsthand. We convinced our school to allow students to donate the extra money on their prepaid, nonrefundable meal plans to their peers that are hungry. We eventually got USC and more and more schools to agree. We also started supporting food pantries on college campuses. Today, there are 850 colleges and universities in the Swipe Out Hunger network, where we support them in making sure they’re meeting the needs of college students.
I led the organization from ages 18 to 30, including during my time as an Avodahnik. By day, I was working in direct service at Inspiration Corporation helping people get back on their feet, and by night I was helping to run and build this national organization. I applied a lot of what I learned in my day-to-day work sitting directly with clients to how we brought the human side to our national systems-level work.
Avodah: Speaking of national systems work, can you bring us through the 2025 JFNA study and tell us what it shows about the Jewish American community?
Rachel Sumekh: We know that life is less affordable for everyday Americans, and the Jewish community is not immune to that. Historically, we’ve seen around 20% of the Jewish community struggling to make ends meet. Now, we’re seeing more and more studies showing that number is closer to 30% of Jews in our community not being able to or just barely making ends meet. We’re seeing needs like mental health, job training, and accessing government benefits increase across our community. We as a community need to meet that. We need to meet the urgency of the moment and show up for community members to make sure that they have the resources they need to not just engage in Jewish life, but to feel dignified as they build their lives.
Avodah: Let’s start with the Jewish life aspect. What do we know about that?
Rachel Sumekh: There’s consistently a gap between how Jews access Jewish life, with low-income Jews significantly less able to. Even a free resource like PJ Library, low income Jews are 26% less likely than well off Jews to have heard of the program. We continuously see the ways that economic vulnerability is a barrier to living a really vibrant Jewish life. Six in ten financially vulnerable Jews are unable to engage in Jewish activities as much as they desire.
Avodah: In the Jewish Federations of North America report on economic vulnerability in the Jewish community that “Jews with intersectional identities feel the greatest vulnerability.” Can you say more about that?
Rachel Sumekh: There are compounding effects in terms of increased stigma of accessing Jewish services. So, it’s not just about making services available; it’s about making sure they’re culturally competent and as destigmatized as possible. For instance, instead of communities saying, “Oh, we have a scholarship,” or, “This is free,” they’ll say, “This is a tuition reduction,” which is a less stigmatized phrase. Everyone likes a reduction. How do we offer services in a way that is destigmatizing?
Avodah: I want to pull on the thread of dignity. At this moment, when so many public programs are being defunded by the federal government, how can the Jewish community show up for people in and out of it who are economically vulnerable?
Rachel Sumekh: No one likes talking about money, especially Jews, especially rich people. So, how do we, as a community, learn to talk about money? As Wu-Tang said, “Cash rules everything around me.” You cannot separate the importance of money in everyday life.
How do we talk about money more openly, and how do we also talk about the fact that you don’t have to go too far into a family’s history to find the poor Jew? How do we all understand that, with the High Holidays coming up, we are both much more vulnerable than we think we are, and we also are not as vulnerable as we think we are? It’s important to hold both as we engage on this topic. Most people who are economically vulnerable did not imagine that they would one day be in this position. It’s a job lost, it’s losing a parent, it’s becoming a caretaker, it’s an illness. These are the things that suddenly change a person’s situation. The On The Edge study showed that 2 out of 3 times a Jew economically struggled, it was situational rather than generational. So, for all of us to develop a greater sense of empathy and proximity to the issue would really behoove us as we consider ways that we can build the community that we dream of.
Avodah: “Building the community we dream of” is a great way of describing what we try to do in Avodah. We are really excited about the Economic Access Fund being an opportunity to have an empathetic program when corps members who are serving might have an unforeseen expense that maybe wouldn’t be covered by their living stipend. Tell me what a program like this means and situate it in the greater context of your work.
Rachel Sumekh: A common phrase in this work is “safety net.” There’s obviously the government safety net, but really, a safety net means that you have someone you can call when you need help. And for many people who don’t have strong networks, which are often people who are economically vulnerable, knowing that there’s a place that will show up with the $500 you need, or the $1000 you need to make rent or for a car repair, is not just a financial solution for the problem. It is a mental health solution for the anxiety that comes with the unknown of what will happen.
Knowing that you have that person you can call in Avodah, in the community, is more than just the flight or the coat. It’s the Jewish community at its best. It’s doing what our institutions were literally created for, which is to let young Jews and all Jews know that this is a place that sees you fully and has your back.
Avodah: Aside from giving generously to the Economic Access Fund, what could someone reading this who is really excited to tackle the issue of economic vulnerability in the Jewish community do to take action?
Rachel Sumekh: I always say start locally. We take for granted that we have Jewish Family Service agencies in our cities, which are the places that Jews and community members as a whole go to every day to get help. We have many Avodahniks who work at these agencies. Call your agency and say, “How is it going? What do you need? Can I help you find affordable housing for your clients? Can I donate? Can I learn more? Can I join your board or young adults division?” Starting locally and understanding what people in your own city are going through and what the incredible Jewish superheroes at your Jewish Family Service agency are doing for the entire community is, I think, a great first step.
And if you’re supporting any other Jewish causes, ask them, “We see Avodah stepping up in this way. How are you supporting low-income Jews who might be accessing your services feel more welcome?”
