Back in November, a mere week after Donald J. Trump’s reelection to the White House, the once and future president announced that one of his newest and most enthusiastic backers, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, would head a new government agency tasked with a mandate of eliminating bloat from the federal budget. Now, a mere four months later, that office, DOGE, with Musk firmly at its head, in cooperation with the new administration, has dismissed or offered buyouts to tens of thousands of federal employees. And while DOGE, and Musk’s role in it, has come under increasing scrutiny over its legality and efficacy, the department’s main impact has been to leave many erstwhile federal employees unemployed and deeply confused and concerned about their employment status.
In the DMV, where upwards of 15 percent of federal employees work, the impact has been particularly salient. Amid the fallout, many businesses and NGOs have offered help to their coworkers, friends and neighbors, among them Jewish organizations such as shuls and community centers. At kidishes, lunches and other community events, the ongoing and imminent layoffs have become the main topic of conversation. The cuts are unprecedented, with huge numbers of individuals affected in ways they had not been in previous crises like COVID and government shutdowns. Now many Jewish community organizations are taking steps to help imperiled federal employees.
The largest of these organizations, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, in conjunction with the Jewish Social Services Agency, announced a helpline for members of the Jewish Community in the DMV dealing with the federal cuts—originally launched during COVID—offering advice, counseling and even grants for those adversely affected by the crisis.
But smaller and more local organizations are doing their part as well. Temple Rodef Shalom, a reform synagogue in Falls Church, for example, is offering support groups and career counseling through the shul’s community, including advice on resume building, links to job postings, and counseling from those who have been in similar situations. Likewise, they’re providing meals and bringing in mental health experts to lead groups for affected members. “We’re committed to helping our community when our members face challenges, whether it be a health crisis, the loss of a loved one or a situation like this,” explains Cantor Michael Shocket, who has taken the lead on the program for Rodef Shalom. The shul has undertaken similar projects aimed at helping federal employees under government shutdowns, particularly those in 2013 or 2018. But the challenges are different this time, and the number of people affected is much larger; Shocket says they’ve adapted, most notably by including former federal employees and attorneys who’ve shifted to the private sector in their programs. “What’s great about retirees,” explains Shocket, “is they’re not really afraid to help publicly, to give their name or things like that, where what I’ve seen is many of the temple members who are in the federal workforce are reluctant to make waves because if they haven’t lost their job yet, they’re worried about losing their job. So having a retiree who can provide that advice is really helpful.”
Fred Winter, a congregant at Rodef Shalom and a former employee of the National Endowment of the Humanities, who was laid off during the Gingrich budget cuts of the 1990s, has been offering his expertise on transitioning from the public sector to the private to fellow congregants now faced with the same dilemma. And the interest is extremely high. “We’ve had dozens of people show up over the two sessions we’ve already held,” explains Winter.
Other organizations have been working on these issues for even longer, but are also facing unique challenges with this round of layoffs. For example, David Marwick and Max Rudmann, both members of Young Israel Shomrai Emunah congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in Kemp Mill, MD, run a volunteer organization called JobAssist that seeks to aid those in the community searching for jobs. And while the group is not run through Young Israel Shomrai Emunah, it has been advertising its services to members of its congregation, and others in the area, affected by the recent layoffs. “We help members develop their tool kit, improve it and enhance it. And many federal employees have had no expectations that this was going to happen to them. So the transition from federal work to private sector work is significant,” explains Rudmann, noting that things like resume building differ greatly when it comes to applying for jobs in the private versus the public sector. Rudmann also describes the particular networking benefits of the religious community: “people find jobs because of word of mouth, from community, whether it’s at kiddush, whether it’s at the lunch table. It’s about people interacting on a regular basis.” JobAssist has been growing strong since 2003, but this crisis is somewhat unique, says Marwick, contrasting it with the COVID pandemic. “I think the federal workforce was insulated from COVID, and they’re uninsulated from what’s going on now. Relative to the rest of the economy, federal workers didn’t lose their jobs because of COVID and so just as they disproportionately benefitted, now disproportionately they’re getting hit.”
In addition to shuls, community centers, such as the Edlavitch JCC in Washington, DC, are getting involved, offering support groups and job search workshops to affected federal workers in the EDCJCC community. Sonya Weisburd, the J’s Director for Social Impact, says she was initially shocked by the reports of mass layoffs. “I thought about what, as a community center, we could offer? What can we do? Exactly what we’re built to do. We’re a Jewish Community Center. We are built to create safe, welcoming spaces.” This has included not just support groups and job search workshops, but also financial support in the form of free and reduced cost membership for those who suddenly find themselves without a source of income so they don’t lose access to the community center’s services in a particularly trying time. “It’s important that during the most stressful time in their life, we don’t want to have people losing access to their stress relief,” adding, “we’re gonna probably offer some free or like greatly reduced cost yoga and exercise classes too.”
President Trump is still just two months into his four-year term, but with more layoffs and more buyouts on the horizon, promising to impact large swaths of the Jewish community, shuls and community organizations are continuing to step up to help their members through this unprecedented crisis.
In addition to those resources linked in the article, below are a number of other services being offered to federal employees by Jewish organizations in the DMV:
Shaare Torah Resources for Federal Employees
Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington
Temple Micah: Career Transition Strategies for Federal Employees
Congregation Beth Eth Community Resources for Federal Workers