Hi, At a small social gathering several days ago an individual made the assertion, which he framed as a "dirty little secret", to our group that more than half of the NYC orthodox Jewish community were social service claimants.

I have been unable to confirm his statistical assertion. I did find in a Community Service Society report (2003) that 12.5% NYC social service claimants are non-Hispanic white but I was unable to find any specific information about the Jewish population or any information to confirm this assertion.

Can you provide any further documentation or clarification? I believe this is a serious and sensitive issue. Apparently this is an issue of concern in Israel as far as the state supporting religious study but I am not aware of anything in NYC or the U.S. of a similar or comparable nature. However this is a potentially defamatory claim which I would like to be clarified.