Holocaust survivors can't buy pork with new aid card

The credit cards are provided to 18,791 Holocaust survivors and Jews who suffered during World War II in the FSU by the Joint Distribution Committee.

By MATTHEW WAGNER, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
shoah survivors 248 88 (photo credit: Matthew Wagner)
shoah survivors 248 88
(photo credit: Matthew Wagner)
A welfare credit card that enables thousands of Holocaust survivors in the former Soviet Union to buy almost anything they want at the supermarket is blocked from purchasing pork, vodka and cigarettes. The credit cards are provided to 18,791 Holocaust survivors and Jews who suffered during World War II in the FSU by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), with funding from the Claims Conference and the Jewish Federations in America. The amount of credit available for food purchases depends on the level of the Holocaust survivor's monthly income. But the meat from Judaism's quintessentially taboo animal is off limits. If a cardholder attempts to use the card to buy pork, a red warning flashes on the cashier's screen announcing that card will not pay. "We are sending out a message to Holocaust survivors that we are a Jewish organization," said Shauli Dritter, JDC Country Director for Northern and Eastern Ukraine and Siberia. "I also think that we have a duty to hold as much as possible to Jewish values. And I think Holocaust survivors respect us for this." Dritter said that vodka and cigarettes were barred to prevent the card from being misused by the Holocaust survivor's family or others.