As usual, late to the party, but sharing my $0.02:@deltastubs - that was a great comment with you 100%As far as security is concerned, as both a martial arts practitioner and shul security volunteer. I highly recommend both. Please don't misunderstand, I am not suggesting that every shul have 25 people on duty every shabbos that are trained in MMA and Carrying AR15's, what I am saying is, we should all be doing something.- Shul entrances need to be limited, locked and monitored. I realize that this is much easier for some shuls than others, and in some situations than others, but we need to take reasonable steps to make sure that someone's watching the door. I daven at a small shul where I know 90% of the people who walk in the door shabbos morning, and among the 10% I don't recognize are guests who can be verified otherwise. - I can't promise you that learning martial arts will help you fight off an attacker - especially considering that most of the attacks are surprises. (It's kind of hard to block a punch to the back of your head that you didn't know was coming). But what if you are able to see it coming? Block a punch? Give a quick kick to the groin? I am willing to suggest that without even the slightest martial arts training you might not even try. Even just a little training will help you build the confidence you need to maybe swiftly hit back and get away. - Every shul needs to build a rapport with their local police. The police need to know who you are and vice versa. Invite them to kiddush, show your appreciation for them (my shul bakes them cookies on 12/24 and delivers in to the local police, fire, and ems stations - again, something in a small town that works, but might not in NYC). - I am not a gun control nut, nor do I have the 2nd amendment tattooed on my chest. I've met several armed Jews. Some of them are former or current Law Enforcement or Military, and I'm happy to daven with them knowing that they'd protect our shul in a shooter situation. Some of them are random people with permits and guns, who I worry will be more likely to accidentally shoot me than save me when push comes to shove. As much as we try to sensationalize the good guy with gun narrative, my favorite tale of a thwarted terror attack was the one in Germany on Yom Kippur - where the attacker was not allowed in the building, and only managed to kill two people on the street. Yes, their deaths are tragic, but better 2 people than 20 or 30.
Sent you a PM.Since many people reached out privately , I will post some more info here:Putting "gemachim" aside, there are a few organizations who have this DMP program, and they have been around almost as long as credit cards have. As part of their agreements with the cc companies they do not advertise, and even their websites are not very clear about how easy the process is, and exactly what they can do.Who it's for: The DMP (Debt Management Plan) is a program that is best suited for those with large debt, who is paying crazy interest monthly, and can cover their life expenses if the interest was negated, and wants to get out of the situation without ruining their credit or relationships with the banks. This last point is pretty important since DMP program is generally a one time option. Although it isnt easy or enjoyable making that cheshbon while in a mountain of debt, it is pretty crucial to do it to ensure the problem will actually be solved and not recur. It's easy to make a mistake or two and fall down the path of debt, as the high APR adds up quickly and is designed to trap people who start to fall further.What they do:When enrolling in the DMP program, you can almost completely or completely eliminate the interest on the current balances you have, and consolidate all monthly payments into one payment a month, which is then disbursed to all the cards enrolled. For example, I just helped someone enroll with 67K in debt, across multiple cards from cap1, barclays, synchrony bank, and Bofa. They were paying roughly $2500 monthly, which was 95% interest, and barely affecting the balance. They reached out to Apprisen via their website form, who enrolled their cards that next day after confirming via text, and a few days later their creditors all updated their accounts to reflect the changes, and sent them a letter confirming. Some cards went down to 0% APR, Cap1 went down to 1.9%, and Bofa 1.5%. Their new payment amount monthly to cover all minimum payments, was $1307, which is 98.5% going to the balance and not interest.As you can see from that example, it can be a game changer to help someone get out of the cycle, and regain financial stability, with no hassle or exorbiant "gemach" fee.Their is a national foundation that will find you a program, or they can reach out to any program to enroll. It also doesnt hurt to reach out to a few to compare proposals.I have experience with Apprisen- www.apprisen.com. The national foundation is called the NFCC, can be reached here- https://www.nfcc.org/.They usually ask how they got into debt- any excuse will do. They just need to check their boxes. I personally have still been using for people the covid excuse - income was affected during covid, supplemented income with cc use.If your income anyways isn't covering your expenses even without the interest rates , you should hold off to stabilize first since they do claim there is generally one chance at enrolling.
Help me out please. Which one is it?
post of the year award
Wow nothing worthy in 5 years!
no, no one could figure out the acronym for 5 years
I personally have still been using for people the covid excuse
