Rabbis denied coronavirus relief funds while other religious organizations rake in millions of dollars

According to the Post, the SBA claimed the loan was rejected due to “unverifiable information,” in a letter, which said “during the loan underwriting process there were one or more items that were reviewed that caused the SBA to question the validity of certain information you submitted as part of your application.”

Rabbi David Katz, director of the Alliance told the Post “I wonder why. I wonder if there is no respect for rabbinical organizations. And I wonder why wouldn’t an alliance of so many rabbis be priority number one. As the director of an organization, people always call me for help and I always try to help, but this time I wasn’t able to help.”

Founded in 1942, the Alliance represents over 900 rabbis across the US and Canada many of which were unable to pay their membership fees this year due to the economic crisis. Katz told the Post, he wanted the $35,000 to provide economic relief for the members.

Katz told the Post, “Since it’s an emergency, I would probably give as many rabbis as I can matzo for passover, or I would have tried giving it to the most families possible, $300, $400 for the holidays to buy shoes for the children or something. I wouldn’t use a penny for office expenses.”

On Monday the Treasury Department released data which showed how much Payroll Protection Program (PPP) money religious organizations received since April 3.

Many other religious organizations in the New York area, where the Alliance is headquartered, and around the country received hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars.

Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church received $4.4 million dollars through the PPP program. The Alliance in a tweet response to news of Osteen’s windfall said, We The Rabbinical Alliance of America applied for $35,000 and we got denied. We have over 950 Rabbis & community leaders in our Alliance who lost their income & we got nothing!”

According to Newsweek, religious organizations received over $7.3 billion in coronavirus relief aid.