While Congress slogged toward a possible end of the over 40-day-old federal government shutdown this week, local Jewish organizations were taking steps to help furloughed federal workers who have missed paychecks and might not get back pay for time off the job.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington announced last week it had allocated $150,000 in emergency funding for those in need. “Tracking the impact of the federal government shutdown is like watching a storm roll in,” the Federation said in a Nov. 4 statement. “It’s already drizzling. As SNAP benefits expire and federal workers miss their first paychecks, the forecast is likely to worsen. For many in our community, what started as financial uncertainty is becoming a true crisis.”
Two-thirds of the funding was allocated to the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington for their Federal Unemployment and Furlough Loan Program. The other third went to the Federation’s Rabbinic Emergency Fund, which enables rabbis to help community members cover the cost of essential living expenses of up to $1,500.
“As we were approaching the furlough, we realized that there is going to be a larger financial need within our community,” Shuli Tropp, executive director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington, told Washington Jewish Week.
Tropp explained that after the government shutdown of late 2018, which lasted 35 days, the association was prepared this time around to help people impacted by the absence of federal paychecks. The Unemployment Program, which was launched at the beginning of 2025 as the Trump administration shut down or shrunk several federal agencies, provides interest-free loans for people who are unexpectedly laid off due to the government cutbacks.
“We just wanted to make sure that people could be set for a while, to have that safety net, with hopes that they would not need that level of safety net,” Tropp said.
Tropp explained that in 2024, the organization granted about 65 loans total, averaging one to two loans per week. However, within the past two weeks, which covered the first pay period that federal employees went unpaid, the organization approved 16 unemployment loans, along with an additional five or six traditional loan applications.
“We have extraordinarily higher volume than is typical,” Tropp said. “We unfortunately anticipate that some of that higher volume is likely to continue, because those who didn’t know about our furlough loans now, even when the government opens back up, may have debt that they’ve acquired during the furlough.”
A 42-year-old Silver Spring resident who has been furloughed because of the shutdown learned about the program from an advertisement in Washington Jewish Week and applied for a loan. She said, “I am extremely grateful for them and I found the entire process with them to be easy, manageable and quick.”
The furloughed federal employee said that although the shutdown has been mentally draining, she recognizes that she is “one of the luckier ones.”
“I live with my partner who is not in the federal government and I do not have children, but I do have student debt that I’m still paying off,” she said, in addition to having a mortgage and other living expenses.
Tropp compared the spike in applications to the one sparked by layoffs and uncertainty in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. That year, she said, the Hebrew Free Loan Association provided about 100 emergency loans in addition to their regular loan allocations.
“This is a similar type of urgency,” she said. “We are growing in how we are approaching the emergency loan situation [today], but this is a similar feeling of urgency, of fear, of the unknown, from our constituents and I think in this case, there’s also a lot more frustration, because these are people who have steady, stable jobs, and partisan politics are disabling them from getting paid.”
Tropp said that shutdown-related financial strain is sure to affect many families’ plans for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays like Chanukah and Christmas.
“Honestly, it’s not even about holidays,” she said. “It’s about tomorrow. It’s about today. It’s about lunch. And so, I think Thanksgiving is going to really accentuate that. That if you don’t have a paycheck, you … cannot afford the overpriced groceries.”
The furloughed worker added that she’s been holding back on making plans for the upcoming holidays.
“You can only put so much in savings. No one can really be prepared for the government to shut down and not have pay for 40 days,” she added. “It’s mentally draining, it’s stressful and it’s not done yet.”
While a continuing resolution to reopen the government passed on the Senate floor this week, it will still need to pass in the House of Representatives. Additionally, the continuing resolution would only apply until January as a temporary fix.
“I just hope that this does not happen again in January,” the 42-year-old added.
