Multiply, Get Fruits

Have babies, get cash

Published: 02/20/2008

A Russian Jewish communal organization will pay Jewish families to have more babies.

At a news conference marking its tenth anniversary, the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia announced it will subsidize Jewish families who have three or more children, Ha’aretz reported.

"Our goal for the next decade is to create a stronger community of young people and families," the group's chairman, Alexander Boroda, said. "This additional money is sometimes what a young family needs to have another child."

Aside from Chabad's interest in bolstering Jewish population, Russia has been in an ever-worsening demographic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The average Russian family has only 1.4 children, and the average male life expectancy is a mere 59 years. In 2007, President Vladimir Putin proposed a similar stipend for the general population to combat the crisis.

The federation’s stipend will be about $100 per month and is intended to boost Jewish community involvement.