A popular Rabbi put aside his love of food for a week to survive on an eye-opening £1 a day to help raise awareness about extreme poverty.
Rabbi Goldstein, from Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, spent a sponsored week living of £1 a day for food and drink from April 27 to May 1 to highlight issues of poverty in the UK and globally.
The 43 year-old said: “It's been interesting. I got a bad headache at one point and I think that was from lack of caffeine. We have builders in at the moment, so I have been using their used tea bags to make a cup of tea.
“My local green grocer has been great, he has been selling me fruit and vegetables that are on the verge of going off at a cheap price. This has been really useful for me.”
The main foods Rabbi Goldstein ate were omelettes, beans, peppers, salads and stir fries. He ate porridge for breakfast every morning and drank mainly water or had cups of tea made with leftover tea bags.
He said: “Physically I feel better, though. I do a lot of home cooking anyway but it does get to that point where there are only so many chickpeas you can eat.”
The £1-a-day challenge is organised by a fundraising campaign to help stop extreme poverty called Live Below the Line. The aim of the task is to encourage people to live on quid a day for five days to experience the harsh realities of how 1.2 billion people live in poverty around the world.
Mr Goldstein continued to stay active during his challenge and he said: “I have played tennis while on the challenge and have done a lot of cycling so I haven’t cut out exercise. The experience has really opened my eyes.
“It has showed me that it is not just about affording food and drink but it’s about being accepted into social situations. I would not be able to afford to have meals out or eat with friends, that sort of thing. It limits you and your lifestyle a bit. However, I think I could survive on it.”
Mr Goldstein is proud to have completed the challenge and would do it again, although for now he will be encouraging members of the Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue to take part in the challenge.
The money raised by people taking part is given to one of the 35 charity partners of Live Below the Line who help tackle poverty across the world.
Mr Goldstein kept a diary blog of his week-long task in which he wrote: “The reason I am doing the challenge is to be part of a cross-denominational team of Rabbis, to provide an inkling into the plight that so many in this country face, to do so for Tzedek, the Jewish organization that seeks to reduce poverty overseas an just perhaps provide those in need with faith: in God and humanity.”
So far he has raised over £450, his initial target was £250.
