Tzedakah (Charity) in Israel

Simulating Poverty - A great school program

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Crime, Disposable Income, Divorce, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Tzedakah, Unemployment, What can "I" do, World Poverty

Awareness is a big part of the solution. This US high school ran a poverty simulation program with great results. Here’s the article:

Carson Sullivan never worried about putting food on the table for his family.

The Vermillion High School student learned all about the process, however, when he took part in the South Dakota Youth Congress poverty simulation at the USD School of Law Wednesday afternoon. The simulation kicked off the annual, two-day South Dakota Youth Congress conference for high school juniors and seniors nominated based on their interest in public policy and leadership qualities.

During the simulation, students from across the state role-played the lives of low-income families. Some were homeless, while others were disabled. Some of the participants role-played senior citizens living off Social Security benefits.

Still, their job was to provide the basic necessities and shelter for their families during the course of four 15-minute “weeks.”

Within minutes of the simulation starting, Sullivan was at the Department of Social Services, asking how to obtain food stamps. The experience made him feel “very flustered” while filling out paperwork.

“I really don’t know how I’m going to pay for this,” Sullivan said.

Read the rest here.

Could you live on $2 a day?

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Disposable Income, Perspective, Social Justice, World Poverty

COULD you live on $2 a day? Eighteen-year-old Rachell Dade is going to try as she takes part in the Live Below the Line Campaign.

For one week in August the Tuncurry teenager will have an allowance of less than $2 – the amount the World Bank defines as the line of extreme poverty, approximately $1.25US each day, for every expense, not just food.

“I’ll be getting a very small taste of extreme poverty,” Rachel said.

“People live on this everyday of their lives for much more than food.”

The anti-poverty campaign isn’t Rachell’s first, in May she toured with the MakePovertyHistory Roadtrip organised by the Oaktree Foundation.

She travelled around NSW, spending three days at a summit in Canberra where she met Member for Paterson Bob Baldwin to discuss the Act to End Poverty.

She’s teamed up with the organisation again this time to raise money for poverty stricken schools in Cambodia. The funds will go towards opening and sustaining three schools with outreach programs and scholarships to ensure every child receives a quality education.

“Education is something that most people take for granted, but it is something that has a great effect on the outcome of your life and is an undeniable factor in eliminating poverty,” Rachell said.

She said most children in these areas have to choose between food, education and medicine every day and end up having to work to support their family. Just $50 will send one disadvantaged child to school for six months on scholarship.

“With scholarships the children are able to begin to build a better future,” she said.

Rachell will host a fundraising movie premiere on August 12 for the romantic comedy Killers. There will be pre-movie munchies and raffles with all money raised going towards helping children receive a quality education and assist them to pull themselves out of poverty.

From: Great Lakes Advocate

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Tzedakah

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Perspective, Self Improvement, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Tzedakah

General Strike!

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice, Unemployment, What can THEY do

Financial life in Israel is tough enough. The constant lack of cash in hand. Living life from hand to mouth, for what seems to be forever! And for some, it is FOREVER… Imagine what happens then when a general strike happens. More specifically, a bank strike.

People who live from hand-to-mouth need to get to the bank almost daily at times to secure that extra bit of cash, that extra line of credit. Not a good thing but when you have to feed the kids, many times there is no choice.

So, when the banks are on strike, there is no cash available. When there is no cash, the kids get hungrier. Oh the cycle of poverty…

A 15 hour work day

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Divorce, Getting By In Israel, Social Justice, Unemployment

A friend was just asked: “Do you work 15 hours a day in order to avoid being home with your wife?” That very loaded question obviously comes with a lot of background. To be more specific, PAINFUL background. A background that is full of family strife on the verge of divorce.

My friend’s answer though had less to do with domestic issues than with his struggle to make a living in Israel. His 50 shekel an hour job is hardly enough to pay the bills for his household of 9.

The most frustrating part though is not the financial one but the emotional one within the family about his time at home, his ability to focus on other issues besides trying to make a living etc.

Not an easy situation at all.

Myopia

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Perspective, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice

A friend was visiting the city of Beitar Eilit. He stayed for Shabbat and had a wonderful time. Stayed with friends who live in what are called the “vilot”, basically semidetached or detached homes. (A semi-detached home is Israel is pretty much for the rich). When he came back he told me all about his stay there. All the wonderful neighbors, the car per family, the spacious living and dining room and of course the second floor bedrooms. All a big deal in Israel.

When it was my turn to speak I asked him if he could tell that there was poverty, better yet, rampant poverty in Beitar. He thought I was nuts. How could it be after all he saw? I must be uber-exaggerating when I say that over 40% of Beitar Eilit lives in poverty.

It then became clear that he did not wander off very far from the “vilot” and thus did not see the much higher density areas where it is not uncommon that kids sleep inthe living room for lack of space, or for kids to go to shul (synagogue) with dirty, unkempt and un-ironed clothes et-al.

The problem is, his myopia is not his alone. There are many many who do not realize how widespread poverty is in Israel.

The Haves and Have-Nots

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Unemployment, What can THEY do

This great interview with Joseph Gitler brings up many issues. One major issue in the poverty struggle is the growing gap between those in Israel who “have” and those that do not. The ramifications of this are that many are left behind in their ability find gainful employment (an issue in and of itself), to gain access to higher education, and more. See the article here.

Poverty? What Poverty

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice

My laptop is down for a couple weeks. Some hard-drive problem. Thank G-D its still under warrenty. So, for a lack of a place to work I headed off to the Aroma Cafe to use their free netbooks while sipping ice-coffee. While getting some work done I came to realize that were are many other people there that were there simply to have a bite, meet a friend, relax, whatever.

AT 17 SHEKELS a cup it dawned on me that not all israelis are in poverty. Yes, the current word on that is that 25% of Israelis are in poverty. Many many more are not however. There are plenty of people who have the cash to relax, to relieve stress, to just get out.

For some, this is a choice. That is, they work hard, or perhaps even work smart, and of course, spend smart, and thus avoid debt and avoid poverty.

THE CHALLENGE for us all is, how do we make it so that everyone can “Have Their Cake and Eat it Too!?

Took a month off - The pocket is hurting

Posted by admin under Children, Disposable Income, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice, What can THEY do

Mazel Tov - We had a baby boy a few months ago. (thus the long hiatujs…). It took the usual few days to a week to get the normal stuff done around the birth of a boy. Bing with the kids at home, visiting the mother at hospital, buying new gear for the baby, the bris of course, and so on.

The challenge started when the new (old?) mother went into deep depression. That change brought on a slew of emotional issue of course. Not to belittle those at all but… missing a month of work as an hourly worker was a serious hit. It will take us a year to recover.

THE MAIN PROBLEM is not only my employer and his “attitude” but in no small way, the economic environment in Israel. I have written is past about this but… just as a case in point, the minimum wage in the this country, 19 NIS, is WAY TOO LOW. According to my calculations, it should be closer to 80 NIS.

The bottom line, Thank G-D the baby is fine, and one day so will be Israel’s working class.

What if you salary does not get paid?

Posted by admin under Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Unemployment, What can THEY do

There is a lot in this blog about “poverty”. It almost exclusively revolves around not having enough to pay the bills. Lack of food, heat, clothing, the usual stuff.

Well, what happens when someone’s salary does not get paid on time? In better economies there is enough left at the end of the month to “put something away for a rainy day”. In Israel however that, for the most part, is not possible. The vast majority of the population lives from hand to mouth. What then?

That is not a simple question. As can be imagined, if someone skips a deposit in the bank, life can get pretty messy when there is no cushion available.

This of course brings up the issue of the VERY URGENT need to improve the economic system in Israel to allow for such contingencies.