Tzedakah (Charity) in Israel

Took a month off - The pocket is hurting

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

Baby

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.

Psychiatric Care and Poverty

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

Depression

The Minister of Health, Ya’akov Litzman, has taken a very positive step in helping Israeli society in General and the poor in particular. Litzman has put his support towards inclusion of psychiatric care into the general health plan. That is critical for many of Israel’s poor who have all their emotional and psychological challenges compounded by their sever financial state.

Here is a detailed report from the Jerusalem Post:

After years of strongly opposing a 20-year-old proposal for reforming psychiatric care, Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman on Thursday changed his mind.

He told participants at a conference of the National Institute for Health Policy Research at the Dead Sea that he now favors transferring responsibility for providing psychiatric care from the ministry to the four public health funds – meaning the inclusion of mental health services in the basket of health services.

However, the deputy minister set several strict conditions that could mean years could pass before the the proposal is implemented. He said he would ask for “continuity status” for the government bill for the reform that was presented to the previous Knesset, so it could pass in its second reading.

“There is no reason why treating psychiatric problems should be different from physical conditions”. More