Lovely video on working together and sharing knowledge ...
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Lifelines
These are transportation lines for Hesed Odessa. They mark
out the lines from the city center to reach every Jew in need in the oblast
(region). No matter where you live, you won't be left alone.
Even if you’re the only Jew left where you live, you won't be
alone.
These lines ensure that even in the worst winter, you can
get food, medicine and a connection to the community.
They are lifelines.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Cuba May 2013
If you've been with JDC to Cuba on a mission, you'll probably find the below article fascinating ...
Amid Fealty to Socialism, a Nod to Capitalism
By VICTORIA BURNETT
New York Times, Thursday May 2, 2013, page A6
HAVANA — In many ways, it was a typical May Day: Hundreds of thousands of Cuban workers — doctors, sailors, dancers, bank clerks — marched Wednesday toward this city’s vast Revolution Plaza, waving flags, holding aloft banners that proclaimed fidelity to socialism and tooting plastic horns.
But dotted among the throngs of state employees bused in before dawn to observe International Workers’ Day, there was a novel, and increasingly favored, breed: entrepreneurs whose private businesses the government is counting on to absorb thousands of the state workers it considers redundant and hopes to shed.
Their presence — albeit limited — at one of the most important fixtures in the Castro-era calendar reflects the shifting economic mix in a country where, for decades, private enterprise was anathema and the state officially provided everything anyone could need, from a job to the sugar people put in their coffee.
But the state’s ability to do that has declined significantly over the years, with salaries and subsidies like food rations unable to cover even basic needs.
“This is a way of showing solidarity with the workers and of showing that we, too, are workers,” said Orlando Alain Rodríguez, a former sommelier at a state-run hotel who opened a restaurant on a busy intersection in downtown Havana nine months ago.
“I have 19 employees with me, people who otherwise might not have jobs,” said Mr. Rodríguez, clad, along with his staff, in a yellow T-shirt that bore the name of his restaurant, Waoo Snack Bar.
The government seemed keen to send that message, too. Carmen Rosa López, second secretary of the Cuban Workers’ Union, expressed hope before the march that entrepreneurs would come. “For us, they are all workers who contribute to the development of the country,” she said, according to a state-run news agency.
That said, entrepreneurs were a tiny minority in the river of public servants and employees of state-owned companies that flowed, waving placards calling for “prosperous and sustainable socialism” to the plaza, where President Raúl Castro stood beneath a huge statue of José Martí, the revolutionary and poet.
A sea of red-clad Venezuelans and Cubans held banners dedicated to Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader and beneficent ally of Cuba who recently died, while a truck mounted with television screens projected pictures of the smiling former leader to the crowd.
Groups of actors and artists lent the march a carnival atmosphere, and even at 7 a.m. instructions blaring from loudspeakers were all but drowned out by drummers leading a crush of workers raising their hands and swaying their hips to a conga. Students from the National Schools of Art walked on stilts; one peeped out from a huge, papier-mâché figure of an independence fighter. Farther back, a female sailor in a crisp white uniform jiggled from one foot to another in a barely suppressed salsa move.
Since late 2010 when the government began issuing new licenses for Cubans to work for themselves and employ one another, more than a quarter of a million entrepreneurs and their employees have joined the private sector, taking the total to about 400,000.
Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo told the National Assembly in December that, including independent farmers who lease land from the government, the number of nonstate workers was 1.1 million, double the figure in 2010. Mr. Yzquierdo said the government had, over the past two years, cut more than 350,000 people from the bloated public sector, which still employs well over four million Cubans out of a population of about 11.2 million.
The government has also turned over about 2,000 small state-owned businesses to their employees, according to news reports, part of a much-anticipated but closely guarded plan to create business cooperatives.
Many Cuban entrepreneurs and economists say the growth of the private sector has been excruciatingly slow. There is still no wholesale market from which businesses can buy the goods they need, and the government still limits the types of businesses open to entrepreneurs to fewer than 200, a situation that some hope will improve with the expansion of cooperatives.
However small, though, the private sector is changing the work culture on an island where state employees earn meager salaries and are known for surly service, inefficiency, absenteeism and pilfering.
Sergio Alba Marín, who for years managed the restaurants of a state-owned hotel and now owns a popular fast-food restaurant, said he was very strict with his employees and would not employ workers trained by the state.
“They have too many vices — stealing, for one,” said Mr. Alba, who was marching with his 25 employees and two large banners emblazoned with the name of his restaurant, La Pachanga. “You can’t change that mentality.”
“Even if you could, I don’t have time,” he added. “I have a business to run.”
Such dismissals aside, the private and state sectors compete on some levels and cooperate on others.
The state, which once had a tiny, $4 ceiling on any contract with a private-sector worker, now buys products — from vegetables to billboards — from entrepreneurs. Margaly Rodríguez, a caterer, said she had been hired several times by Palco, a state holding company, to cook for events; she, in turn, rents glassware and crockery from a state-owned restaurant.
It can be a curious symbiosis: thousands of privately owned cafes, taxis, restaurants, photocopy shops and stalls selling hardware, clothing, shoes and DVDs all compete with state-owned enterprises. But many people work in both sectors, filching goods from their state employer to supply their private business.
There are signs that state-owned companies are responding to competition, adding modern touches at dreary supermarkets (a neon sign, conveyor belts and shelves stocked with candy at checkout) and redecorating restaurants.
“We’re in this very interesting phase in which the public and private sector collaborate and compete at the same time,” said Richard E. Feinberg, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who is doing a study of Cuba’s private sector.
New economic freedoms and the taxes paid by private-sector workers are also beginning to alter the relationship between individuals and the state, analysts say.
“The willingness of people to express an alternative point of view has definitely expanded,” Dr. Feinberg said. “But it’ll take a while before they begin to develop a class consciousness and a political articulation of their interests.”
The very fact that some of Cuba’s new entrepreneurs chose to demonstrate their solidarity at Wednesday’s highly orchestrated march is evidence that the state still has enormous power.
And, of course, many workers — both state and nonstate — stayed home. Several people who work in the private sector said that, after years when they felt pressured by their state employer to march, they would no longer go.
Others simply could not leave their businesses. One woman, a 59-year-old former nurse who said her name was Virgen and sold tiny cups of sweet coffee to people en route to the march, said she had marched every year except this one.
“If I go to the parade, who’s going to sell this?” she asked.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Odessa Leadership
One of the most inspiring things about a mission briefing is the encounter with local leadership, and figuring out together new ways of cooperation and partnership.
Anatoly Kesselman, Hesed Odessa Director, evaluates challenges and successes
Ellina Korneva, Director Beit Grand JCC and Pavel Vugelman, Hillel Director,
Viktor Zonis, Head of Odessa Reform Community; Shlomo Azarov, JAFI Shaliach
Pavel Kozlenko, Director Odessa Holocuast Museum;
Kira Verkhovskaya, Director Migdal JCC
We're grateful for all those who have done so much for the Partnership and the Jewish community of Odessa.
Anatoly Kesselman, Hesed Odessa Director, evaluates challenges and successes
Ellina Korneva, Director Beit Grand JCC and Pavel Vugelman, Hillel Director,
Pavel Kozlenko, Director Odessa Holocuast Museum;
Kira Verkhovskaya, Director Migdal JCC
We're grateful for all those who have done so much for the Partnership and the Jewish community of Odessa.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Sounds of Odessa (Part Two)
Young performers practicing at JCC Migdal Odessa .... just terrific
Labels:
Baltimore,
Jewish Renewal,
Migdal JCC,
Missions,
Odessa,
Ukraine
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Sounds of Odessa (Part One)
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Potemkin Buildings
Yesterday our Baltimore-Odessa Partnership mission visited Yelena, a 16-year old girl in Odessa .
Yelena lives with
a cousin, Rosa, their aunt, Svetlana, and with Svetlana’s mother and baby son.
They live
together in two rooms of a communal apartment, along with five other families. It’s
a beautiful building on a main road in Odessa ,
over a hundred years old. And like so much of Odessa , it’s a Potemkin façade. It looks beautiful
and striking on the outside … but on the inside it’s crumbling. The fixtures
and steps are falling apart. It probably was a beautiful building before the
Revolution.
But not anymore.
The apartment is
on the top floor and it smells awful and needs repairs. Everything’s falling
apart. The family can't pay for gas heating, so they use an electric heater to
warm up in winter.
Or they just bundle up with more layers.
Yelena never met
her father; her mother left for Kiev
to look for a job, and no one has seen her since.
Svetlana is 36 but she looks tired, and a lot older. She married for the
second time in 2012 and in the summer that same year gave birth to her only son,
Igor. A few months later her husband was diagnosed with cancer and died.
Svetlana is
tough. She’s trying to study at University (Law and Finance) with a correspondence
course. It’ll take her six years to get her degree but she's sticking with it. She works several hours a day cleaning
offices. She's also a certified bartender and waitress.
The total family income
is a little over $450, with Inna ’s pension
and a small government allowance for baby care and what money Svetlana can
bring in.
It’s not enough
to feed and clothe a family, especially one with medical bills and little
resources.
Yelena starts
crying when she talks about Hesed and the help she gets from the Jewish community.
Then Inna starts crying too. “Hesed
has saved our lives,” she says. “The government won't help people in need. But
the Jewish community helps us.” Svetlana is crying now, too, and points to the
fridge, which came from Hesed, and says, “I told someone at work about Hesed
and they didn’t believe me. They thought I was making it up. How could it be
that they just help you, like that? Who could these people be?”
Yelena tries to
cheer everyone up, saying that everything is fine, we have a fridge, we have
somewhere to live, and we’re not hungry anymore. Meanwhile, Igor is scooting
around the dirty apartment, happily playing with us and gripping our hands. He’s
got a terrific smile. Yelena is taking care of him today; she’s very responsible.
There are 400
children-at-risk and their families being helped on a daily basis by JDC
through Hesed Odessa. Svetlana and her family receive a food card with a monthly
allowance for use in the supermarket, vitamin supplements, school supplies and warm
clothing for the winter, and diapers, stroller and clothes for Igor.
And they also
have Ira, a Hesed case worker, who checks in on them on a regular basis, and
helps Svetlana come to activities for youth in the community at minimal or
no-cost. She helps them negotiate the city bureaucracy. And most importantly,
she shows them that they’re not alone.
As we leave, Svetlana
says, “When I become a lawyer I’ll give back as a volunteer. I’ll give free
legal advice in Hesed for the clients, for those that need it. Spasiba
Bolshoya – thank you so much.”
A Very Warm Home
Our Associated
(Baltimore Jewish Federation) Partnership Mission to Odessa had an amazing visit to a JDC Warm
Home.
JDC's Warm Home
program helps the elderly combat loneliness and isolation. For those unable to
get to the center itself, the Hesed organizes regular – generally weekly –
meetings and snacks in small groups in the home of a host, selected from within
the community. The meetings let the
elderly connect and have regular social interaction. It’s an incredible program
that battles feelings of seclusion and loneliness.
There are five
Warm Homes in Odessa .
The one we went to meets in the home of Shura, a volunteer and retired Russian
literature teacher. There are nine highly-educated women in their 70s and 80s,
all of them smiling, talkative, lively and welcoming.
Before retiring,
these women had jobs such as economists, railway engineers, teachers,
professors and construction engineers.
The house is over
a hundred years old, but well-maintained. Shura’s family has been living in it
for several generations – her husband and his father were born there! His
father was captured in the house and sent to Gulag (prison camp) during
Stalin’s Purges in 1936. Like so much of Odessa ,
the weight of history is all around us.
And these lovely
women come every week to the Warm Home, in addition to the medical, food and
homecare support they receive from Hesed.
They celebrate
Jewish holidays and celebrations together, they learn together, they chat and
argue and enjoy life together. “This is my family,” says Irina, who worked for
many years as an editor in the Odessa Film Studios.
We chat with the
group for a while. Everyone agrees that there’s a difference between Odessans
and Ukrainians. Tonya, a former economist, says that she's been all over the former
Soviet Union, and every time she opens her mouth people identify her as an
Odessan because of her accent; Odessa
was born an open city, it’s a melting pot. We joke that like in New York, even
if you're not Jewish you're a little bit Jewish, so it’s the same in Odessa …
even if you're not Jewish, there's something in the air here (and the history) that
makes you a little bit Jewish.
There’s some
agreement that Obama deserved to get elected because he’s handsome. But others
don’t agree with his politics. There's a lot of laughter and high-spirited
arguments. We tell a few political jokes. Tonya’s seems to be the one that
draws the most laughs. It goes something like this:
“Putin talks
to God and asks, when will my people stop drinking vodka? God says, not while
you’re in power.
Obama talks to
God and asks, when will Europe love America again? God says, not while
you're in power.
Netanyahu
talks to God and asks, when will there be peace in the Middle
East ? And God says, not while I'm in power!”
It’s an amazing
visit. The Warm Home is inspiring because it shows how a life-saving medical
and welfare program can provide dignity and community.
Rima, a retired construction
engineer, says it best: “without Hesed we wouldn’t be alive; but without
the Warm Home we wouldn’t be enjoying life.”
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Difficult steps
Today I met with Lena , a
78-year old client of our Hesed (welfare) system. She never married and has no
children.
She is entirely dependent on JDC for everything – for her
food, for her medicine, for her home care … even for her entire contact with
the outside world.
And meeting her was one of the most memorable and important encounters
I’ve had in a long time.
Lena was born in Nikolaev, about two hours away from Odessa , in 1935.
She remembers the smell of gefilte fish and the taste of
apple strudel on Shabbat as a little girl.
She remembers the arguments in her family, as the Nazis
invaded, about whether to stay or to flee.
Her parents chose to be evacuated, and spent several years
in Central Asia with her uncle, a former Enemy
of the People, who was in internal exile. Everyone else in her family – all the
other uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents – decided that the Germans would
live up to their civilized tradition, and would almost certainly be no worse
than the Soviets.
They stayed and were killed.
Every single member of her family except for Lena , her uncle and her parents, were killed by the
Nazis.
Years later, Lena went back
to Nikolaev and asked about her Grandfather, with whom she had a close
relationship. All the neighbors remembered him, she said.
They remembered him because on that day in September 1941
when the Nazis rounded up all the Jews to the central square, he couldn’t walk.
So they put him in a wagon. And then they marched them all
off and no one saw the Jews of Nikolaev again.
Lena settled in Odessa .
She couldn’t imagine returning to Nikolaev. She worked as an engineer for a research
institute until she retired in 1989.
And since 1999 she's been helped by Hesed. She has heart
disease, hypertension, diabetes, a hip fracture. And in an economy like Ukraine’s
today, with no Medicaid or Medicare, if you have a broken hip and serious
medical ailments – well, you won't be able to afford decent medical care anyway,
and your better choice is to stay at home and die slowly with some dignity than
go to a terrible, awful, dangerous hospital and die very fast in a corridor
with no sheets and no one to look after you.
But Lena can't use the food
card herself. So her case worker takes her shopping list and the JDC Food Card,
and does the shopping for her.
There is a tiny step in her one bedroom apartment … it leads
to a small balcony. Lena hasn’t been on that
balcony either for nine years. It would be too dangerous.
But she is alive, and she has dignity, and guests come to
visit her every day.
“Thank God for Hesed,” she told us. “Thank God it exists for
us. Spasiba Bolshoya – thank you so much.”
Monday, May 20, 2013
What's the vision in Odessa?
Notes from our opening JDC briefing for the Associated - Baltimore Jewish Federation mission to Odessa:
JDC will eventually pull out. It may take a long time, but when the community is strong enough, and self-sufficient, we will pack up and come home. We've done this in over 30 countries, and the aim is to work ourselves out of a job everywhere.
In Odessa, we'll realize the vision when we have a sustainable Jewish community here that shows excellence in each of the following four areas:
JDC will eventually pull out. It may take a long time, but when the community is strong enough, and self-sufficient, we will pack up and come home. We've done this in over 30 countries, and the aim is to work ourselves out of a job everywhere.
In Odessa, we'll realize the vision when we have a sustainable Jewish community here that shows excellence in each of the following four areas:
· A caring community that lifts and empowers its most vulnerable members and extends a compassionate hand to those in need
· An engaged community that welcomes Jews of every age, in every neighborhood, wherever they gather, and offers them many ways to connect to their Jewish community
· A learning community that encourages lifelong study through a wealth of high-quality formal and informal educational opportunities
· A just community that seeks social justice through commitment to the Jewish ideals of tikkun olam (repair of the world) and gemilut chasadim (acts of loving-kindness)
This is the vision.
Now we just have to figure out how to get there.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
History
We start our mission with The
Associated, the Jewish Federation of Baltimore, tomorrow here in Odessa .
Here’s a brief
historic context to what we’re looking at...
In the 1920s after the famine, JDC
was helping to feed 600,000 Jews in the Soviet Union . We
opened 400 orphanages.
In 1988 the Soviet regime turned
to JDC and asked us to give support to Jewish elderly.
We demanded a written agreement,
mindful of the possibility that we could get kicked out without such a
commitment. We received, and have been in these countries since.
The aim at that time was to help
Soviet Jews be Jewish.
There were no welfare programs or
aims to erect buildings and centers.
The regime took care of peoples’
needs.
The pension was more or less a
continuation of the same amount you received as a salary. Anyway, people knew
very little and there was very little information.
Some of my colleagues in those first meetings tell a story of how, in one meeting, they opened up a map of the vast territory of the
We reached out to Jews where we found them.
We built hundreds of libraries, we
brought in over a million books. The library concept didn’t always work – in
some places the librarians closed the libraries because they were afraid that
people would steal the books, in others they only opened the building for leadership.
But then the economic crisis
started in the early 90s.
We were seeing hundreds, then
thousands, then tens of thousands, who were selling everything they had on the
streets in order to survive.
That’s when we started developing
our welfare services...
Friday, May 17, 2013
The light at the end of the tunnel
I'm leaving this weekend to staff the ASSOCIATED Baltimore Jewish
Federation Partnership mission to Odessa ,
Ukraine . Some
issues we’re going to look at from a macro perspective …
There’s a shadow economy in Ukraine , with huge underemployment.
2 million Ukrainians work abroad (about half each in Russia
and in Europe, mostly in Poland
and Germany ).
Even so, there’s been some fairly good economic development notwithstanding
the hard punch of the 2008-9 world economic crisis. It’s worth pointing out
that Ukrainian banks didn’t collapse, large companies didn’t fail, there
weren’t any riots.
Most economists in Ukraine point to the need for two
major reforms:
(1) Medical – the funding doesn’t enable them to do
what they need, so people die early and suffer. Last year they set up four
pilot regions – Dnepropetrovsk
is one of them – to implement proper medical care, insurance, to expand options
and care. Medical care in Ukraine
is very corrupt and poor. There’s no emphasis on the patient’s needs. Medicines
are expensive and there's a shortage. There are a small number of pharmacy-discount
programs like those of JDC, these are very impressive. But they need a lot
more.
(2) Pensions – the pension age is going to be lifted
from 55 to 60 for women and from 60 to 65 for men. It’s a good move. Many say
that Ukrainians have gotten used to suffering. How can you survive on a pension
of $100 a month? It’s much harder in the small towns and cities, interestingly.
If you have a small garden outside you can manage a little easier if you can
grow something.
Political scientists joke that the national sport in Ukraine
is elections.
The question will be – on everything – is which way is Ukraine facing.
– towards Russia
or towards the West? There are no real ideological parties like we’re used to
in the West; everything is based more on economic interests and
language/identity. But in poll after poll, language identity comes low – usually
10th or 11th – on the list of what's important for
people’s worries, after inflation, unemployment, cost of living, etc., when
they go into the voting booth.
What's clear is that Ukraine could probably go on like
this for a lot more time. There’s inertia, there’s an amazing capacity to bear
suffering, with very slow progress.
But there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
The joke is that electricity got so expensive that they
decided to turn off the light at the end of the tunnel!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Israel has highest poverty rate in the developed world, OECD report shows
Israel is the most impoverished of the 34 member countries, with a poverty rate of
20.9%, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development.
Haaretz, May 13th 2013
By Lior Dattel and Nadan Feldman |
11:25 15.05.13 | 40
Israel is the most impoverished of the 34 economically developed countries,
with a poverty
rate of 20.9%, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development on Wednesday.
Israel's poor population has grown more than in any other OECD nation, making it the country
with the highest rate of poverty, having exceeding Mexico, whose poverty rate stands at 20.4%.
Israel also continues to be one of the countries with the largest income inequalities, ranking fifth,
with the U.S., Mexico, Chile and Turkey having larger income gaps. Between 2007 and 2011,
Israel experienced almost no changes in its social gaps – which saw a tiny decline of 0.1%. Between 2007
and 2010, poverty among children and young people in Israel grew at the fourth largest rate from among
the OECD countries – although among senior citizens, it declined.
As opposed to the trend in most countries, where salaries among both the richest and poorest
has decreased, Israel has seen a slight increase in both. In Spain and Greece, which are suffering
from recession, poverty rates are lower, at 15.4% and 14.3% respectively. The OECD report also
points to an increase in inequality throughout the world, due to the global economic crisis. In
almost all OECD countries incomes are in decline, while inequality is on the rise.
The relative income poverty rate in Israel – defined by the OECD as the share of people having
less income than half the national median income – is larger than in countries such as Turkey,
Mexico, Chile, Spain and Poland. As of 2010 it was over 20 percent. According to the OECD
report, it has rocketed from 14 percent in 1995 to nearly 21 percent in 2013.
There has also been a significant increase in poverty rates in Turkey, Japan, Australia, New
Zealand, Sweden and Germany, albeit at lower rates. In Sweden, the poverty rate shot up from
four percent in 1995 to almost 10 percent in 2010. Italy is the only country that has shown a
significant decline in the poverty rate – from 15 percent in 1995 to 12.5 percent in 2010. The
poverty rate in the United States remained almost unchanged, at 17 percent.
The director of the National Insurance Institute, Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, recently said that
planned cuts in child benefits are expected to cause an increase in the number poor of families,
children in particular.
"The planned cuts in child allowance will increase the number of families living below the poverty
line. An additional 30-40,000 children will be under the poverty line, which currently stands at
NIS4,000 per month for a couple," he said.
The global financial crisis has affected everyone badly, but not equally. The bottom deciles
have suffered a sharper decrease in income than those with a high income. OECD data shows
that between 2007 and 2010, most countries saw a decline in the income of the bottom deciles.
In nearly every case, this decline was sharper than that in the top deciles.
Israel, which has one of the highest levels of inequality among the OECD countries, has actually
seen a small increase in income for opposite ends of the spectrum. The income of the top decile
has risen by around one percent – slightly more than the income of the bottom decile. However,
according to a Bank of Israel report, the lowest decile's share of income distribution is now lower
than it was at the end of the 1990s.
In the U.S., the poor have been harder hit than the rich. The lowest decile has seen an income
decrease of around four percent in comparison with less than one percent among the top decile.
In France under former President Nicolas Sarkozy, the rich enjoyed a two percent rise in income,
while the poor suffered a decrease of around one percent. In Poland both the top and bottom
deciles enjoyed almost identical increases in income, of around three-four percent.
The report warned that as long as the world financial crisis and the jobs crisis persists, developed
countries face a growing risk of rise in inequality.
The OECD findings are similar to figures released last month by the Bank of Israel in its annual
report, according to which Israel's 2011 social gaps were among the highest in the world.
rate of 20.9%, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development on Wednesday.
Israel's poor population has grown more than in any other OECD nation, making it the country
with the highest rate of poverty, having exceeding Mexico, whose poverty rate stands at 20.4%.
Israel also continues to be one of the countries with the largest income inequalities, ranking fifth,
with the U.S., Mexico, Chile and Turkey having larger income gaps. Between 2007 and 2011,
Israel experienced almost no changes in its social gaps – which saw a tiny decline of 0.1%. Between 2007
and 2010, poverty among children and young people in Israel grew at the fourth largest rate from among
the OECD countries – although among senior citizens, it declined.
As opposed to the trend in most countries, where salaries among both the richest and poorest
has decreased, Israel has seen a slight increase in both. In Spain and Greece, which are suffering
from recession, poverty rates are lower, at 15.4% and 14.3% respectively. The OECD report also
points to an increase in inequality throughout the world, due to the global economic crisis. In
almost all OECD countries incomes are in decline, while inequality is on the rise.
The relative income poverty rate in Israel – defined by the OECD as the share of people having
less income than half the national median income – is larger than in countries such as Turkey,
Mexico, Chile, Spain and Poland. As of 2010 it was over 20 percent. According to the OECD
report, it has rocketed from 14 percent in 1995 to nearly 21 percent in 2013.
There has also been a significant increase in poverty rates in Turkey, Japan, Australia, New
Zealand, Sweden and Germany, albeit at lower rates. In Sweden, the poverty rate shot up from
four percent in 1995 to almost 10 percent in 2010. Italy is the only country that has shown a
significant decline in the poverty rate – from 15 percent in 1995 to 12.5 percent in 2010. The
poverty rate in the United States remained almost unchanged, at 17 percent.
The director of the National Insurance Institute, Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, recently said that
planned cuts in child benefits are expected to cause an increase in the number poor of families,
children in particular.
"The planned cuts in child allowance will increase the number of families living below the poverty
line. An additional 30-40,000 children will be under the poverty line, which currently stands at
NIS4,000 per month for a couple," he said.
The global financial crisis has affected everyone badly, but not equally. The bottom deciles
have suffered a sharper decrease in income than those with a high income. OECD data shows
that between 2007 and 2010, most countries saw a decline in the income of the bottom deciles.
In nearly every case, this decline was sharper than that in the top deciles.
Israel, which has one of the highest levels of inequality among the OECD countries, has actually
seen a small increase in income for opposite ends of the spectrum. The income of the top decile
has risen by around one percent – slightly more than the income of the bottom decile. However,
according to a Bank of Israel report, the lowest decile's share of income distribution is now lower
than it was at the end of the 1990s.
In the U.S., the poor have been harder hit than the rich. The lowest decile has seen an income
decrease of around four percent in comparison with less than one percent among the top decile.
In France under former President Nicolas Sarkozy, the rich enjoyed a two percent rise in income,
while the poor suffered a decrease of around one percent. In Poland both the top and bottom
deciles enjoyed almost identical increases in income, of around three-four percent.
The report warned that as long as the world financial crisis and the jobs crisis persists, developed
countries face a growing risk of rise in inequality.
The OECD findings are similar to figures released last month by the Bank of Israel in its annual
report, according to which Israel's 2011 social gaps were among the highest in the world.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Passing of Stanley Abramovitch z”l
JDC Global
Staff
From: Penny
Blumenstein
Alan H.
Gill
Re: The Passing of Stanley
Abramovitch
z”l
Date: May 13,
2013
It is with a profound sense
of sadness and loss that we inform you that Stanley Abramovitch z”l has passed
away in Israel . He was 93 years old and was buried today in
Israel – the 4th of Sivan
5773.
As
Anyone who reads
That meant moving to
After four years in
His job was in education; his goal was to help rebuild the decimated human infrastructure of
He was also involved for
many years in Jewish education in North Africa (Morocco and Tunisia ) where he developed close
relationships with Jewish educators as he worked to improve the Jewish schools.
When he made aliya in 1972, it was to
continue with another aspect of JDC’s post-Holocaust reconstruction—helping to
recreate in Israel the great
centers of Jewish learning, yeshivot, that Hitler had
destroyed in Europe .
By 1988,
And then the
How sad to have lost one of JDC’s righteous giants. Our memories of him will be treasured always – a good, kind, smart, gentle man who filled his long life with countless good deeds on behalf of the Jewish people. He was a Jew blessed with the zest for life and a deep religious faith in God. He was the consummate raconteur, and how we have treasured the priceless stories he told, with both passion and humor, of the people and places he encountered during his years of JDC service, compiled into his book, so appropriately called: Lighting Up the Soul.
We extend our
heartfelt condolences to his beloved wife, Naomi, to his son and daughter and
grandchildren. Condolences may be sent
to Naomi and the family at:
P.O.Box
10685 ,
Ramat
Gan ,
52006,
Israel
May the
Abramovitch family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem .
Monday, May 13, 2013
Third-World Economics and First-World Armies
Dan Ben-David, of JDC’s Taub
Center , spoke last week in New York at the JDC
Board meetings. As usual, his comments were incisive and memorable. In
particular, I found his remarks about the 2011 demonstrations to be right on
the mark.
In the 2011 demonstrations, 5% of the population came out
one Saturday night to demonstrate. This wasn’t connected to the peace process,
to our neighbors or to the poor.
This was by and about the middle-class, who
were worried about the future of their State.
That’s equivalent to 16.5 million
Americans demonstrating about their fears and hopes.
They were demonstrating about the price of apartments,
cottage cheese, kindergartens.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
And the iceberg itself is far more dangerous. And only now
are we starting to discover just how big this iceberg actually is.
And we’re sailing right towards it.
Over the last forty years, Israel ’s standard of living has
declined compared to all Western countries. We were one of the most egalitarian
countries in the world, now we’re pretty much the most unequal.
What’s most interesting is how the massive political
upheaval this year has been shaped by what happened two years ago. Kadima has
been pretty much wiped out, after being the largest party in the last Knesset.
Yesh Atid has come from zero to being the second largest party and perhaps the
most significant political force.
And in the elections we ignored Syria , the
Palestinians, our entire neighborhood. We focused on internal issues and
demographics.
The reason for that is that there’s increasingly a realization
that national security also means whether or not our children will choose
to stay in Israel .
Demography also means how many people have the will
and the capability/skills to work and earn a living in a modern economy.
The achievements of 50% of Israel ’s children are below those
of Third-World countries.
And as they age into the adult population and (because of
higher birth-rates) become the majority, were going to discover that Third-World economics can't
sustain a First-World state, or a First-World army.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Health challenges in the FSU
There was a fascinating discussion at the JDC Board meetings
the other day about the health of the elderly.
The general feeling, expressed by one of my colleagues, is
that we should be proud of what we've done, and concerned that we’re not doing
enough.
There are huge challenges. The first seems to
be the massive amount of change that is coming up on the horizon. The needs are
going to change as the elderly age through the system, meaning that their needs
are going to get more expensive. This is already well-know and we can see the
implications already in our planning and infrastructure: a 65 year-old’s
package of services is heavily tilted in favor of food. A 75-year old’s package
of services is increasingly medicine-heavy (and medicine is much more expensive
than food). An 85-year old is more reliant on home care (which is more
expensive than medicine, by far).
And so on.
Second is the willingness of governments to
let NGOs come in and do the work. If we want to help the elderly live the kind
of lives we live, and expect to have in the US , we’re going to have to provide
unimaginable levels of support, and that will require massive cooperation with
governments.
And third is the issue of loneliness. So many
of our clients are homebound and lonely. We not only have to provide them with
food, medicine, and homecare.
We have to give them hope and dignity and a sense
of belonging.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Celebrating grandpa's bar mitzvah
(There was a wonderful moment last week, escorting an inspiring group on a JDC Strategic Partnership mission, visiting the Kotel and learning about JDC-Israel's work with the elderly and Shoah survivors, to read this article ...)
Celebrating grandpa's bar mitzvah
Forty Holocaust survivors, who never got to celebrate their coming of age properly, hold moving ceremony with families at Western Wall plaza. 'After 70 years, I dedicate this day to my mother and father who fought for me,' one of them says
It has already become a tradition: Dozens of Holocaust survivors, who were robbed of their childhood and never got to mark their coming of age properly, finally fulfill their dream at the Western Wall in a late bar mitzvah celebration.
Some 40 Holocaust survivors, who turned 13 during World War II, arrived at the Western Wall plaza on Monday for a tefillin-laying ceremony, reading from the Torah and a festive meal.
The event included everything a bar mitzvah should have, including candy thrown by excited children at their grandparents. The ceremony was held in the presence of the Western Wall rabbi, IDF soldiers, family members and friends.
Kaddish for parents
Yehoshua Ben-Zion, who was born in Romania, was only a child when he was transferred to the Transnistria Ghetto. Today he has four daughters and eight grandchildren, and is enjoying his first great-grandson."The transition was very hard, and included a long walk by foot between different cities," he says, recalling how his aunt advised his mother to leave him at the side of the road, for fear that he would not survive the difficult road conditions. "I will not leave Tzika'le!" his mother responded. "And thanks to her I am sitting here today," he says.
'After more than 60 years in Israel, I am still very excited to be here today' (photo courtesy of JDC-Israel)
"When we arrived at the ghetto, mother carried an old cupboard which she lay down on the floor, and we slept in it in order to protect ourselves from the terrible winter chill. We suffered from diseases, and we constantly tried to keep in touch with father, who was taken to work at a factory making military shoes for the Nazis."
At the end of the war the family reunited, and after the State's establishment they moved to Israel and settled in the city of Netanya., north of Tel Aviv.
"I thank God that after 2,000 years I got to be part of the generation which survived the Holocaust and founded the State," he says. "After more than 60 years in Israel, I am still very excited to be here today."
He describes the bar mitzvah as a "real feeling of elation," saying that "after the ceremony I went to a quiet corner at the Western Wall on my own to say Kaddish for my mother and father. They fought for me, and after 70 years I dedicate this day to them."
Reading from Torah, singing 'Hatikva'
The project, initiated by the Western Wall administration and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC-Israel) in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Services, includes four groups of Holocaust survivors who will get to experience a full bar mitzvah for the first time at the Western Wall.Monday's group toured the "Generations Center" at the site and met with IDF officers and soldiers, who escorted them as they lay tefillin and during the following celebration.
The highlight of the event was when the Holocaust survivors were called up to read from the Torah, as the young audience threw candy at them. The celebration was concluded with a singing of Israel's national anthem, "Hatikva" (the hope).
JDC-Israel Director Arnon Mantver noted that "the relationship between the Joint Distribution Committee and Holocaust survivors began already during World War II. It's only symbolic that we escort them in this moving closure."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4374988,00.html
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
JDC Board meeting – Welfare in the FSU (former Soviet Union)
I participated in the JDC Board meetings this week (ok, I sat
in the back … but I took notes) and wanted to write down some of the information on our work with elderly Nazi victims and non-Nazi victims in the FSU.
As of the end of 2012, we are giving food, medicine and home
care, on a daily basis, to 71,303 Nazi victims and 78,902 non-Nazi victims.
As the Nazi victims age and pass, we don’t get the funding for
them transferred to non-Nazi
victims. The generous support is per victim, and specifically designated for
each victim’s needs.
But we get some $1000 a year for each Nazi victim, compared to
approximately $250 for each non-Nazi victim (funded by our Jewish federations
and donors). And since the average age of Nazi victims is 78 and non-Nazi
clients is 69, as we have more and more clients age through the system, the
needs will increase (the older you get, the more expensive your needs – home care
is more expensive than medicine, medicine is more expensive than food).
And
over the next few years, by definition all those entering the caseload will be
non-Nazi victims, because they were born after the War.
The average pension for an elderly Jew in the FSU is $100.
That’s
about 10-15% below the poverty level.
So, by the second, or third week in the
month, you have to start choosing between food and medicine. Pensions in the
FSU won't cover basic needs, which is one of the main reasons why life
expectancy is too short.
In other words … it may get better in twenty years, or
thirty years time, when the economies strengthen.
But in the interim, it’s
going to get much much worse.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Blue Dawn – Haredi training in the Israeli Air Force
A stunning and memorable visit during our Farash Foundation
/ JDC Strategic Partnership Mission was a site visit to an Israel Air Force
Base to see the Blue Dawn program.
Blue Dawn integrates Ultra-Orthodox (“Haredi”) men into the
army, respectfully, and mindful of both their needs and the army’s needs. It
prepares these young men for military service, and equips them with a useful
profession for civilian life afterwards. By doing this, Blue Dawn lifts entire
sectors out of poverty, and turns them from welfare recipients to taxpayers.
It’s a growing issue in Israeli society.
In 1948 Prime Minister
Ben-Gurion gave “Torah study” exemptions to a few hundred scholars, since Torah
study had been decimated after the Shoah (Holocaust). But by 1992, some 5% of Jewish
men claimed an exemption. By 2012 it was 12.4% The concept of "equalizing the burden" was one of the key issues in the elections this January.
Captain Liran, the head of the program, explained that most
of the Haredi enlisted soldiers are married (65%) with children (50%). That actually makes them a good investment
from the army’s perspective, since they tend to be more mature than your
average 18-year old recruit. The average age of a Blue Dawn Haredi soldier is 24.
45% have no previous technological background. But we teach
them to be technicians, electricians, mechanics. Important military roles that
are directly transferable to the civilian sector and are in great demand.
Here’s what’s amazing, The Government aims for 63%
employment placement in general for the Haredi men … after graduating Blue Dawn, 92% of the
released Haredi soldiers find good civilian jobs!
Blue Dawn is paving the way for Haredi integration into the
army and Israeli society. And it will change Israel , the army, and Haredi
society all for the better.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Getting a job
One of the most fascinating briefings our Farash Foundation
Strategic Partnerships Mission enjoyed was by my colleague, Reeva Ninio,
Director of Strategic Planning for JDC-Israel’s TEVET Initiative. TEVET is the
JDC department working with the Israeli Government and our local partners on
all issues of employment and poverty.
Reeva’s insights are fascinating. TEVET works with four
major population groups with unique employment challenges: the Haredim
(Orthodox), Arabs, Ethiopian-Israelis, and youth.
With our work, the successes have been significant. In 2008,
38% of Haredi men worked. Just four years later that has jumped to 46%.
We have
nine employment centers for Haredim in Israel . They’ll all eventually be
transferred to the Government.
But why is employment so critical?
Because the average
Haredi family has seven kids. And when two parents are both working, only 5% of
these families are living under the poverty level.
But when both parents are unemployed, 60% of these families
are under the poverty level.
Employment and poverty go hand in hand. The more tax-takers
we can convert into tax-payers, the better we all are.
Labels:
Haredim,
Israel,
Missions,
Strategic Partnerships,
Tevet
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Farash Foundation JDC Strategic Partnership Mission to Israel April-May 2013
Below: Independence Hall, Tel Aviv
Above: Arab Druze hospitality in Usifiyah
Left: overlooking Jerusalem
Below: explaining Jerusalem's history
Above: at the Supreme Court, Jerusalem
Left: embarking on a culinary tour of Machane Yehuda
Below left: cheese tasting
Above and left and below: Better Together kindergarten, Kiryat Gat
Left: preparing a dedication sign for Better Together Kiryat Gat
Below: with the mayor of Kiryat Gat, Aviram Dahari, ribbon cutting
Above: Kiryat Gat Mayor Dahari fixes the mezuza to the new Better Together Center
Right: networks and webs of connections in Better Together BeerSheva
Above: JDC-Ashalim Nutrition program for Ethiopian-Israeli mothers in Beersheva, Yud-Aleph neighborhood
Right: Israel Air Force/JDC "Blue Dawn" program
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