How Giving are these Amutot?

Do you receive requests in the mail from Charitable organizations asking for assistance. Do you get phone calls from various charities asking for assistance?

We decided to do a little test and the result is quite alarmning. We tried calling a few to ask how someone receives assistance. We tried one organization that helps Orphans and Widows. Amazingly they can not answer as to what the process is for one to receive help. We tried asking two that called us stating they help Avreichim (those who learn in Kollel) with a monthly assistance so that they can learn Torah in Kollel. "Sounds good, we said, how does an Avreich receive help?" Amazingly they could not answer.

We have tried this test with quite a few organizations and decided this is our new method to check out if an organization is real before we decide to donate.

Try it yourself. Next time you receive a flier or envelope from a charitable organiztion in Israel requesting your Maaser money, find out how much they really help others. It is easy to write a tear jerker story, but if an Orphan or Oleh or Avreich or other needy Jew turns to them for help, do they really assist? Do they know  the process?

We manage a few Mitzvah Projects and hence from personal experience know very well what the process is. If someone asks who we help, we have certain criteria, a screening interview and process to assist. If a Charitable organization can not answer for you what the process is to receive, then the question is do they really help or are they just taking advantage of their Amuta for their own gain.

Try it yourself. Next time you receive an appeal for help, before you send in a check or give your credit card details, call and ask how to receive help. If you are given the run around or put on hold or disconnected / hung up on, will your donation really go where you want it to?

Next time you are called by one of these charities, ask them the method to receive help. Ask them if they have a website and take a look. Is the method to receive help clear? Is there even an option given or are there only options to give to them but that they dont need to give to others?

There are organizations that are real. Make sure your donation goes where you intend it to. Do this simple test and then donate generously to those who really do help. For the others, if they can not explain to you how one in need applies for help, then I question if they actually help at all.

Working in Israel

If you are wanting to work in Israel and the form of work will be for someone else, make sure you obtain a written contract.

Many employers in Israel refuse to give a written contract. This is problematic as there is then no guarantee of conditions agreed upon. Worst case scenario you might just not get paid or end up waiting months and months for your salary.

More and more employers are trying to convince you to work "independently" as an אצמעי. This means you might be lucky to get NIS 10 extra per hour. It also means you forgo their paying Bituach Leumi. You lose sick leave and sick rights. You lose maternity leave and more.

The normal concept of working independently is not the way they work here. The concept here in Israel means they pay you a fraction more, you work by their rules and lose certain necessary rights. In most countries working independently is not this at all. It means you set the price and they pay your as you rightly deserve. You set the rules for your work as you are independent. Not so in Israel.

A work contract should include hours of work, expectations of you during working hours. If you are a professional and have to write reports, make sure your contract includes that these reports are written during your work time and also something about confidentiality. Some places of work want therapists to take written work home to complete. This of course is unpaid time, however it also poses a confidentiality problem.

Your wok contract should also include licensing requirements. Continuing education needs and coverage.

Meetings, how often and which of them you have to attend must be included in the contract.

If there is a dress code, this should be in your work contract.

A clause about what happens in the event of a work injury must be in your work contract.

A clause about resignation, how much notice do you need to give, must it be in writing or verbal? All this must be in your work contract.

Your pay / salary. How much is it per hour and by when will you be paid. This must be in your work contract.

Can you think of other information that should be in a work contract. If so, write a comment here and let us know. Don't settle for sub-standard working conditions. If we all insist on a work contract employers will have to provide them.

Being Paid On Time

When moving to a new country, a natural part of getting settled is to find work, preferably in your chosen field. For those wanting to work in the Health related fields, especially, the Para-medical / Allied Health Professions (ie Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy) finding work that pays on time is quite a challenge.

Through my own path in this area, I can share a few experiences, to help to make new Olim aware of what they are up against. When networking to find work within the Kupot Cholim, one doctor warned "try not to work there if you can as the pay is problematic". He would not ellaborate. A nurse explained that when she begain working in a certain Kupat Cholim, she waited a few months to start being paid. She did not have huge savings to rely upon and was forced to borrow from friends and neighbours just to pay basics like food.

One school I worked in delayed verrifying my years of experience purely to be able to pay a lower salary. Requesting that they call Misrad HaChinuch to find out that the years of experience I said I had are legitimate and acknowledged in a file with Misrad haChinuch met with much resistance. A few months of trial and trepidation and they did finally agree to my years of experience but then hit me with having to wait 2 months to be paid. They were not happy that I turned to one of the many organizations that helps Olim for assistance. The organization's response was that legally, every worker should be paid monthly and they wrote a letter in Hebrew on my behalf, requesting my rights of receiving my salary. To this I was shown the door. Evidentally there are newly qualified Israeli therapists who are willing to wait for their salary and will turn to parents, banks, gemachim for assistance while waiting for their salary.

Another facility, when requesting monthly pay, responded, "you will wait like everyone else till the 10th of the next month or the 15th or whenever"

What is the truth about being paid? Hallachah states that we have to pay our workers on time and are not permitted to wait even for the sun to set without paying our workers, especially when the worker depends on their salary for basic living expenses. The rabbis of Rabbi Shmuel Salant and Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenveld's time took this seriously. There are stories of how rabbis would return to a families home 2, 3, 4 even 6 times to make sure they received their salary or Kollel stipend on the very day it was supposed to be paid.

The secular law of Israel states that companies have a window period until the 9th of the following month to pay a salary. Since taking a business course here in Israel, I am told this is can be extended to the 10th of the month. However, from what I understood, it is only a window for those special circumstances in which paying at the end of the month is difficult. Most facilities though, take advantage and will ONLY pay on the 10th of the month or later. The "or later" part is actually against both Torah law and secular law and you have a right to request that your salary be paid on time.

When asking advice from certain rabbis regarding accepting work, those I approached advised not to work for an amuta as they have a reputation of not paying on time.

When asking a lawyers advice, his first responce was to see the contract and have him look it over to verify whether the contract proposed is in agreement with the law of the country. I was also advised to speak to other therapists who work or have worked in the same facility to find out what conditions are like, especially paying on time and according to the amount initially agreed upon. Some lawyers advise only working in a job that provides an acceptable contract up front. Others say, start working, you can always fall back on taking them to small claims court if (or when) they don't pay.

It is obviously advisable for matters to be settled via a Din Torah first, and only if this is not possible to turn to secular courts, however, here too there is conflict of opinion.

If you depend on your salary each month, do enquire when going for an interview as to when they will pay and what the method of payment will be. Make sure too, to get all "promises" in writing. Many employers promise a nicer salary per hour or more numbers of clients or, or, or, until you begin working and will then lower the rate.

Many will avoid letting you know what the salary will be until you begin working. You are entitled to know what your salary will be, this informaiton can assist you to decide whether the job will be suitable to you in terms of your earning what is necessary to pay your basic expenses.

Do your homework, and get everything in writing. The more informed you are, the more effectively you can plan your life and budget correctly.

Hatzlachah

Working In Israel

The topic of work is actually part of my profession as an Occupational Therapist. In amongst working to set up a Pre-vocational Rehabilitation Program at a leading Teaching Hospital, I have completed a Junior Management course and two courses for Small Business Basics. Yet, nothing I learned prepared me for life in Israel.

I did everything correctly. The Pilot Trip, planning, preparing, knowing how to convert my degree to be recognized in Israel, learning Hebrew, residency .... I had it all worked out, then I came to Israel and everything changed.

I never expected to work in a paid job and not get paid. I never expected to be elligible for Sal Klita (the absorption basket - a regular stipend to assist an Olah while doing their ulpan) and not receive it, or to receive NIS 64 for a month and have a surprised counselor wonder why that is not enough to cover a months expenses.

I just got off the telephone from a colleague in the health profession who affirmed it is normal to have to wait a few months to be paid ones salary if you work for any of the health companies. My question was, "how is anyone to live while waiting for their salary?"

Her answer was: "I don't know!" Many are forced to take out loans and loans and loans. I am told this is Israel.

No, that attitude is not Israel, it is very very foreign to the life of a Jew. The Torah provides us with laws of business including paying ones workers on time. Once again, I am reminded that the name Israel is the same name given to Yaakov Avinu (our Father) after he successfully won a battle with the angel of Eisav. Yaakov is a man of truth and honesty means paying ones workers what is required on time.

I am told it takes time to process ones information in order to receive a salary. If it is so difficult, why is it that other countries manage? Why is it that when I worked as a locum therapist in UK, one of hundreds of therapists around the UK who worked as such, I got paid every week, on time, in full and a good pay. Why is it when I worked in USA as a contract therapist, again one of many who worked for the company who headhunted me, once again I was paid in full from the first month. No problems, directly into my bank account.

The answer is because it IS possible. It takes a person fulfilling the correct process of entering the information into a computer, pressing the enter key and there is a file with all the data.

Why do I put this up? Not to scare you. Not to say give up your profession and just clean houses or pack shelves as I was told. No, come, with your morals and values and western standards and help to build Israel into the country it is supposed to be. A country of truth. A country of morals and values and caring. A country where we can all go to sleep with peace of mind that everyone was paid on time.

How do we do that? I dont have the answer, but I do know one thing, there is power in unity and numbers, so why not start by joining our Tehillim group. We have a campaign on the go at the moment to have 1000 Jewish women reciting Tehillim every Shabbat during daylight hours. Join our group. Let the power of the Tehillim and the group help to open doors.

If you have any ideas, we would love to hear them. Israel IS where Jews belong. Israel can have top quality health care in a manner that every health professional is paid on time a decent living wage. It is up to us to make that happen. If we have nothing else to do and no ideas, then our next option is really our first option, daven. Lots of it. And resolve to take jobs that do pay correctly and, whenever you are in a position to employ a Jew, make sure to pay them on time.

The words of a song come to mind: "Make this world a better place, its yours and its mine, so now is the time...."