The city of Beit Shemesh (BS), situated between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in central Israel, has a rich archeological history going back to biblical times. The web site provides historical information about the place. Modern Beit Shemesh was established in 1950 as a development town and in 1991, after forty-one years, officially was granted the designation of a city. The original settlers were Jews from Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Romania who came during the mass influx of olim (immigrants) during the early stages of the new Jewish state.
The town, like many other development areas, suffered from economical depression, crime, and political conflicts. New influxes of immigration brought Ethiopians, "Anglos" (who came from the US Britain and other western countries), and then the "Russians" (who came from the former Soviet Union). The arrival of the Anglos together with the booming economy of the 1990s helped in the transition of Beit Shemesh from a development town into a city. The arrival of the Russians brought professionals and highly educated academicians. Because of its location, situated midway between the two major Israeli cities, Beit Shemesh in theory had enormous potential.
In the late 1990s there were plans to make it the Israeli "silicon valley". Beit Shemesh seemed to be on its way to salvation. Unfortunately this never materialized. Crime, economic problems, poverty and political clashes have not improved, but on the contrary, like many development towns, have gotten worse. During Ahud Barak's tenure as Prime Minister he slashed the social and welfare budgets and disabled many social service programs. The results for Beit Shemesh were catastrophic. We have heard of the plight of the Ethiopians but very few know the struggles of the second and third generation of Israelis born to parents who settled in Beit Shemesh in the 1950s.
Some Adat Shalom members who went to Israel on the UJA mission last February visited the Beit Shemesh public housing community of Ramat Lechi. The neighborhood was named for the famous biblical battle between Samson and the Philistines. In a city besieged by financial problems Ramat Lechi is an especially run down place. Many of the prefabricated buildings are decrepit with their stairways broken and vandalized. Graffiti covers the outer walls and kids roam the streets. Many of the residents in Ramat Lechi are single parents. Most of them are not educated and many have a criminal past. Living in poverty and ignorance can only perpetuate the existing cycle of violence and hopelessness. There are 1000 children in Beit Shemesh that are identified as "at risk" yet only 200 have been lucky enough to get help. Many of the ones that are left out live in Ramat Lechi.
Two years ago UJA gave $10,000 to a private charity organization called Lamitnadev (For the volunteer) that oversees numerous projects and activities in Beit Shemesh. One of them was to establish an after school Moadon (club) for the Ramat Lechi children to provide nutrition, tutoring, after school enrichment and a safe environment to kids who have very little at home. It serves over 50 children spanning in age from 5-16. Since the Moadon is one of the various programs Lamitnadev provides, it only got a small fraction of the UJA grant money. Last year UJA cut the grant by 50% and thus very little was provided for the Moadon.
The Moadon is located in the center of the neighborhood in a bomb shelter. A group of teenagers hang out on the street in front. A heavy rusted gray metal door leads to a dark and narrow staircase. When stepping inside a strong smell of urine engulfs the visitor. The stairs lead to a freshly painted empty room and beyond that to a smaller room where we see a few computer stations. There are several plastic chairs and a couple of plastic tables. One of the tables is setup with kibud (refreshments) for the guests (us). The empty room contains a little refrigerator. There are several children in the room. Some are using the computers. One little girl about five years old, wearing black boots way too big for her feet, is crying. Her sobs are quiet but her face is all covered with tears. Zehava the "social worker" is holding her hand and is taking her away so she won't disturb the presentation to the distinguished American visitors. I talk to Zehava afterwards and she tells me that the girl was hungry. All she had to eat was a small breakfast and it was almost 3:00 pm. Zehava was waiting for the end of the presentation and then she was going to feed to kids with the lunch leftovers of the distinguished American visitors. I was very upset hearing this. We had a very good lunch at Kibutz Tamuz (the urban little kibbutz situated in Beit Shemesh). We, who were constantly overfed during this trip, could easily skip a meal or two without even noticing it. Why were we not told? The children should have gotten our meal and not just the leftovers and before we even started with the presentation.
Between the official presentation and the side conversations I found out that the programs, which are not very well organized, are run by dedicated volunteers, most of whom are college students with little experience or instruction. Zehava is the only person there who is employed by the social services system where she has been working for over 30 years. She's experienced and loving but has no formal education or professional skills. She serves as a mother and a caretaker figure to the kids. Her name suits her as "zahav" means gold in Hebrew.
After the presentation we open our bags the kids forgot all about their hunger and with eyes wide open in an expression, which I haven't seen in ages, they look with great anticipation at the presents. Each one of them is getting one. The little girl is drying up her tears and longingly looking at a stuffed animal while the others are chatting with tremendous excitement. At this point one of the children's mothers appeared and then the teenage gang. They all had heard about our visit.
The date is Feb 2003, the 21st century. The place is an Israeli city, I can't believe I'm witnessing this. I worked with children from disadvantaged and poor families before but I haven't seen a scene like this before. I didn't expect to find hungry children in Beit Shemesh. I expected to find crime, low graduation rate, kids on the streets but I did not expect to find this level of poverty. The kind of poverty you may expect to find in a refugee camp in a third world country.
I felt that we had to do something. On the bus we passed around a collection envelope and within 15 minutes we collect over $700. We give the money to the Lamitnadev chairperson with explicit directions "this money should only be used for food". "Stock up the refrigerator", we tell him. He is overwhelmed. That's only the beginning I'm thinking. Only the beginning.
Kibutz Tamuz has experience running other community centers in Beit Shemesh. They are interested in hiring a professional educator to run the Moadon with the help of the volunteers. They want to take advantage of the programs and activities that Tamuz has already developed and to adapt them to the needs of the Ramat Lechi children. It costs $10,000 a year to hire such a person to work part time for 28-30 hours a week. Ze lo beshmayim (it is not in heaven), it is a realistic goal.