Poverty among Holocaust survivors in Israel is something of a dirty little secret. An estimated 70,000 survivors — one-third of those living in Israel — don't have enough money to make ends meet, victims' support groups say. The survivors show up in soup kitchens or government welfare agencies.
Tsipora Yaffe, 74, who escaped the 1941 Odessa massacre that killed her father, collects recyclable bottles from trash bins and off the street. "It's humiliating," said Yaffe, who does not live at the shelter. "But I close my eyes and do it."
In a country where the Holocaust still shapes social and political debate, such stories stir anger. Advocates for survivors say that in the zeal to "never forget" those who died, the needs of survivors are being forgotten.
"As a member of Knesset and a citizen, I am ashamed of how the Jewish state has treated Holocaust survivors," said lawmaker Moshe Gafni, chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, after the government recently delayed implementation of expanded medical subsidies for survivors. "The treatment is disgraceful. (It) shames me and should shame all of us."
Shimon Sabag, a former food vendor who founded the shelter, said he was stunned to discover how many Holocaust victims live in poverty.
"I always thought these people had been taken care of," said the father of two, who started the Helping Hands charity, "Yadezer" in Hebrew, with a $1 million settlement he received after breaking his back in a work-related car accident.
He began with a soup kitchen in Haifa and noticed how many people in line had tattooed numbers on their arms.
"It gave me shivers," he said. From there, his group began offering home food delivery and free medical and dental care.
In late 2008, he opened the 12-bed shelter, which quickly filled to capacity. With a donation from the German-chapter of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, construction began this year on the expansion next door. Work was suspended for lack of money.
With about half of Holocaust survivors older than 80 and dying at a rate of 35 a day, Sabag called the situation urgent. "We only have a short time to fix what we can."
Not enough
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