Returning To Life Through Supportive Rehabilitation and Work
Every day, we take things for granted. Simple things. Getting up in the morning on time, eating at fixed times, personal hygiene, a job, perseverance, social relationships, family, giving warmth and love to children, responsibility, hobbies. People who are emotionally or mentally disturbed find these simple things totally impossible.
Rehabilitants organize merchandise, are responsible for departments, supervise warehouses and work as cashiers in supermarkets.
Bayit Cham in B’nai Braq, Israel is about rehabilitation of people with emotional and/or mental illness. Their purpose is to break the cycle of home - hospital – home – hospital that is so common as it does not allow for rehabilitation in-between. Rehabilitation brings a person back to a healthy way of life.
Rehabilitants work in catering halls and set up for parties and events.
Bayit Cham accomplishes this by integrating the rehabilitants in a way that has them work among a healthy society with Bayit Cham right beside them as steady support. They are paid by Bayit Cham and that paycheck has more than actual financial value. It is a source from where these people draw encouragement and self-appreciation. To feel self-worth – to feel like everybody else.
The rehabilitants must be referred by the Ministry of Health to Bayit Cham for Bayit Cham to receive any support from the Ministry. The payments decrease as time goes on. Although some of the rehabilitants have had trades and professions, the employers are mostly grocery stores and catering halls and pay a special rate to Bayit Cham. This rate is below minimum wage, but Bayit Cham increases the amount paid to the rehabilitants, bringing it up to minimum wage. Additionally, Bayit Cham absorbs the very high withholding and social welfare taxes imposed by the government. There are eight employees or job coaches who watch after the rehabilitants and today, there are over 240 people working because of Bayit Cham. Many of them who would otherwise still be institutionalized or wallowing at home in a tense situation, have “graduated” and are on their own.
Our Involvement
Rehabilitation is a process that stretches over years. The soul is very fragile and returning to life is difficult. Hands On Tzedakah applauds the work of Shmuel Munk and Yoram Mordechai, the founders of Bayit Cham. They invest in people, both observant and secular, people who often are shunned by society as well as their own families and they give them a chance to succeed.
Transportation to and from the workplace is an expensive obstacle. Ashdod is a port city south of Tel Aviv. Fourteen immigrants from Ethiopia, Morocco and Russia are employed there and need transportation to get to work. Hands On Tzedakah is paying for bus passes for this group. The social workers and psychiatrists have told us that this simple thing, the act of just getting to work, is an impossibility for those struggling with mental illness. Beyond making it as easy as possible for them to get to work, their lack of financial resources do not allow for them to pay the transportation costs. Enabling people with emotional or mental illness to regain self-worth through rehabilitation and work is an investment Hands On Tzedakah is proud to make. But there remain people all across Israel who want to and need to be part of Bayit Cham, but there are no extra funds for transportation. There are many, many opportunities to help. $9,386 annually will provide bus transportation for another 14 individuals.
Bayit Cham is a HOT beneficiary that helped alleviate the crisis in Israel during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. Their counselors are job coaches for people rehabilitating from emotional and/or mental illness. Due to the war, the employers from the North could not pay Bayit Cham in for wages that amounted to $6,000. Hands On Tzedakah sent Bayit Cham a check for $6,000.
We have written before that Bayit Cham hoped to expand their rehabilitative work by opening a Counseling Center in Jerusalem but was in need of significant capital contributions to accomplish this. Short the last $21,500 - Hands On Tzedakah stepped up to enable Bayit Cham to set the date to open the Center. A new donor to HOT contributed $10,000 and the remaining $11,500 came out of general funds. For many, this will be a place where small problems are addressed before they get out of control and for others, it means drawing up and beginning a long-term treatment plan. We look forward to keeping you apprised of their progress.
Contact Information:
Bayit-Cham, Yoram Mordechai and Shmuel Munk, 13 Rabbi Ishmael St., B’nai Braq 51553, 972-50-412-8361; 972-05-414-1242; english@bayit-cham.com, www.bayit-cham.com
