Please take two minutes of your time to learn about a real person my family has come to know: a special, warm, kind, religious Jewish woman—the mainstay of her ill and disabled family—desperately struggling to survive against all odds… Facing a slowly progressing disease herself, she was recently cruelly fired from her job. This is her story. It is a story that needs to be spread far and wide, as fast as possible.

Taibe, 45 years old, is a Russian immigrant living in Israel for 27 years… She and her family, who still manage to survive in the Giv'at Shaul neighborhood, are in dire need. For the last seven years until quite recently, Taibe was an incredible cashier in a supermarket chain called "Zol La-Mehadrin" (formally "Birkat Rachel"), owned by Super Sol, catering to the Orthodox Jewish public. We came to know Taibe as the sweetest, kindest, and most conscientious cashier at the supermarket that was just across from our residence at the time.

Four years ago, with holiday season of the month of Tishrei approaching, Taibe's manager told the branch employees: "we will be releasing a few of the cashiers so you can have more time for holiday preparations at home." At that point, she spoke up gently (aggression is completely alien to her), "But some of us badly need the income [from the hours about to be cut]..." The next day, the manager called her to his office in private, so that no one would hear: "You claim I'm hurting people's income? I'm going to get rid of you." From then on, Taibe was singled out among the other workers; even her slightest delay in coming to work (five minutes late) was treated with the greatest severity.

Now in Israel, with a couple new exceptions, customers generally bag their own groceries at the supermarket. The problem with that is, of course, with very young, old, sick and disabled people, who cannot really do their own bagging. As I mentioned earlier, I clearly remember Taibe as the most conscientious cashier in that regard. And naturally, she would complain that there needs to be more help in that regard, to help customers to bag groceries. So you can imagine the audacity of her being told by the management that her service is too slow because she helps people too much!

Recently a new manager was hired. Clearly, he must have reviewed her employee file put together by the former manager… One day two months ago, out of the blue, he asks Taibe to come to his office, where--together with union representatives--he tells her the following: "You are causing customers to flee this branch because your service is too slow. You are causing the company to lose money. You are fired."

Taibe's termination coincided with the worsening of her infection of the sciatic nerve and intense internal pains of the spine, so she can only lift light objects. Doctors are afraid that her lower back problems are now affecting that leg. Now she has major swelling of both legs. She has intense pain in her knees and shoulders. Her doctor recommends a spine operation to relieve pressure of the vertebrae on the nerve, but they can in no way guarantee success, and it could make things worse…

What is so difficult is that Taibe has been the mainstay of this household... Even with her steady small paycheck from Birkat Rachel, she needed to take a loan just to buy orthopedic beds and a small refrigerator to replace their regular-sized fridge than fell apart.

Taibe's mother, Rosa, cannot walk at all because of circulatory problems. She must remain mainly in a prone position, since the blood in her legs doesn't circulate back to the heart. Her skin is so fragile, that even a small cut opens up into a festering wound that doesn't heal. She is 70 years old (the mother). No one knows what caused the infection--probably overwork. The mother had an operation due to a bile disorder (in which they removed a small cache of stones from it), and she still suffers from related side effects. The mother and brother suffer from high blood pressure.

This is her brother Mikhael's story: Mikhael was somehow disabled (no one knows just how) in the Russian army and became very sick. Fluid material was leaking from his spine. He was released from military service, and in 1979, the family immigrated to Israel. Three years ago, he was the victim of a hit and run accident in which his entire leg was smashed, and it is currently attached to him by artificial attachments.

Other than a few nice people here and there, they have no family, community, or friends to help them. In 1991, the father, who stayed behind in Russia, was murdered in cold blood, stabbed dozens of times by a viciously anti-Semitic neighbor. The neighbor admitted in court that he was looking to kill 2 Jews that day. The court simply committed the murderer to a mental institution. Until now the family survived on Taibe's modest paycheck alone…

Taibe was given two months during which the store would continue to give her a "salary" until she "finds work" in that timeframe… (Otherwise, tough luck...) The management knew of Taibe's family situation… How can such a sick person be expected to find work so soon? During the last two months, she was only paid according to the base work schedule of 6 hours a week, and would therefore not technically be able to file for unemployment! The two months are now over. And she is likely to not be able to return to work ever again, due to her deteriorating physical condition.

THIS FAMILY CAN LITERALLY DIE OF POVERTY UNLESS THEY RECEIVE IMMEDIATE HELP!!!
--Please, don't allow their electricity woon't be cut off…
--With your help, their telephone line wonn't be cut off…
--They will at least remain in their rentaal apartment with a roof over their heads…
--And they'll at least have food to eat…

Please pass this message on to whomever you can…

If you can help, please contact Michael:

phone: 02-992-3345 (from the States: 011-972-2-992-3345)