Sunrooms Available on Select Apartments
Foreign Aide
Caretakers from outside Israel forge
a special bond with their wards
Jeffrey F. Barken/JNS.org
J MORE TIME – MORE FRIENDS –
MORE CHOICES – LIFE AT FOULKEWAYS
Setting Standards of Excellence in
Retirement Living Since 1967
1120 Meetinghouse Road
Gwynedd, PA 19436
215-283-7339 Guided by Time-Honored
Quaker Values
www.foulkeways.org Foulkeways® at Gwynedd does not discriminate
on the basis of race, color, religion, national
origin, sex, handicap or sexual orientation.

BRAND NEW HOME
BRAND NEW NEIGHBORHOOD
Bring This
Ad In For an Extra
$1,000 in Free Options
or Upgrades
MAINTENANCE FREE LIVING
For the Lifestyle You Deserve
THE ARBOURS AT EAGLE POINTE
COMMUNITY FEATURES:
U 55+ Clubhouse Community with
Ã܈““ˆ˜}«œœ>˜`w̘iÃÃVi˜ÌiÀ U iÜÀˆi˜`Ã>˜`ƂV̈ۈ̈iÃ
U 10 Year Tax Abatement
U Live Mortgage Payment Free Program Available
PRICES STARTING AT $274,990
jdiaz@westrum.com r 215.698.4540
A T

E A G L E
P O I N T E
A 55+ Maintenance Free
Clubhouse Community
arboursateaglepointe.com 12
MAY 14, 2015
Directions: Rt. 1 to Southampton Rd. -
right into Community
LOVE. LIFE. HERE. ™
anet Tauro and Varda Ka-
hanovich made a deal up-
on which their lives depend.

Tauro, a foreign worker from
Mumbai, provides Kahanovich,
a 90-year-old Israeli woman liv-
ing on Kibbutz Maagan Michael,
warm and devoted care. In re-
turn, Kahanovich hopes to live
a long and happy life, well be-
yond her current age, with Tau-
ro as caregiver.

Morbid as it may be to con-
template an old woman’s pass-
ing, for Tauro and the 60,000
other foreign workers current-
ly employed as caregivers in Is-
raeli households, the stakes are
high. Work visas are patient-de-
pendent and are granted for four
years and three months, with no
extensions or opportunities for
reassignment in the event of the
elder person’s death.

Following the patient’s
death, a caretaker must return
to his or her country of origin,
terminating a source of income
that has provided countless op-
portunities for their families.

The lots of the elderly and the
caretaker are intertwined.

The situation of Tauro and
Kahanovich is a familiar one in
the Jewish state.

“Today the foreign caregiv-
er that lives with the patient —
this is the most common way to
grow old in Israel,” said Yaron
Bengera, vice president of Yad
Beyad, a Tel Aviv-based agen-
cy that recruits foreign workers.

“In the past, patients would
be taken care of by their family,
but this is changing fast. With
more capitalism and more de-
manding lives, it gets harder.”
There is a consensus among
Israelis that caring for the elder-
ly is demanding work. Many se-
nior citizens require constant
supervision and assistance. De-
spite their best efforts, working
adults — balancing careers and
young families — buckle under
the pressures of modern life in
Israel and are unable to provide
adequate care for their aging
parents without hiring help.

THE GOOD LIFE
Varda Kahanovich (left) bonds with her caretaker, Janet Tauro.

Yad Beyad helps Israeli fam-
ilies find the right caregiver to
suit their specific needs. The
agency also supports foreign
workers, providing information
about their rights and cultural
resources, and counseling them
to ensure their success as care-
takers. In the case of Tauro and
Kahanovich, a perfect match
was made.

“I was astonished to see
such a beautiful girl. She is my
friend,” said Edna Oren, re-
counting the day that Tauro
first arrived at Maagan Michael
to take care of her twin sister.

In this case, the culture
shock was minimal since Tauro
had previous experience work-
ing in another Israeli home and
she had even learned Hebrew.

“We are so lucky,” said Oren.

“There are not many people like
Janet. She has two brains, not
one, and she has four hands. She
even learned to sing ‘Hatikvah,’
” the Israeli national anthem.

Tauro said she works as a
caretaker but also works “from
my heart.” In her first job as a
caretaker, she looked up Israeli
songs on YouTube, singing and
dancing with the woman she
served. She even learned her pa-
tient’s style of cooking.

“My motive is to make her
feel like she is living in her own
house and can make her own de-
cisions,” Tauro said of Kahanov-
ich. The system is not without
faults. Many foreign workers
suffer emotional distress, hav-
ing been separated from their
children and families abroad.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



Likewise, difficult
work environments
have, on occasion, re-
sulted in abuse.

“You’re always de-
pendent on your em-
ployer for your qual-
ity of life,” said No-
ra Lender, Kibbutz
Maagan Michael’s
administration man-
ager for the elderly
welfare. Both Lend-
er and Bengera con-
firm having person-
ally witnessed cas-
es where employers
physically and men-
tally abused foreign
workers. Hidden
cameras have caught
caretakers hitting el-
derly patients and re-
vealed neglect.

“Like anything
Janet Tauro has picked up some
in life, you take a
Hebrew since coming to Israel
chance,” added Lend-
from Mumbai.

er. Israel may not be perfect- the fathers become the moth-
ly adapted to support a foreign ers,” he noted. “Sometimes
work force, but a significant ef- mothers don’t go back to their
fort has been made to inform husbands. The women feel free
workers of their rights, regulate here. We are not sure that this
payment and provide a genuine is for the better.”
welcome. By law, workers are
Patriarchal and traditionally
entitled to a base salary of 4,300 closed societies are being pried
NIS ($1,235) per month, out of open by what Bengera calls the
which employers can make de- “global competition for a work-
ductions accounting for the live- force.” Israel is providing a path
in caretaker’s room and board. of escape to some individuals
Contracts also stipulate that and a sound mechanism for so-
caretakers receive nine paid cial mobility.

holidays based on their own
Critics may call the system
country’s calendar, and 150-per- exploitative, calling the isola-
cent pay on weekends.

tion that foreign workers en-
It is not a competitive salary dure borderline inhumane.

from a Western perspective, yet
“If a first-degree relative is
it “can be life-changing for fami- working in Israel, it is almost
lies in the third world,” Bengera impossible” for his or her kin
explained. “to visit,” Bengera noted.

“If you had a country that
But workers like Tauro tell a
you could work in and then you different story. Asked how she
could buy your own house, put copes with being so far away
your kids through school, you from her two children, she said,
would take this opportunity,” “It’s not the hardest part of my
he said.

job, it’s the hardest part of my
According to Kavlaoved. life.”
org, a website and hotline pro-
Life’s circumstances led Tau-
viding an overview of foreign ro to the conclusion that seeking
workers’ experiences in Isra- work abroad was the best way
el, nearly 80 percent of foreign to provide for her children, and
caregivers in Israel are female. she is committed to the course
“We prefer to bring female she chose, no matter the hard-
caretakers with families to Is- ship.

rael because they need the in-
“Everything I earn is for my
come and are better motivated,” kids’ education. I believe in edu-
Bengera said.

cation,” Tauro said, adding that
Bengera is conscious that the her work will be complete on-
presence of this workforce is af- ly when her children can stand
fecting the culture of Israel, as up on their own and say, “Mom,
well as that of the foreign work- we’re done with the help. Now
ers’ native countries.

we want to help you, it’s our
“In the worker’s homeland, turn.”
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Evaluation • Assessment • Referral
ARE YOU
Guidance Choosing Assisted Living & Nursing Homes
BECOMING Crisis Intervention • Counseling • Medicaid
A PARENT
Moving Services & Cleanouts
Bill Paying For Elders
TO YOUR
AGE WISE
FAMILY SERVICES
PARENTS .com/
jewishexponent .com/
jewishexponent Geriatric Care Management
? 1250 Glenburnie Lane, Dresher, PA 19025
(215) 659-2111
www.agewisefamilyservices.com WE CAN HELP!
Susan Weiss-Cedillos, MA, CMC
OVER 25 YEARS!
Lifetime Income for Retirement.

And an even greater outcome for Israel,
science and education.

Learn why Ruth
chose her plan.

See a video profi le:
afhu.org/cga3 Sample AFHU Hebrew University Gift Annuity Single-Life Rates
Age 67
70 75
80 85
90 Rate
6.2% 6.5%
7.1% 8.0%
9.5% 11.3%
Rates are calculated based on a single life.

Cash contributions produce annuity payments that are substantially tax-free.

CALL OR EMAIL NOW.

THE RETURNS ARE
GENEROUS. THE CAUSE
IS PRICELESS.

For information on AFHU Hebrew University Gift Annuities,
please call AFHU Mid-Atlantic Region Executive Director,
Frandee R. Woolf at (202) 363-4600 or email: fwoolf@afhu.org
5100 Wisconsin Avenue NW Suite 250
Washington DC 20016 s (202) 363-4600
afhu.org/CGA3 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Research engine for the world. Engine of growth for a nation.

JEWISH EXPONENT
MAY 14, 2015
13