Imprisoned in past, unable to reach a new and better future
In spite all the hardship – Don’t give up :
If you are constantly choosing to live in your past instead of adapting to the new reality in Israel you will get tired very fast and start having second thoughts about your decision to come here.
Donald Trump once said: “I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s where the fun is”. Well said! – But if you are looking for fun when you make Aliyah you may be very disappointed.
Life is a never ending learning process we all walk through. Making Aliyah is choosing to overcome obstacles we are not used to or always prepared to pass. This is where we are attacked by nostalgia; missing the comforting past we have left behind and the security we don’t have any more. As a result we get tired, bringing us to despair.
In despair, you will start comparing your past and the present situation you encounter here in Israel. I advise that you never compare, never look back but only forward. Don’t be tempted to look back when encountering difficulties – and you can be certain you will encounter many difficulties in Israel.
Don’t lose your future and your chance to adapt in Israel by holding onto the past and to the place you came from. You are now in a new county, a new reality and a new present. Winston Churchill said: “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future.”
The present:
As I wrote in my last article, I cannot prevent you from getting into trouble, as I am not able to predict every difficulty you may have in Israel, but if you really want to succeed in your mission, in your Aliyah, you will have to learn how to adapt well – and fast.
The Hard and True Reality of Immigration part II:
Here are a few more challenges most olim face in Israel:
- Filling out Forms without being able to read Hebrew and understand what is expected of them – and the consequences of errors. In Israel there is a special “addiction” to forms and questionnaires especially those with invasive questions having nothing to do with the service you are asking for in that form. The catch is: If you don’t answer you will not be provided with the service you need. The longest collection of forms are those from “Bituah Leumi” and you will find them very invasive.
Please remember: Israel is not as fully democratic as the US, for example. These forms are a serious invasion of your privacy but they are all legal and have been approved by the government.
- Leasing: This is one of the most challenging issues and as soon as you arrive you will have to deal with it. A rental contract is a legally binding document where every word counts and will not be disregarded in frugality in a court room. In spite of that, Judges tend to be very liberal on the interpretation especially if your rights are being seriously abused. You should not count on that at all! Trust no one because whatever is not written in the contract doesn’t exist! Only a written contract will be enforced in court but no oral “promises” as often happens.
In the last four years, 40% of the requests we received for legal advice were somehow connected to rental problems. The remaining 60% is divided between Debts/”Otsaa La Foal” issues and all other matters including every aspect of life in Israel.
What matters is that you pay your rent on time. Paying late is the most serious and common type of breach of a contract and pretty much unforgivable. By not paying you are giving your landlord a free hand enabling him to act as a “villain” – a villain acting on legal terms.
- Debts: Life in Israel is getting more and more expensive. There is only superficial competition in our very small and centralized market owned by only a few families holding the largest companies in this country. The more expensive life becomes, the more debts we accumulate. Accumulating debts can have a catastrophic result as I’ve seen too many times. It happens a great deal to new immigrants with no supporting family.
It is essential that you control your life and not let the debts control it for you. It is very easy to get a loan, be granted a higher line of credit on your credit card or skip some mortgage payments. The catastrophe comes when every one of your debtors start knocking on your door simultaneously. Believe me, it will happen if you are not very careful.
The problem is that in Israel, a file in the Otsaa La Foal is not something you can or should ignore. A file against you is the final stage in a debtor collector process. If a case or a file was opened against you it is an immediate problem that can be stopped only if you “pay your debts”. Negotiating can help but it will only prolong the time to pay off the debt. I will give you an example.
Mr. Doe didn’t pay his cellular provider because he was mad at them. The company kept charging him more than the agreed initial price and Mr. D was getting nowhere trying to resolve this problem therefore he stopped paying the bills. After six months he was sued and served but disregarded the legal situation and instead of a lawyer he consulted some institution that helps new immigrants. As a result he wrote more angry letters demanding that the cellular company cancel the legal process.
It took the cell phone company’s lawyer another three months to put a ban on Mr. Doe and now he couldn’t leave the country. To make it short, Mr. Doe received an invitation for his nephew’s Bar Mitzvah including a ticket but when he arrived at the airport he leaned he could leave only if he paid all the debts in cash on the spot. The total was more than $ 2000 dollars, all the cash he had for an initial bill of less than $ 300 a year ago.
Mr. Doe paid the price for being “smart” and “just” instead of wise by receiving real legal advice.
A word of wisdom:
You are in a new country where everything is new and different. Compromise, mingle with the people, don’t try to understand how the system works but try to work with the system. Seek help and advice and don’t hesitate to admit you made the wrong choice or decision; otherwise you will never be able to fix any situation you have created by not knowing the Israeli way.
