A group of men, shuttle drivers, sat around a table in the center of Beit Shemesh this week, waiting for work.
They earn 7,000 shekels a month, some said they reach 7,500.
In terms of the Israeli cost of living, it is at best a matter of raising one's head above water, and at worst a drowning without survivors.
Photo: Knesset Channel
"You know what we talk about here every morning? About the economic situation," explained Itzik Amiel, 60, who a decade ago retired after 30 years of permanent service in the IDF. "If the allowance was enough, do you think we would be working?
I'm the father of four, all of them are married, and if I don't help - it's a waste of time.
How will my daughter get to the apartment?
After all, Beit Shemesh has become a fire.
A neighbor above me sold a three-room apartment for NIS 1.9 million, an apartment that until recently was worth NIS 1.2 million.
Most of our clientele on the shuttles is ultra-Orthodox, and we hear the real cry for help.
Every weekend, young women knock on my door and ask for a Shabbat donation."
Shmuel Cohen and Itzik Amiel,
Aviad Ben-Ari was asked how many loans he took.
He barely raised his eyes from the ground and said in a whisper: "Too much. I'm a father of three, and these are loans upon loans just to live. I pay NIS 3,500 rent for a small apartment with nothing, and I have nowhere to get the money. I don't remember when I last went on vacation." .
"My vacation is at work"
Shmuel Cohen heard the words from the sidelines and smiled bitterly.
"My vacation is here at work, or at the post office, or running errands at the bank. Can I live on a salary of NIS 7,000? But I have already realized that three things are necessary in life: to eat well, to sleep well and to meet the basic needs. I do not have an apartment. I am 52 years old, my wife suffers disabled and I have a married daughter with two children and a son who was discharged from the army. I will cook for them, take care of the grandchildren. This is actually the only help I can give them."
working to survive
Shmuel grew up in Beit Shemesh, but last week he moved to Kiryat Gat, a 25-minute drive from his workplace, because the rent is lower there.
He passed because there was no choice.
"Every shekel is important to me. Where can I rent an apartment here, in a building of drug addicts? We work to survive. I used to go into the supermarket and buy tomatoes, and today I see people taking out their phones and calculating how much each kilo will cost us."
"I'm ashamed to say how much my pension is."
Zion Eliyahu,
Didn't have to go far.
Nissim Shariki pulled out the mobile phone and explained how the method works.
"There is a price software that I started using in the last two years. It tells me where the cheapest fruits are in the area and where the cheapest coffee is. I write down where it's worth, and if I'm in the area, I go in and buy on the way."
"The pension disappears without me feeling it"
The conversation was joined by Avner Tsanani, who also started working as a driver after retiring from the prison service.
"They bring me soft drinks from the territories, each bottle for a shekel," he admitted.
"I have to, because the pension disappears without me feeling it. I go into the supermarket and decide what to take, and I tell you that when I worked at the Security Service, the security prisoners lived like kings.
What I don't have at home, they had on the plate."
Considering what to buy at the supermarket.
Beit Shemesh, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Zion Eliyahu came to the parliament.
Despite the injury to his hand Eliyahu, who is approaching 80 years old and is a pensioner of the Mate Yehuda Regional Council - works.
"Does it make sense to you that a person of his age would work and not enjoy quality time with the grandchildren?"
Amiel asked and greeted his older colleague.
"Ashamed of my pension"
Eliyahu smiled and said that first of all he wanted to work so as not to stay at home without employment, but then he admitted: "If we don't work, we won't eat. I also work to help myself. I worked for the regional council for 40 years and I'm ashamed to tell you how much my pension is."
"The cost of living is burdensome", photo: Liron Moldovan
Tsanani said that drinking aromatic coffee is already too much for him, and Shmuel said that if he wants to indulge in a pizza, he buys a frozen one and puts it in the oven, cheaper than the one sold in the mall.
When I asked if there was also pleasure in their lives, Aviad only mumbled that it was not easy for him.
"Go buy a falafel dish today, 22 shekels," Amiel hissed.
"I'm no longer talking about bringing meat home. If you analyze the people who sit here, then 90 percent of them are poor, and I think the middle class in the country is also shrinking. You're either at the top, or you're at the bottom. If you ask me, we've never felt like we do now." .
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