Jason McCullough
06-15-2003, 02:51 AM
Stolen from A&L Daily, Israelis killing themselves because of poverty (http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.06.13/news8.html):
Menashe Habakuk was once described as Israel's golden boy. National judo champion during the late 1980s, he won the gold medal at the 1990 Maccabiah games, married an adoring fan and went to work as a trainer in a studio near Tel Aviv.
Six years later he was working part time as an air conditioning repairman in Modi'in, outside Jerusalem, raising two small children and dreaming of getting back to the sport. When a friend's plan to open a new studio fell through and he lost his air conditioning job, he went into a downward spiral of poverty and depression from which he never emerged. On April 23, the last day of Passover, he killed himself. He was 36.
Habakuk's death would have gone largely unnoticed, just one of the estimated 400 to 600 Israelis who kill themselves every year for a variety of reasons. But one month after his death he re-emerged as a media star of sorts. He was one of 18 Israelis believed to have committed suicide during the preceding two months because of economic desperation.
The rash of "economic suicides," as they have become known, exploded onto the front pages on May 22 with the death of Ze'ev Nir, 67, a failed caterer from the Haifa suburb of Binyamina. Nir's suicide became front-page news because of his family. His brother, Ehud Manor, is one of Israel's most celebrated songwriters.
In a letter he left taped to his body, Nir asked his family for forgiveness, explaining that he could
no longer endure the family business's financial difficulties. "I am going through a terrible emotional crisis, with which I can no longer live," he wrote. "I beg your forgiveness, and wish you all long and happy years without me."
Within a day after Nir's body was found hanged in his backyard, newspapers were running pictures of others, including two that very week: Rachel Hartman, a schoolteacher who killed herself May 19 after being laid off, and Rafi Cohen, 45, owner of a Beersheva electronics store, who killed himself, also on May 19, saying in a note that his debts were unmanageable.
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zvulun Orlev responded by calling for government action to stem "the wave of suicides resulting from the economic situation." He called for an interministerial team to provide people suffering financially with advice and services in employment, housing and mental health. He also called for the formation of support groups and Internet forums.
Sigal Habakuk, Menashe's widow, put the problem starkly in an interview with the daily Yediot Ahronot. "We couldn't buy treats for the children," she said. "Sometimes we couldn't even afford milk and bread. From time to time they cut off our electricity and water. We didn't have a gas line, and our phone only took incoming calls. The struggle was nearly impossible. Menashe was used to seeing a full refrigerator at least on holidays. It could be that that's what broke his heart in the end, the empty refrigerator on the holiday.
Menashe Habakuk was once described as Israel's golden boy. National judo champion during the late 1980s, he won the gold medal at the 1990 Maccabiah games, married an adoring fan and went to work as a trainer in a studio near Tel Aviv.
Six years later he was working part time as an air conditioning repairman in Modi'in, outside Jerusalem, raising two small children and dreaming of getting back to the sport. When a friend's plan to open a new studio fell through and he lost his air conditioning job, he went into a downward spiral of poverty and depression from which he never emerged. On April 23, the last day of Passover, he killed himself. He was 36.
Habakuk's death would have gone largely unnoticed, just one of the estimated 400 to 600 Israelis who kill themselves every year for a variety of reasons. But one month after his death he re-emerged as a media star of sorts. He was one of 18 Israelis believed to have committed suicide during the preceding two months because of economic desperation.
The rash of "economic suicides," as they have become known, exploded onto the front pages on May 22 with the death of Ze'ev Nir, 67, a failed caterer from the Haifa suburb of Binyamina. Nir's suicide became front-page news because of his family. His brother, Ehud Manor, is one of Israel's most celebrated songwriters.
In a letter he left taped to his body, Nir asked his family for forgiveness, explaining that he could
no longer endure the family business's financial difficulties. "I am going through a terrible emotional crisis, with which I can no longer live," he wrote. "I beg your forgiveness, and wish you all long and happy years without me."
Within a day after Nir's body was found hanged in his backyard, newspapers were running pictures of others, including two that very week: Rachel Hartman, a schoolteacher who killed herself May 19 after being laid off, and Rafi Cohen, 45, owner of a Beersheva electronics store, who killed himself, also on May 19, saying in a note that his debts were unmanageable.
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zvulun Orlev responded by calling for government action to stem "the wave of suicides resulting from the economic situation." He called for an interministerial team to provide people suffering financially with advice and services in employment, housing and mental health. He also called for the formation of support groups and Internet forums.
Sigal Habakuk, Menashe's widow, put the problem starkly in an interview with the daily Yediot Ahronot. "We couldn't buy treats for the children," she said. "Sometimes we couldn't even afford milk and bread. From time to time they cut off our electricity and water. We didn't have a gas line, and our phone only took incoming calls. The struggle was nearly impossible. Menashe was used to seeing a full refrigerator at least on holidays. It could be that that's what broke his heart in the end, the empty refrigerator on the holiday.