obituaries Obituaries from page 85 Aiding Survivors Israeli group helps get reparation payments. I Renee Ghert-Zand Times of Israel L ast June, the Knesset approved the "National Plan for Aiding Survivors of the Holocaust:' an increase of 1 billion shekels ($290 million) each year in benefits to Israel's Holocaust survivors. It's a welcome, but also a necessary, boon for the 200,000 survivors in Israel, especially the one-third of them living in poverty. Under the new plan, survivors, especially destitute ones, will see their monthly sti- pends increase significantly. In addition, medical insurance co-payments for drugs will be eliminated for survivors, and spouses of deceased survivors will see their stipends extended beyond the current three years. The money may be there, and streamlined bureaucratic processes may be built into the plan, but the question remains as to whether all elderly survivors will be able to easily access the benefits. After all, many repara- tion payments and allowances that have been available to Holocaust survivors since 1992 have gone unclaimed because of daunting red tape. "It's true that the government has gotten better with customer service, but survivors still need help filling out forms and such:' said Aviva Silberman, founder and director of Aviv (Spring) For Holocaust Survivors, a nonprofit organization that assists survivors in accessing benefits due them from Israel's Finance Ministry, Germany, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, and other agencies. Silberman founded Aviv For Holocaust Survivors, which provides services free of charge, in 2007 after she realized that survi- vors did not know their rights. Moreover, the people working with and helping them also did not know what pensions and reparation payments survivors were entitled. "When I was a law student several decades ago, I volunteered in a residence for the elderly. Envelopes would arrive from Germany for the residents who were Holocaust survivors, and because I speak German, I was able to translate the forms "I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS DID I EXPECT TO BE REVIEWING WEB STATS FROM MY FATHER'S FUNERAL. HAVING SAID THAT, IT IS GRATIFYING TO SEE THE INTEREST FROM SO MANY STATES AND COUNTRIES." WE APPRECIATE THE FEEDBACK WE RECEIVE FROM THE FAMILIES WE SERVE. THE IRA KAUFMAN CHAPEL Bringing Together Family, Faith & Community 18325 W. 9 Mile Rd Southfield, MI 48075 • 248.569.0020 • IraKaufman.com 86 October 30 • 2014 Obituaries and docu- ments and help the survivors apply for their Aviv For Holocaust Survivors founder Aviva Silberman consults with payments:' Silberman said. a Holocaust survivor. "I learned more about this as I continued my studies. the governments of Israel and Germany. There are laws on the books, but survivors "We have gotten even busier since the new didn't know how to exercise their rights and plan was announced earlier this year. I have get what they deserved:' she said. eight to 10 new clients a day," said Linda In fact, there are currently 15 different Levy, one of the organization's volunteers. "rentas," or reparation payment or allowance "If you can help a survivor double their programs, available to survivors living in monthly income, it can make a huge differ- Israel. The fine print as to who is eligible for ence to their quality of life Levy said. which payment, and what application forms Survivors are stepping up to ask for help need to be completed and supporting docu- not only because of heightened outreach to ments must be provided for each, can be them, but also because they are increasingly mind-boggling. realizing that they deserve to live in dignity That's where Aviv For Holocaust Survivors' and comfort in their final years. five lawyers and hundreds of volunteers step "In the past, Holocaust reparations and in to provide free advice and assistance to allowances were considered by many to be the survivors. In seven years, the organiza- `dirty money,'" said Silberman. tion has helped 40,000 survivors realize their "But now survivors, so many of them liv- rights and access more than NIS 150 million ing in poverty, realize they are not helping ($40 million) in payments due them from anyone by refusing the money:" ❑ -.‘'`.