Absorption

Candidate Applications

Tal-El accepts new members through a standardized process, beginning with a written request and a completed questionnaire detailing their current contact information, occupation, number and names of children, and their reasons for applying for membership. Questionnaires for whole families should be completed by the parents and mailed, along with the 200 NIS registration fee, to:
Absorption Committee

Tal-El
25167 D.N. Oshrat
Israel

Stage One: The committee will invite the family for a preliminary interview. It will then decide - with the help of the executive committee or even general assembly if necessary - whether or not to continue the process.

Stage Two: The family will participate in a psychometric examination, the results of which the absorption committee will consider as the process continues.

Stage Three: A concluding committee zwill form of representatives of the settlement, the agricultural center and the agency. This committee meets with the family and hands down the results of their application for candidacy.

Every stage of this process is long and slow, so families must be patient as their candidacy is considered. There is no connection between the time frame of the admission of a new candidate and their move to the settlement. The critical factors are the needs and interests of the settlement itself. If the applicant is accepted as a candidate and informed by the concluding committee of their acceptance, they immediately become part of the settlement, and thus subject to the responsibilities of all community members, including membership dues, and -when the candidate is admitted to the association of members, a one-time fee of $30,000 that contributes to further growth. This amount is a sort of bond to a settlement with its own public infrastructure maintained by its members. It is used, together with the yearly budget, to continue the development of the settlement for the collective benefit.

Absorption of the Community's Descendants

In an effort to transform Tal-El from a mere real estate asset to a veritable home, the settlement decided to base itself upon- and to encourage - its offspring, those it raised and educated, in hopes that Tal-El would become the landscape of their childhood and their natural social framework. Building the foundation on Tal-El's progeny is a benefits both the aging generation of parents that joined the settlement after they grew up and the development of the settlement as a patriotic locale. Local natives receive discounts on their payments to various branches of the communal organization. In order to promote the retention of the community's offspring, Tal-El's charter provides for the absorption of one descendant of each member family.

The Nature of Absorption

The rights and responsibilities of a membership candidate are identical to the rights and responsibilities of a member, except for the right to vote in the general assembly. Candidate families are subject to the intermittent decrees of this body and to the constitution of the association, a document binding all communal proceedings. In every case, new families must undergo a probationary period of a year, after which the general assembly will admit the family to the membership association. Initial absorption merely constitutes permission to begin building, governed by the following process: choose and/or draw for a permanent plot, make a non-refundable Dollar deposit to the communal fund for the development of the subsoil up to the head of the plot, pay membership dues in Shekels every month on a consistent basis, sign a contract with the association and a release of the plot - which will be returned when building is complete - in case legal problems arise from discontinuance of building or unsuccessful completion of the probationary period. Accordingly, also submit a security deposit and a guarantee to complete building on time. Secure permission for the plans from the construction committee/executive committee before submitting them to the local committee for the remainder of construction. Deposit a set of reserve plans at a scale of 1:50 with the settlement board.

Monetary Commitments to Keep in Mind

Acceptance into the settlement:

Registration Fee: 200 NIS
Psychometric Exam: 960 NIS
Infrastructure Development Fee: 130,000 NIS abt.
Tenancy Contract with the Israel Land Administration

Municipal payments and external factors:

Local Committee Tax
Sewage Excise Tax (one-time)
Acquisition Tax (Dept. of the Treasury)
Form 4 from Electric Company
Design of the house (architect)
Construction: Cost per Square Meter: $700-1000

Residence in the settlement (Receipt of Membership):

City "Arnona" Tax (Monthly)
Sewage Tax (Monthly)
Membership Dues (Monthly)
Association Development Fees
Disruption of Candidate-Association Relationship
In the event that the relationship between the association and the candidate family terminates for any reason, the following rules have been put in place regarding monies entrusted to the settlement:

Registration Fee and Membership Dues: Non-Refundable

Infrastructure Development Fees:

On an empty plot with no infrastructure, 90% refund
On an empty plot with infrastructure, 50% refund
On a partially built plot with no infrastructure, 50% refund
On a partially built plot with infrastructure, no refund

The cost of the infrastructure and the rights to the plot will pass to a new family after they purchase the house. The return of associative development fund contributions are refundable as follows:

For candidates that have not moved to or begun building in the settlement, 90% refund
For candidates that have begun building, 50% refund
For candidates that have completed building and live on their plot, no refund

In any event, Association Development Fees will be collected from a new candidate who takes possession of a plot that once belonged to a departed candidate.

Text by Moti Schweitzer, Tal-El.
Kindly translated by Jesse Rubenfeld, New York.