melouch (moonlighting).

Under communism, all sorts of skilled laborers offered their services to customers for cash payments after regular working hours. These melouchy or side jobs were theoretically illegal – the state after all was the proprietor of all businesses – but widely used and tolerated as a way of coping with both low salaries and long waiting lists for all consumer services. Interestingly, the word melouch comes from the Yiddish and refers to services offered by Jews to Gentiles at a time when such exchanges were banned.