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NEWS
Treasury Removes Objections to Funds with Rabbinical
Advisors
by Eliezer Rauchberger
Despite its initial objections to the establishment of mutual
funds managed according to halocho and overseen by rabbonim,
the Finance Ministry has now backtracked following a
parliamentary question tabled by MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni in the
Knesset. In response, Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen
(Shas) then called a meeting in his office and the matter is
to be arranged soon.
In a Knesset plenum last week Rabbi Gafni presented the
Finance Ministry's official letter of objection to a halocho-
based pension fund, saying that in a Jewish state pretending
to be democratic it is inconceivable for the Finance Ministry
to object to such a proposal. "Next they'll say the banks
must stop their heter isko and that we cannot even put
money in the bank," said Rabbi Gafni.
Cohen said he originally received a reply from Finance
Ministry officials that shocked him and therefore he rejected
that reply. "Yesterday in my office and in my bureau I
convened the senior staff that handles this issue, and I can
say that it will be taken care of quickly in the near
future," he reported.
The name of the new fund family manager is Hilat Shoham.
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