"The government promised the religious services it provides
citizens would not be affected [by dismantling the Religious
Affairs Ministry]. In practice a large segment of the
population is in need of religious services, but there is a
total collapse in the provision of these services," said MK
Rabbi Moshe Gafni on Monday at a special meeting of the State
Control Committee held at his initiative to address the
faulty handling of the dismantling of the Religious Affairs
Ministry and the transfer of powers to other ministries, as
well as the status of former Religious Affairs Ministry
workers and workers from the religious councils.
Rabbi Gafni said he was giving voice to the cry of Religious
Affairs Ministry employees whose status has been left
hanging. "By failing to pay the religious council workers
their wages, the government is cynically taking advantage of
people hungry for bread," he added. On the matter of the
yeshiva budgets, which have been transferred to the Education
Minister but have not yet been transferred to the yeshivas,
he said, "A large cut has been made in support funding for
Torah institutions, but they should at least pay the reduced
funding."
State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg said the secret of success
in the move to dismantle the Religious Affairs Ministry and
the transfer of its powers to other ministries, is in
maintaining continuity in the activities the [newly charged]
ministries are responsible for. He said the entire move might
not be carried out and could get entangle. Therefore the
continuous provision of services the ministry is required to
provide to citizens should be ensured. "The delay of
religious services, yeshiva funding and guaranteed income
cries to the heavens."
Committee Chairman MK Amnon Cohen (Shas) said the government
failed to dismantle the Religious Affairs Committee properly,
resulting in total chaos.
MK Rabbi Yisroel Eichler said the government has been failing
to transfer guaranteed income payments to the bank accounts
of people who don't have enough food to eat, and the
government's cost-saving measures are falling on the backs of
people struggling to subsist.
Deputy Education Minister Tzvi Handel (HaIchud HaLeumi) said
the problem of transferring employees to jobs at the
Education Ministry -- which has taken over the tasks of
handling the yeshiva budget for talmidim over the age
of 18 and guaranteed income for avreichim -- has not
yet been fully solved and is being taken care of by the Civil
Service Commission. He said guaranteed income payments would
be transferred to the bank accounts of eligible recipients on
Tuesday. Regarding the delay in funding payments to the
yeshivas he said there was a small hold-up and concerted
efforts would be made in the future to prevent additional
delays.
MK Yitzhak Levy (Mafdal), deputy minister for religious
affairs, said the Justice Ministry is responsible for the
delays in payment transfers to the yeshivas because it was
late in issuing instructions to Torah institutions on filling
out support requests. Levy estimated the move would be
complete within about one month and then the system would go
into operation.
On the question of the religious councils, he said their
numbers would decrease from 140 to 67 by combining different
councils and moving others. Regarding the deficit and the
debts the religious councils face, he said the Finance
Ministry is currently analyzing the source of the debts in
order to cover them accordingly, and will work to eliminate
the tremendous crisis resulting from unpaid salaries which
led to the total collapse of the religious councils and of
religious services.
Motti Aharoni, director of the senior division of the Civil
Service Commission, said 90 percent of former Religious
Affairs Ministry workers already know where they will be
working and what their status is. Meanwhile Histadrut
representatives are brokering negotiations to reach
agreements with the remaining workers.
