MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz assumed the post of deputy minister
of welfare, serving in practice as minister since the
Ministry of Welfare has no minister.
There are two aspects to the position of minister where there
is a portfolio. The minister has executive responsibility for
the ministry involved (the "portfolio"), and he is also a
member of the Cabinet and thus a full participant in the
government of the State aside from his ministry. The prime
minister is officially the minister of welfare, but it is
agreed that he is not actively involved in the office so that
as far as the ministry is concerned Rabbi Ravitz is
effectively the minister, that is, he has full executive
responsibility for the ministry. With regard to the Cabinet,
Rabbi Ravitz is not a member. For ideological reasons, Degel
HaTorah refuses to be part of any current Israeli
government.
In a meeting he held with ministry directors, Rabbi Ravitz
said he was accepting a very weighty responsibility as head
of one of the most important ministries. "I intend to be a
full-time welfare minister and to [work wholeheartedly] both
for those receiving care and workers," he said. "It says in
our sources `Olom chessed yiboneh' and `Olom
chessed nivneh.' This means the world was built
imperfectly in order for man to rectify it through acts of
kindness and this the Welfare Ministry does," he told the
ministry staff.
In addition to Rabbi Ravitz, six other deputy ministers were
appointed last week by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
entered office: G. Gamliel as deputy minister of agriculture,
R. Avraham as deputy minister of the interior, M. Solodkin as
deputy minister of immigrant absorption, Eli Aflalo as deputy
minister of commerce and trade, Rabbi Shmuel Halpert (Agudas
Yisroel) as deputy minister of transportation and Magli
Wahava as interim deputy minister in the Prime Minister's
Office.
Several MKs led by MK Effi Eitam called for an investigation
of "giving and receiving bribes and breach of faith" by the
Prime Minister in connection with the new appointments.
Opponents are also calling on Attorney General Mani Mazuz to
look into suspicions of attempted bribery by Sharon regarding
his initiative to bring new ministers and deputy ministers
into his government in exchange for their loyalty in
supporting his policies.
In addition to the deputy ministers, Sharon wanted to appoint
three full ministers, but the Knesset refused to approve
them.
