|
|
NEWS
Government Earmarks NIS 103 Million for Shmittah
Preparations
By Betzalel Kahn
The government earmarked a sum of NIS 103 million ($24
million) to make preparations for Shmittah, which falls next
year, 5768.
The funding allocation includes NIS 10 million to operate the
Otzar Beis Din, NIS 30 million to support shomer
Shmittah farmers, NIS 18 million for wheat growers, NIS
15 million for fruit tree nurseries and NIS 13 million to
introduce hydroponic cultivation in greenhouses. These funds
will be provided by the Agricultural Ministry.
Disappointingly, the Prime Minister's Office will also
allocate NIS 7 million to the Chief Rabbinate for Shmittah
based on the heter mechirah, which was prohibited by
the leading poskim of the past generations.
Meanwhile the government decided that Agriculture Minister
Shalom Simchon and Yitzchak Cohen, the minister in the Prime
Minister's Office in charge of the religious councils, would
set up a work team headed by the Agriculture Ministry and,
with the participation of the Chief Rabbinate's Budget
Department, set the regulations and criteria for various
support programs.
|
