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NEWS
Employees Continue to Join Kosher Pension Plans
By M. Green
During the past two years, as the opinion of gedolei Yisroel
shlita regarding the need to hold a kosher pension fund has come
to light, all of the pension companies in Israel have set up kosher
pension funds under halachic supervision. Many employees have joined
these tracks, which have brought high yields compared to regular
tracks.
Major organizations that have taken part in this transformation
include Modi'in Illit municipal workers, Merkaz Beis Yaakov in
Jerusalem headed by HaRav Yeshayohu Lieberman, Matrix workers in
Modi'in Illit, Karlin Institutions and large kashrus organizations, in
addition to hundreds of workers in education and a range of other
sectors.
Since the Mandatory Pension Law took effect, employees in the public
and private sectors, including thousands of observant education
workers and investment partners in financial firms, have become
investors in financial organizations. Cumulative personal funds are
invested by financial companies in various channels, such as interest
bonds without any heter isko, share holdings and partnerships
in enterprises that involve Shabbos desecration, chometz on
Pesach or other prohibitions. The various problems led to a clear need
to enable the observant public to put its pension monies in plans that
are free of serious Torah prohibitions.
Prior to the reform in the savings market and the formation of new
pension funds, pension money was set aside for employees as a set
percentage unaffected by the financial results of the funds
themselves, but since the reform, pensions are now tied to market
fluctuations.
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