In the wake of a sharply critical ombudsman's report on state religious services, the Minister for Religious Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, Shas Knesset Member Yitzchak Cohen, suggested reviving the defunct Religious Affairs Ministry.



During a meeting of the Knesset's State Control Committee on Monday, representatives discussed the State Comptroller's report on the municipal religious councils and on the national Religious Affairs Authority. According to the report:

  1. many municipalities have failed to transfer funds earmarked for the use of their respective religious councils;
  2. the councils themselves have displayed serious administrative failures;
  3. the Religious Affairs Authority did not administer the religious councils appropriately;
  4. the Authority was often staffed by politically motivated appointees, primarily from the Likud party.

The Comptroller recommended reforms in state-provided religious services.



In light of the report, Minister Cohen said, "The situation has yet to improve. We have not yet healed the religious councils, [but] in terms of reform, we have successes in broad areas. However, we believe that the transfer of the religious councils to the municipalities was a correct step." At the same time, Cohen noted that "the debt owed the councils by the municipalities is around 150 million shekels, and the employees of the councils and the rabbis are not getting paid." To improve the situation, Minister Cohen recommended that the state provide 75% of the religious councils' funding, while the municipalities provide the remainder, "as is common regarding health and social services."



Minister Cohen added that the only reason he is heading "a ministry that is not a ministry" is due to "a whim of the [now-defunct] Shinui party [during the Sharon administration] to dismantle the ministry. The Ministry of Religious Affairs must be reinstated."



MK Orlev noted that the issue has been on the public agenda since 2002.



On the other hand, Meir Shpiegler, Director of the Religious Affairs Authority, claimed that the establishment of the body that he heads has led to intensified supervision and control of the regional religious councils. Such oversight, he noted, includes a review of expenditures by accountants. Shpiegler confirmed, however, that there are rabbis who have not been paid their salaries, just as there are mayors and other officials in similar situations.



Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), Chairman of the State Control Committee, summed up the discussion, saying that "there is no agreed-upon reform for religious services at the moment." He noted that the issue has been on the public agenda since 2002, when budgetary cutbacks began to take effect. Unless there is a governmental decision on the matter, complete with a time table for implementation, according to MK Orlev, there will be no solution to the problem.