The religious councils went on strike this morning, though it is not a complete nation-wide strike. In Tel Aviv, for instance, it is only partial, while in Ramle, Be'er Sheva, Binyamin and Shomron there is barely any strike at all. Bodies brought for burial today in Kiryat Gat and Givat Ada were not dealt with, and the families will have to make their own arrangements, including digging the graves. Zaka volunteers said they would help out in some cases.
The rationale behind the strike is simple: The workers have not been paid for many months - up to two full years in some locations. The reasons for the default are connected with both the dismantling of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the sorry state of the municipalities, which are responsible for 60% of religious council expenses. By law, the councils are funded by the government: 40% by the national government, and the remainder from the local municipalities. Much of the councils' operations and budgets were never clearly delineated, however, such that disagreements between the bodies resulted in the religious council allocations falling through the cracks.
A similar strike of the religious councils was held three weeks ago, but was called off after one day because salaries were promised them. The affected services include burial, marriage registration, and kashrut certification. Mikvaot [ritual baths] for women remain open, however. Israel's Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said today that he has no choice but to support the strikers:
"We have been working for a year and a half to [try to prevent a strike]. We begged the rabbis and workers not to strike all this time because their work is so holy - and they are precious people who continued to work even without receiving a salary. But there is no longer any way to continue to ask them to keep on working without getting paid; we have no right... Unfortunately, no one hears their plea. I call upon the Prime Minister and the other authorities to look into their hearts and solve this problem... I must note that there are some cities where the mayors - not all of them can do this - realized the importance of this matter, and made sure that the salaries would be paid... Until this reorganization is completed, the salaries must be paid - it is a most elementary obligation of all, a law of our holy Torah, to make sure that workers are paid on time."
Asked if there is some kind of limit on the strike, Rabbi Amar said,
"No, there is not. It's hard for me, but they explained to me that if they set limits, they lose all their leverage. I was only barely able to prevent them from striking the kashrut supervision services in the hotels, because I felt that we could not allow the hotels to suffer another terrible blow, after the severe period they went through just recently with the outbreak of the [Arab] violence [and the crash in tourism]."
The rationale behind the strike is simple: The workers have not been paid for many months - up to two full years in some locations. The reasons for the default are connected with both the dismantling of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the sorry state of the municipalities, which are responsible for 60% of religious council expenses. By law, the councils are funded by the government: 40% by the national government, and the remainder from the local municipalities. Much of the councils' operations and budgets were never clearly delineated, however, such that disagreements between the bodies resulted in the religious council allocations falling through the cracks.
A similar strike of the religious councils was held three weeks ago, but was called off after one day because salaries were promised them. The affected services include burial, marriage registration, and kashrut certification. Mikvaot [ritual baths] for women remain open, however. Israel's Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said today that he has no choice but to support the strikers:
"We have been working for a year and a half to [try to prevent a strike]. We begged the rabbis and workers not to strike all this time because their work is so holy - and they are precious people who continued to work even without receiving a salary. But there is no longer any way to continue to ask them to keep on working without getting paid; we have no right... Unfortunately, no one hears their plea. I call upon the Prime Minister and the other authorities to look into their hearts and solve this problem... I must note that there are some cities where the mayors - not all of them can do this - realized the importance of this matter, and made sure that the salaries would be paid... Until this reorganization is completed, the salaries must be paid - it is a most elementary obligation of all, a law of our holy Torah, to make sure that workers are paid on time."
Asked if there is some kind of limit on the strike, Rabbi Amar said,
"No, there is not. It's hard for me, but they explained to me that if they set limits, they lose all their leverage. I was only barely able to prevent them from striking the kashrut supervision services in the hotels, because I felt that we could not allow the hotels to suffer another terrible blow, after the severe period they went through just recently with the outbreak of the [Arab] violence [and the crash in tourism]."