In the latest of its efforts to destroy Israel's religious
institutions, the Ariel Sharon government is expected to
announce plans to transfer three departments currently in the
Religious Affairs Ministry to other ministries. In addition,
67 religious councils across the country will be closed
immediately and their functions merged into other
councils.
According to a report in Yediot Achronot last week,
the Rabbinate botei din will be transferred to the
Justice Ministry, the National Center for the Development of
Holy Sites will be transferred to the Tourism Ministry and
the Department for Non-Jewish Religious Communities will be
transferred to the Interior Ministry. Prime Ministerial
spokesmen say that to transfer these departments there is no
need to change the legislation and that an announcement by
the Prime Minister will suffice.
Another plan calls for the setup of 25 regional councils for
religious services to replace the 134 local religious
councils currently in operation. The immediately closure of
67 religious councils is designed to fire hundreds of
employees who are likely to join the ranks of the unemployed
and to strike a blow at religious services across the
country.
The current scheme to dismantle the Religious Ministry is a
result of the coalition agreement between the Likud Prime
Minister and members of the Shinui Party who demanded the
Ministry be dismantled within ten months from the time the
government was set up. Last week MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni said
the government clearly intends to dismantle everything
related to religion and tradition and make it vanish without
a trace. "We, the religious parties, should have improved the
efficiency of the apparatuses that provide religious services
when we had the power and when we were an integral part of
the coalition. Unfortunately we did not do this and today we
must fight with all our strength against all of the various
attempts to alter this situation. Had we done this [the
dismantling of the religious councils] with intention of
improving the efficiency of religious services, it would have
been positive. But when this is done as part of a desire to
reduce religious serves and deliver a serious blow in all of
these areas, we must fight with all our strength to prevent
it."
Rabbi Gafni added, "The very fact that there is a desire to
transfer the botei din to the Justice Ministry is
evidence of secular attempts to take control of the botei
din. When a plan to transfer the botei din from
the Religious Affairs Ministry was originally discussed the
idea was that it would be an independent unit like the Chief
Rabbinate and not that it would be subordinate to a secular
Justice Minister like Tommi Lapid."
