Infrastructures Minister Yosef Paritzky (Shinui) instructed
the Mekorot water company to continue pumping water from the
Kinneret and to consumers throughout the country during the
Pesach holiday.
Bnei Brak Mayor Rabbi Yissochor Frankental contacted Water
Commissioner Shimon Tal to ask whether this year the City of
Bnei Brak can again use well water from Rosh HaAyin starting
a few days before Pesach and through the holiday.
In his request Rabbi Frankental noted that for many years
every Pesach Bnei Brak switches its water supply from the
National Carrier to well water from Rosh HaAyin for halachic
reasons based on directives by gedolei haposkim to
avoid concerns of taaroves chometz in water from the
Kinneret.
This year after Mekorot refused the longstanding arrangement
for the first time ever, Mayor Frankental called on company
executives, the Water Commissioner and the Infrastructures
Ministry to accommodate Bnei Brak's 147,000 observant Jews by
honoring the request.
Normally Mekorot stops pumping water from the Kinneret in
accordance with the request by the Water Commission to
accommodate the local authorities of chareidi towns, where
there are concerns the lake water contains chometz.
Paritzky's move is perceived as an attack on the
sensibilities of tens of thousands of people who are careful
not to drink water from the Kinneret on Pesach.
According to surveys conducted last year over 90% of Israel's
residents observe kashrus during Pesach. The Ministry of
Infrastructures claims interrupting pumping water on Pesach
is expected to raise the level of the Kinneret by 10 cm,
thereby increasing the chances of having to open the Deganya
Dam, which would mean the loss of millions of cubic meters of
potable water. Since the beginning of the winter Mekorot has
pumped 1.5 million cubic meters per day from the Kinneret,
some of which is infused into the ground of the coastal
plain. In recent days the Kinneret has risen at a rate of 1
cm per day, and the water level is currently a mere 14 cm
beneath the upper red line (-208.80 meters).
Paritzky says as long as stopping the pumps did not cause
unnecessary losses of water it was possible to accommodate
the chareidi population, but under this year's circumstances
stopping the pumps could cause a "distressing waste" of water
worth an estimated $3 million.
In response MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni told Yated Ne'eman
there is competition at Shinui between Paritzky and Lapid
over who can do greater damage to Toras Yisroel and the
mitzvah-observant public. "Paritzky does not know the water
was given to us by HaKodosh Boruch Hu, Who grants Am
Yisroel's prayers and causes the rain to fall in the proper
times," said Rabbi Gafni. "Therefore Paritzky must recall
that the vast majority of Am Yisroel observes kashrus on
Pesach and does not eat chometz."
Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai also attacked the Infrastructure
Minister's announcement saying, "Paritzky's attempt to bring
sin upon Am Yisroel, the vast majority of which strictly
[avoids] chametz, is shocking. A solution that will
not harm the public can be found."
Top hydrologists proposed solving the problem by pumping half
a million cubic meters of water from the Sapir Pools now
(into the aquifers), and then pumping the half million cubic
meters supplied from the Kinneret during Pesach to the Sapir
site during the holiday.
