A number of gemachim have been informed they will no longer receive a אישור נוהל תקין, a permit to operate from the Registrar of Non-Profits of the Ministry of the Interior.
According to a report appearing in The Marker, a number of gemachim that operate by giving loan from a sum of money being held to assist avreichim and others in times of need. In order for a gemach to operate legally, it must be registered with the ministry’s registrar, file an annual report and receive annual approval.
The report points to attorney Shlomei Belevsky, who is responsible for issuing these annual approvals to the gemachim as giving the order to refrain from doing so at present, as he explained to a number of accountants during a meeting with them. This is particularly damaging to gemachim operating in the chareidi tzibur, those gemachim relying upon gvirim who will deposit sums for them to use for loans.
It appears that Justice Ministry officials fear the gemachim are operating against the law since they are accepting funds for deposit and loaning funds without approval from the Bank of Israel. For the time being, a decision was made not to dismantle these gemachim, but to hold off giving them the required operating permit.
MK (Yahadut HaTorah) Rav Moshe Gafne, who sits in on meetings regarding gemachim along with officials of a number of ministries and Bank of Israel submitted a bill to address this about 18 months ago but that bill has not moved forward during this time.
Gafne told The Marker the decision to withhold the operating permit is sad indeed because who need the funds most are the ones will be impacted by the decision. He was critical of using the law to “attack” a sacred institute of the Jewish People, “gemachim”. He feels that the interpretation of the law is not being done as it should and as a result, the policy was decided upon, adding “Yerushalayim was destroyed שדנו בה דין תורה.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Once again it’s all about taxes. It is entirly possible that a Frum person that has a cash business is- in essence- depositing a lot of their earning in a Gemach to be used by others aswell as themselves(perfectly mutor in halacha)as a way of safe keeping other then a bank. One only has to make a visit to a frum money changer to see that there is a lot of unregisted, “under the table” cash out there that the Government wants a piece of.
If the Gemachim in question were essentially functioning as unlicensed banks, it’s likely that the reason for the higher level of scrutiny now in place is due to the colapse last year of another entity – a money changer – that was taking deposits and making loans or investments that were not authorized by law. This entity colapsed, and there are a number of individuals who are out significant sums as a result.
While these are Gemachim, not for-profit businesses, it is understandable why there is now the hightened sensitivity to such “informal” banking arrangements.
an Israeli Yid
It would be logical for the government to prohibit giving to tsadakah to non-zionists. Many of those learning Torah are in fact relying on support from outside the country, and many Hareidim are in fact living in Eretz Yisrael without permission of the zionists. Unlike the Ottomans, the zionists have a strong incentive to ban Hareidi Jews and in particular, to “crack down” on those “parasites” who learn Torah rather than fight the Arabs or make money for the zionists.
there is something deeper here; mischief is being done under the guise of many g’machim. Standards of transparency must be set up to ensure that g’machim are run on the up and up. Perhaps a gemach “hechsher” is necessary.
The Sheretz (er, Meretz) bus. The vile proposal to draft bachurim. The takedown of a gemach trufos in Beis Shemesh. Now this. Connect the dots. The erev rav is doing a step by step shmad against the Jews, and those who protest against it are extremists?