MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Moshe Gafne is furious with the Ministry of Religious Services as the cost of mikve services continues to increase. Gafne explains that Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan promised to reduce costs and in actuality, prices are skyrocketing.
Just recently, the cost of men’s mikvaos in Yerushalayim increased another 30% following similar increases less than a year ago.
Gafne explains that his colleague Uri Maklev submitted a query to the deputy minister and was promised prices would not increase for men or women’s mikvaos. Gafne points to the letter hanging in Yerushalayim mikvaos from the local religious council, which states the latest increase was ordered by the ministry.
Gafne awaits Ben-Dahan’s response, citing in his letter the matter is urgent.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
This has nothing to do with halacha, Torah, rabbanim, etc. It has to do with the fact that most Israelis (even though they don’t admit it) are much in love with the theories of Karl Marx, and detest those of Adam Smith.
It has to do with Israelis, of all flavors, being madly in love with government control of all aspects of their existence. Centralized bureaucracies are not the most efficient ways of providing services.
The truth was that if the government was in charge of providing the air we breathe, it would end up being too expensive, in short supply or both.
The words “gafne angered” are a redundancy.
#1
Believe it or not, it is the Haredi parties who want more government control and not the other parties. Likud and Habayit Hayehudi are in fact very capitalist, where Shas especially is always looking for additional government handouts.
As far as mikvaot are concerned, anyone who wants to build their own mikve and charge his own fees is welcome to do so. It just so happens that the government PAYS for the mikvaot, so of course the government will control the price of stuff that they pay for. Mikve fees in Israel are much less than in the US anyway.