Jerusalem Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Aryeh Stern Shlita this week signed a deal with a manpower agency by which the Jerusalem Religious Council mashgichim will become manpower agency employees. Rabb Stern applauds the move, explaining the mashgichim have been employed by the restaurants they supervise and this was a most unwanted situation. Now they will be employed by an outside agency and this eliminates any conflict of interests with a restaurant being supervised.

Another change which Rabbi Stern has implemented is that mashgichim will be responsible for restaurants in a specific region towards eliminating the current situation in which each store has a different mashgiach and at times, a mashgiach has to travel between stores. Now, their work will be confined to a region, facilitating their efforts and permitting them additional time to supervise instead of traveling, which Rabbi Stern expects will lead to increased efficiency.

While Rabbi Stern lauds the move, one must realize the ideal situation is to have a local religious council employ the mashgichim. This is not done to avoid having to give them the social benefits that come with such employment. By having them employed by a manpower agency, they receive minimum benefits and can be hired and fired at will. Some feel the new situation will be far worse the previous one, but this will remain to be seen.

In the meantime, investigations into alleged corruption in the Jerusalem Religious Council continue on a number of levels, including Israel Police and the Office of the Jerusalem Comptroller.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)