From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Bill granting religious services minister power to allocate funds to local religious councils passes third reading
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
A bill granting the religious services minister the power to allocate additional funds to local religious councils around the country passes its third reading in the Knesset 46-35.
The so-called Rabbis Bill II, written by Shas MK Erez Malul, amends the Religious Services Law so that the religious services minister, currently Shas’s Michael Malkieli, will be allowed, after consulting with the finance minister, to pay for “salary expenses and positions beyond what is stated” in the law.
According to the bill’s explanatory notes, the legislation would allow the government to pay the “salaries of regional rabbis, rabbis of moshavim and ritual bath attendants without burdening the regional authorities and councils” — in both communities that have religious councils and those that don’t.
Although it does not explicitly grant the minister the power to appoint rabbis, opponents of the bill have repeatedly criticized the bill as an effort to expand Shas’ influence over religious life across the country.
“On a day of such high emotions, the ultra-Orthodox are using the hostages cynically to sneak in a second and third reading of the bill,” states Rabbi Seth Farber, whose organization, Itim, lobbied against the legislation.
The law will “enable the minister of religious affairs to appoint hundreds of rabbis in lifetime positions at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer, and impose these rabbis on local communities,” he alleges.
