After the Knesset Ombudsman Committee meet a number of times on the matter of state funding for Kimcha D’pischa, addressing NIS 18 million promised by the Ministry of Social Affairs, it is now reported committee chairman, MK Yisrael Eichler closed the deal in time for Pesach.

Eichler expressed his “Shame on behalf of the nation’s poor” in his opening remarks to the committee. He went on to quote Hilchos Yomtov from the Rambam, that when one eats, one must be sure the convert, widow and orphan eat too along with all the other poor. Those who lock their doors and feed their own to the exclusion of others do not have simchas mitzvah…

Eichler and others in the first meetings on Kimcha D’pischa lamented the fact that while there are more people in need annually, the state assistance wanes with each passing year, as this year, the state wants to give NIS 14 million instead of last year’s NIS 18 million.

During a break in the meeting, the third on the subject, Eichler spoke with the director-general of the Social Affairs Ministry, Shai Babad, who promised the same budget received last year, closing a deal. Eichler later announced this year’s budget will not be cut as has been the case over recent years, and it will remain NIS 18 million, of which NIS 14 million will come from the treasury and NIS 4 million from the ministry.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)