Jerusalem – Vizhnitz Chassid Becomes Deputy Minister for Health

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    MK Menahem Eliezer Moses of United Torah Judaism.Jerusalem – Amid protests from public health experts that a full-fledged health minister is needed in the third-largest government ministry, United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Menachem Eliezer Moses was informed Wednesday that he will be deputy minister in charge of a minister-less Health Ministry.

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    The 62-year-old Viznitz hassid, who has 10 children and speaks only Yiddish besides Hebrew, will have to cope with concerns and doubts about his political clout as he takes over.

    While he is a Viznitz hassid, he is also close to Belz hassidim and is very interested in providing housing for young couples and accommodations for the elderly. He will replace Ya’acov Ben-Yizri, the 83-year-old health minister from the defunct Gil Pensioners Party who was considered by most as politically very weak and unsuited to the task.

    UTJ has had several MKs who served in government posts but never as ministers because as a “non-Zionist” party, it avoids such positions. Moses just became an MK and already will control the important ministry.

    Moses, whose efforts have led to the building of numerous haredi geriatric homes around Israel and who was deputy director of the haredi education authority in Jerusalem where he lives, studied in yeshivot and served in the adjutancy in the Israel Defense Forces. His Knesset Web site description gives his occupation as “project initiator.”

    Someone in the health system who knows Moses said he is “very smart, catches on quickly and gets along with people.” But very few ministry staffers had ever heard of him; no one was willing to be quoted for obvious reasons.

    One said that “he doesn’t have to be a physician or a health expert to be in charge of the ministry. We had a physician [MK Ephraim Sneh] as minister, but he did not do well. The main thing is to have clout that can overcome unreasonable and harmful demands of the Finance Ministry.”

    Another official said that he had no objection to having a haredi in charge of the ministry. “Nissim Dahan of Shas was the best and most serious health minister in decades. Shlomo Benizri was also reasonable when he was the first haredi health minister.”

    Moses will be able to sit in cabinet meetings only when health matters are being discussed, but he will not be able to vote there, even when the basket of health services is the subject. Ministry officials worry that weakness could encourage Treasury officials to be even more brutal in privatizing health services and reducing budgets.

    “My main problem is that nobody except Moses was willing to take the Health portfolio,” said another veteran health official. “It is very demeaning. But I hope he has initiative and knows how to acquire power, because he has to be a fighter.”

    However, senior faculty at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine protested on Wednesday against the fact that there will be no health minister for the first time in 61 years. “This harms the basic right of the public for health promotion and protection, makes a mockery out of this field and constitutes a lack of public responsibility. This is magnified by the fact that the cabinet has numerous ministers without portfolio, but the vital Health portfolio is an orphan.

    “This emphasizes the gap between the government’s priority list and that of the public. We call on the prime minister to appoint a health minister immediately and restore the honor of the right to health.” Although Moses has not yet set a date for moving into the ministry’s headquarters, the Israel Cancer Association has called on him to launch a massive fight against smoking, the biggest cause of preventible disease in Israel. Ben-Yizri, who admitted that he has been smoking for 65 years, did little or nothing to fight smoking.


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    32 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    How could they hire someone who is not fluent in English for this position? It seems like it would be crucial for someone in such a position to be able to read international health related studies, most of which are in English. I see nothing wrong with having someone who is a hassid fill the position, and that that might be a positive factor.

    yankel
    yankel
    14 years ago

    #1 why are you asking us,just fly over to mr netanyouhu and vice your opinion ,we didnt appoint him. maybe just e-mail will do

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    so he doesn’t speak english?!? most israeli politicians can’t speak english anyway which is why derech ha’teva they constantly lose the PR war.

    Lawyer
    Lawyer
    14 years ago

    Hasidim are the most active,honest and excelent organizers,this choice of hasidic Rabbi for this position is very promising and exciting.

    Hudy
    Hudy
    14 years ago

    #1 You’re just out to criticize chareidim. What makes you say that he’s not fluent in English? There are plenty of chareidim in Israel who are more fluent than you in several languages.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Why Didn’t yankel Litzman take the position he is fluent in English and born in the USA did it not pos?

    FVNMS
    FVNMS
    14 years ago

    I have been attacked constantly as being someone who blindly defends chassidim right or wrong; that’s who this is coming from:

    What is wrong with all of you yutzmachs attacking #1 ? What did he (she?) say that was so offensive? Just because R’ Moses is chassidish you guys act like a bunch of clucking chickens if somebody is has a problem with him? Noting that he doesn’t speak english makes somebody have a beef with Careidim? Crybabies: genik shoin.

    # 2, 7 & 8 I’m talking to you. Take a deep breath, count to ten and pop a vaium. Refuah sheleimah bimheirah.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    he is way too biased for this position plus he is cluless in this area . catching on quickly and being smart has nothing to do with accepting this position . would u want your wife to go to a gyno who claims to be smart and catches on quickly? this must be a belated purim joke .

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I know Reb Menachen Lazer personally. He is a very close friend of our family. He is the best guy today to have in the Government. He does what he says. He doesnt just talk. He is very charismatic and well liked by all.

    MP
    MP
    14 years ago

    So what is Litzman getting?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    as a cossid he has better qualifications then all those so called intelligencia because he has a feeling heart and love fore afellow jew and viznits is known fore its extreme compassion to a fellow man no diffrence what level of observince

    masmid
    masmid
    14 years ago

    He is great and there are other top leaders in UTJ,there is Rabbi Meir Porush and Rabbi Yakov Litzman Shlit”a,smart and honest leaders.

    Charlie Hall
    Charlie Hall
    14 years ago

    Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin of Agudath Yisrael was Minister of Social Welfare in the first two governments of Medinat Yisrael. Why can’t Rabbi Moses be a full member of the Cabinet today? Did halachah change? Were the gedolim who permitted Rabbi Levin to serve in the Cabinet mistaken?

    Mazal Tov
    Mazal Tov
    14 years ago

    I keep hearing horror stories from my friends who live in Eretz Yisrael. The health plans do not cover MRIs for his son who suffers from constant headaches. They have to pay Doctors privately or they cannot be seen as needed. It sounds like they run the Kupat Cholim these days like a bad HMO that is bankrupt. What a shame. Perhaps this is what Obama wants for our USA system. Pay large health taxes and then have to pay privately if we need immediate or good service. Hashem yirachem.