Israel – Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) would be willing to serve as a full minister if the High Court of Justice required it and his rabbinical arbiters – primarily the Gerrer rebbe, Rabbi Ya’acov Aryeh Alter – approved it.
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But Litzman, in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, said he did not think the court would accept the petition filed by the Israel Medical Association, which demands that a full minister be appointed.
Agudat Yisrael, the haredi party that is now a partner in UTJ, had a welfare minister representing it until 1953. But when then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion tried to push through a law requiring all religious girls to perform national service, Agudat Yisrael left the government and refused to serve in the government in any capacity until Menachem Begin became prime minister in 1977.
Since then, the haredi party has had a few deputy ministers in charge of ministries, but refuses to appoint ministers because that would imply taking responsibility for state violations of Halacha. Deputy ministers are not cabinet members and do not vote on government decisions.
The child of Holocaust survivors, Litzman, a 60-year-old Ger Hassid, grew up in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, and is fluent in English; he made aliya in 1966 to study in yeshiva. A self-taught economics whiz, he has served twice as the chairman of the powerful Knesset Finance Committee, and is well-versed in health issues.
Litzman said he had all the powers of a minister except a vote in the cabinet, and noted that he had been invited to every cabinet meeting so far.
The ministry and the health system are due for a shake-up and a change in priorities if Litzman succeeds in carrying out his planned reforms. He wants to change the ministry’s work ethic, and serves as an example by being almost the first one to arrive at his offices and the last to leave.
His first priority, he declared, was to ensure that public hospitals had senior physicians – Jews and non-Jews – on duty over the weekends to treat patients and not only to be on call.
“From early Thursday afternoons until the beginning of Sundays, there are no senior physicians in hospitals, as they work in private clinics and hospitals or are off,” he said. “This cannot go on.”
Just over two weeks into the job, he has already taken action to abolish fees in Tipat Halav (well-baby) clinics so that no parent is discouraged from bringing their child for vaccinations and check-ups due to the hundreds of shekels a year they would have to pay. Israel is one of the few developed countries to require such payment for public well-baby care.
Litzman said he was well aware of the importance of preventing disease by fighting smoking and promoting early diagnosis of chronic disorders. He wants to shift the ministry’s almost-sole focus on treating the sick to give prevention more attention and resources.
He also wants to introduce private medical care (Sharap) in all the country’s public hospitals, not just in Jerusalem, where it has existed and proved itself for decades.
However, he said that strict supervision would be needed to prevent the financially disadvantaged from getting lower-level care.
Unlike several of his predecessors, he is not keen on shifting responsibility for geriatric and psychiatric care to the health funds.
“I immediately had to face the threat of a world influenza epidemic,” he noted. “Even though I’m new, people are already expecting a lot from me. I don’t want to desecrate God’s name by failing.”
What a kiddush hashem a frum yid with no college education and is fluent in english & in economics.
And the slippery slope continues.
I hope he will encourage living kidney donation in Israel.
I had donated a kidney and now have a project to help others in desperate need of a life-saving kidney.
I have been contacted by people in need of a kidney from many parts of the USA as well other countries including Israel.
I have many people in Israel who are in such desperate need of a kidney, including a mother of 4, who’s oldest child is 6 years old, a man who has 5 kids and confined to a wheelchair, a 40 year old woman with 5 kids, who’s on dialysis, hooked up to a machine 3 days a week for about 4 hours each day – doing this for about 12 years! These people are all desperately waiting for a life-saving kidney.
Many Orthodox Jews in the USA, including many chassidim are donating a kidney here. In in Israel, not many are doing so. These people in need of a kidney in Israel are crying out to me for help.
Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, Zt”l, Member of Knesset, was my friend in the Knesset when it came to matters on living kidney donation. He was extremely supportive. He, himself had a kidney transplant. One of his sons donated a kidney to him. I had only one kidney match so far in Israel.
Hope people in Israel are reading this and will contact me about saving someone’s life there! And hope people in the USA will contact me to help save lives of the many people I know who need a kidney, in the USA as well!
All the best,
Chaya Lipschutz
P.S. – I am not sure I can put my website on this posting or my e-mail address. But if you do a Google search under my name or on the words, “Kidney Matchmaker”, you will come up with my website and info.
Go litzman we need more people like him
#3 whats the kiddish hashem? not that anything is wron with it, but kiddish hashem does not mean we should fin favor in the eyes of…
In no other country would a court be allowed to interfere like this with the internal organization of a government. If Netanyahu had any balls he’d have refused to litigate this case, and would simply have informed the court that his ministerial arrangements are none of the court’s business and he is responsible to the Knesset and to nobody else. And if the court continued to hear the case, he would bring the judges before the bar of the Knesset to be tried for contempt. But this is Israel, and Aharon Barak’s judicial coup d’etat is allowed to continue even after his retirement.
Re:”Litzman said he was well aware of the importance of preventing disease by fighting smoking and promoting early diagnosis of chronic disorders. He wants to shift the ministry’s almost-sole focus on treating the sick to give prevention more attention and resources”.
SOMEONE LIKE HIM IS SO BADLY NEEDED HERE IN NEW YORK
Fruma yidden are smoking – publicly – no shame. What about lung cancer? Why is it allowed to smoke – acutally it’s not allowed – but how could they?
Loaleinu – there is terrible sicknesses – some caused by bad eating habits, lack of exercise.
Many people aren’t exercising – not enough walking – going straight into their car to travel even blocks away. Why not get a home exercise bike – you can listen to shiurim on an MP3, tape, torah tape – accomplish 2 things at one time!
I went to a Yeshiva and was disgusted with the fat filled “goodies” in the snack machine.
People with big pot bellies noshing on fattening stuff at a restaurant. Belly fat is very dangerous fat.
Yes, so many people with high blood pressure, diabetes – which all can lead to, loaleinu, heart disease, kidney failure, cancer, etc.
And then we hear of people dying young from all kinds of diseases. We are not immune to these health issues the rest of the world suffers!
Kids sitting and learning in yeshivas need to have some form of exercise. Again – why not an exercise bike and listen to shiurim at the same time?
They are seeing adult type diabetes in children
We need a frum Health Ministry in New York! Rabbi Litzman – your help is needed here as well!!!
Venishmartem es nafshoseichem! For those who don’t have health issues and are eating unhealthy and not exercising – wake up! It may not be too late!
Chaya Lipschutz
One of the reasons why the physicians are not in the hospitals on Fridays or weekends is that they need to find ways to increase their very low salaries. Speciality doctors in Israel are paid $25,000-30,000 per year. I have heard some doctors need to work 2 or 3 jobs in order to survive. If he wants doctors on call and in the hospital around the clock, he needs to find a way to compensate them properly.
#7 ‘..some rabbi alter’ listen young man, you have put your self in great danger, this ‘ some rabbi alter ‘ is one of the manhigay hador’ who 100’s of thouands heilige yidden look up to him in spiritual and material advice..so he has a koach in shomayin. i’d rather not mention what the gemmorah says what the penalty min hashmayim is for one who is mevazeh a manhig hador. The one above knows who you are . So my advice is to go and ask mechila from hom before the midas hadin c’v gets you!!
i dont understand he difference between a minister and a deputy if there is no minister i would guess the whole responsibility goes to the deputy so if the gdolim feel that youre not allowed to be a minister why should you be alloed to be a deputy with no one serving as minister
if litzman goes to all cabinet meeting why isn’t he responsible for anything thats against halacha????
#15 you dont have an inklink of what a tzaddik entails. #14 your immature comment doesnt deserve a retort, by the way i am satmar …You sholud know that besides that gedolah hatorah are more intelligent of any be it who and aware of every facet of life, they have the siate deshmayah what every tom dich and harry like you dont have.
How can you hold someone who has no vote or say in government matters responsible for what a whole cabinet decides? Do you hold the cabinet dissenters also responsible? After all, they said no. Litzman is making a kiddush hashem and kiddush kvod ger by his actions as health minister. He has not acted as sour grapes over losing out on his long time position as finance committee chairman. He is taking the health issues and his responsibilities very seriously and he’ll do an excellent job. I would admonish all his detractors to stop their sour grape attitude towards him and towards the Gerrer Rebbe Shlita and look objectively at both and realize that everything they do is for the good of klal yisroel.
#25 thank you ,and this is what i meant