Netanyahu gets the most Haredim out of kollel to work

Working on election day for the electoral board can be a lucrative opportunity. The pay is good for one day of work and the taxes withheld are reasonable. The coveted position of Secretary of Electoral Committee of a polling station pays 2279nis for the day of work - I think it is defined as 12 hours, if I remember correctly, and withholding tax is a flat 25%. This income is not counted towards unemployment or other stipends from the government.

There are 33,000 such positions to be filled across 14,000 polling stations around the country for the upcoming elections.

I always have a lot of friends and acquaintances who rush to fill these positions, and it is especially popular among yeshiva bochurim and avreichim who can make some good easy money in one day while helping UTJ's electoral efforts. The work entails opening and closing the polling station, identifying voters, managing the other polling station workers, and transferring the results to the electoral board.

People who have applied for these positions for the upcoming elections have been receiving calls to arrange the interviews. According to Hamechadesh, the applicants were all told the interviews will take place via Zoom (in light of the pandemic still raging).

For many of the Haredi applicants this is a problem. Many Haredim do not have computers or Internet and interviewing via Zoom is not an option for them. If no alternative method is offered, they are being locked out of these positions by the nature of the interview process.

MK Yaakov Asher (UTJ) has said that the issue has been resolved and anyone without the ability to interview via Zoom will be invited to appear for a personal interview.

What I do wonder is how this one day opportunity for work at a good salary that entices many to leave yeshiva and kollel for a day of work is any more allowed or acceptable than leaving kollel for work in general? why is taking even one day off of learning Torah ok for a day of work? Or maybe those who want to find a way to encourage more Haredim to leave the yeshiva/kollel system and join the workforce should see this as a starting point - if this is ok, just build on it. 

And maybe that is what Netanyahu is doing with so many elections in such a short time period - what started off as one day of work every 3 or 4 years has now become 4 days of work in less than 2 years! PM Netanyahu can legitimately say he is responsible for getting the most Haredim out of kollel to work for a living.

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