Social Affairs Ministry’s new director general wants to get ultra-Orthodox sector to stop relying on child allowances as a source of income
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By Lior Dattel and Tali Heruti-Sover | Jul. 28, 2013 | HAARETZ ISRAEL

No one is dying of hunger in Israel, the Social Affairs Ministry’s new director general, Yossi Silman, told Haaretz in an exclusive interview about his ministry’s work and poverty. “There are hungry people,” he added, “maybe there are hungry children, but no one is dying of hunger.” Silman vowed to change his ministry’s priorities, providing greater assistance for the disabled and less to ultra-Orthodox populations, some of whom he said “make a living” in part on the allowances.,

Silman has personal experience with poverty. When he was 6 and after his parents divorced, he and his siblings were placed in an ultra-Orthodox institution in Bnei Brak, where he lived until he was 11. He went home for three years but was then placed in another boarding school in the north, in Pardes Hannah.,

Prior to taking his current position, Silman was field HQ director for Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party. Silman expressed support for Lapid’s proposed cuts to child allowances to large families, which are detailed in the budget currently awaiting final Knesset approval. The impact of the child allowance cuts and other budget provisions are expected to hit ultra-Orthodox families particularly hard.,

“We will streamline and change priorities,” said Silman, whose appointment was finalized at the end of May after being nominated by Social Affairs Minister Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid). “We have already cut ultra-Orthodox public institutions in favor of therapeutic institutions for people with disabilities, for example. We have big plans to change the face of the [Social Affairs] Ministry and welfare services will be reinforced.,

“Unfortunately, there are populations that are living on child allowances,” he said. “It is more common in the Haredi sector. I think there are sectors like these and others, including the Bedouin community – people who also make a living off of this.”,

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An ultra orthodox family