Civilian service graduates to get mortgage benefits

Jerbi: There seems to be no reason to distinguish between their [civilian service volunteers] and other service tracks.

By JONAH MANDEL
young haredis studying 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
young haredis studying 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Head of the Civilian and National Service Authority Sar-Shalom Jerbi has managed to secure the same mortgage benefits that released soldiers and graduates of the national service get, for those who have completed civilian service.
In a letter from June, Jerbi told Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias (Shas) that haredi graduates of the civilian service had pointed out to him that they were not entitled by law to the same aid the ministry provided released soldiers and those who completed national service.
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The civilian service is a relatively new track, Jerbi noted, and there seems to be no reason to distinguish between their status and that of the other service tracks.
In response to the letter, Attias’s ministry gave an order to the banks dealing with mortgages, saying that as of December 15, anybody who served in the civil service for at least one year would be eligible for benefits in the sum of the mortgage and any other benefits that graduates of the other tracks received.
Jerbi praised Attias’s decision, which will “reward those who choose to contribute to the state and community, and I believe that it will encourage more haredim to join the civilian service.”
There are currently 1,552 haredim and 1,459 Arabs serving in the civilian service for the year 2010-2011.
There are another 11,160 people in the national service.