In Jewish tradition, it is accepted that changing one's name can also change one's luck. The sick or simply those who are chronically unlucky change their name or modify it, in the hope of embarking on a new path. After all, God Himself did this to the fathers of our nation at the beginning of the journey (Abram became Abraham, Sarai became Sarah).
And now the Ministry of Housing is trying. At the end of the week they announced a new name and a new logo. No longer the Ministry of Construction and Housing, but the Ministry of Construction. From now on, everything will look different.
This is an interesting experiment. Anyone who knows Shlomo Ben Eliyahu, Director General of the Ministry of Housing (sorry, we're still confused) may know that his father, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, was one of the most prominent rabbis in the name-changing and name-choosing trend (I know several men and women whose names were changed on the rabbi's recommendation).
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We received another hint about the latest move from Housing Minister Uri Ariel, who in recent months upgraded his name in official letters to "Uri Yehuda Ariel HaCohen." It's hard to remain indifferent to a name like that.
At the same time, it should be understood that the Ministry of Housing is in a not-so-simple situation. No one was surprised when the housing cabinet was established a year and a half ago, headed by the Minister of Finance, and not by the person who is supposed to be responsible for housing within the government. The "Apartment to Rent" company, which is supposed to build and buy rental projects throughout the country, also actually belongs to the Ministry of Finance.
And if that's not enough, the government has established an independent authority for urban renewal, an area that was handled by the ministry for years. It's a good thing that the Israel Lands Administration, which has also become an independent authority, is now affiliated with the Ministry of Housing, which somewhat salvages the lost respect of the ministry's staff (this may not be final either, and we've already seen the administration move between quite a few ministries in previous decades).
And will changing the name suddenly save the Housing Ministry, which doesn't even sit down with everyone in the government building? It's worth considering that cynics will see in the recent move a shrinking and acceptance of the situation.
Housing will be removed from the logo. And after they realize that they aren't really responsible for the construction either, perhaps the time will come for the office, whose glorious past is undoubtedly far behind it.
