The State Comptroller will issue a report on the conduct of the Chief Rabbinate's Examinations Department, in light of numerous complaints from examinees about unclear exam dates, delays in providing grades, and lack of telephone answering. This was decided today (Tuesday) by the State Audit Committee, which held a third hearing on the subject.
The chairman of the committee, MK Amnon Cohen, sharply attacked the current situation, in which those taking the rabbinate exam wait for their scores for about seven months, and those taking the dayan exam - more than two years.
""We will not let up on the issue until it changes from end to end. It is impossible for students to know the date, place, and scope of the exam well - and after two weeks receive a text message with a full score, while those taking the rabbinate and dayan examination, whose number in Israel is much smaller than the number of students taking the exam - do not receive a score even two years after the exam.".
""The Rabbinate is doing an injustice to the general public, holding examinees hostage, not considering the students, and leaving them without advance dates for exams and without delivering grades. Something at the root of the matter is flawed, and there is a distortion in the state's discriminatory budget for the courts in relation to the courts, in the management of fees, in the curriculum, in the location of exams, and in service to the citizen," he said.
Rabbinate: There is a deficit of half a million NIS
Hillel Stern, assistant to Director General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Elhanan Glatt, who also temporarily serves as Director General of the Chief Rabbinate, responded that responsibility for the exams was transferred to the Ministry of Religious Affairs only at the beginning of 2014, and until then it was the responsibility of the Prime Minister's Office.
""A deficit of about half a million NIS was discovered due to fees that were too low and fees that were not collected from examinees. The Treasury promised that the amount would be transferred within a few months - but we are still waiting. We promise that the exam scores for today's rabbinate will be delivered within three months, and for the rabbinate after four months." Stern said that currently about 400 candidates for the rabbinate are waiting for their exam scores from 2012.
Attorney Harel Goldberg, the Chief Rabbinate's legal advisor, added: "We are currently undergoing a systemic change, and this change will also provide a solution to the time gap in providing exam results.".
Meanwhile, Sigalit Poni, the accountant for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, noted that a tender was published about two weeks ago for a database of judges-examiners, and it appears that within a few months all pending exams will be submitted for testing and grading. The ministry is also working to find an external company that will collect the fee, maintain a call center, handle registration for exams, establish a permanent database of examiners to prevent overload, and more.
Sharon Yagan, the Chief Rabbinate's budget officer, also said similar things, noting: "For years, we tried in the Knesset Finance Committee to increase the exam fee - which did not cover the cost of the exam - but without success. For years, we negotiated with the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Service Commission to increase the number of examiners and the management of the exams department, and ultimately it was proposed to offer management of the issue to an external company.".
Calderon: Exams for secularists too
During the discussion, MK Ruth Calderon of Mish Atid requested that the exam be open to all Israeli citizens who study Torah, even those who are not religious, so that they can assess their knowledge.
MK Moshe Gafni warned: "Every year, huge budgets are transferred to the courts for construction, renovation and computerization - while the rabbinical courts are discriminated against.".
Rabbi Shlomo Daychovsky, Director General of the Rabbinical Courts: "I used to examine candidates for judges, and today I sit on the admissions committee for judges. When I was examined, about forty years ago, the exam was held on time, and about a decade ago – when I was examining – a score was never given late.
""The deficiencies in question today are serious, and the main problem is the lack of uniformity in the scores. The members of the appointment committee for the examination do not currently know how to evaluate the exam score. It is clear that the situation must improve, but I do not know exactly how.".
Aharon Feldman, who himself took the exam for the law, said in the discussion: "I finished studying for the law exam, and I have been waiting for the answers for about two years. I would like to commend the conduct of the exam itself, and there has been an improvement in the wording and variety of the questions, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. There must be a structured order of exam dates in advance, so that I can plan the eight years of studies.".
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
