"Why aren't there classes tomorrow? Did they fire missiles again?" my daughters asked on Sunday. "Yes, they fired even after the ceasefire, but the jihadists said it was by mistake. There are no studies because of municipal taxes," I replied. "Arnona, is this a new missile?" wondered the little one. "No, it's the kind of tax you pay for living at home. It's something weird about big guys," the bigger one replied.
This week we once again discovered what a strange country we live in. From a missile war on the house, we went from a tax war inside the house within a few hours. "They have no shame! The ultra-Orthodox decided to drink our municipal taxes with straws! Wake up, otherwise you'll find yourself enslaved to the ultra-Orthodox forever," raved I, on WhatsApp. As usual, I wanted to see what things were supposed to be about. I called my ultra-Orthodox friend Dudi Bleugrund. "Well, so what did we do this time?" he replied, skillful. "Can you explain to me why you want to drink the municipal taxes to the secular?" The laughter rolled from the other side: "Come to the ridges tomorrow and understand everything." So I went to see what the things behind the news and headlines meant.
***
Too early in the morning on Highway 6, I also have no blue idea where the settlement of Rechasim is. "Every time you drive on Highway 6 North and pass through the big tunnels, you're actually passing under the ridges," explains Lee Bleugrund, treasurer of the local council, who is familiar with ultra-Orthodox rooms and budget books. "We are located north of Carmel, between the Zevulun Council and Tivon on the other side, on the hill above Kfar Hasidim. It used to be such a '50s transit, a lot of the world from North Africa. Then came a yeshiva, and another yeshiva, and today the community is mostly ultra-Orthodox."
Today 17 thousand inhabitants, soon - 50 thousand. Playground in the Ridges, Photo: Herzi Shapira
To the west are the plains of the Zevulun Valley. Even on a foggy day, through the chimneys of refineries, you can see the sea. The sign from the main road points right to Kfar Hasidim, below it to the cemetery, and just below them to the ridges. The road rises above a small industrial area, and the motto "Kingdom of Torah in the north" is written on the hillside at the entrance to the settlement. When the houses of the settlement are discovered, the word kingdom sounds a bit pretentious about the modest settlement. Today, about 17,2025 people live in the ridges. However, as part of Israel's umbrella agreements, by 50 it is planned to grow to <>,<> residents. That is, almost three times its size today, which is another event entirely. We will return to it, but first the Arnona fund.
"Huldai will succeed in Beit She'an?"
"The essential thing that is important for people to understand about the whole Arnona Fund issue is that the name of the game is the ratio between residential property taxes and business property taxes. You need at least 50 percent commercial property taxes to survive, and on top of that you live well. The municipal taxes of commercial areas actually finance the quality of life of the residents, not the other way around. This creates a situation in which mayors want only one thing – commercial and industrial space, and as many as possible," explains Bleugrund, "but if you don't have such commercial space in the City Building Plan (TPS) or you don't have a demand for such space, why would you want to build more houses and housing units in your community? Every new residential tower you build basically means dividing the resources you have into even more people. So who would want such a thing? The problem, of course, is that if you don't build, housing prices skyrocket, and everyone is shouting why there's a housing crisis."
"You see," he says, "one office tower in Tel Aviv with 120,300 square meters at a price of 200-24 NIS per meter in municipal taxes brings in between 36 and <> million shekels a year for the municipal authority. That's more money than all the residents of Beit Shean pay. Now do you understand why everyone wants to build office towers up to the sky?
"So to say that Tel Aviv's municipal taxes only reach Tel Aviv because Ron Huldai or Haim Bibas from Modiin are management geniuses? Please, put Huldai in Beit Shean and Bibas in Netivot. Will they be more successful in running the city? Not at all. Even if you have a lot of space, you can't build an office tower in Beit She'an or Netivot like in Tel Aviv, because which companies will come there? Gush Dan is the business center of Israel, that's how it developed. On the one hand, the boundaries of the authorities are drawn, and on the other hand, the weak authorities are accused of being weak. So what exactly do you want the weaker authorities to do? A municipal authority without commercial or industrial space has no way of meeting the residents' needs."
But isn't the state giving you balance grants just for that?
"It really helps a lot," Bleugrund says sarcastically. "Look at the table of possible per capita expenditure relative to income. The gaps are insane. I'm not talking about Tel Aviv, which, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics for 2021, could afford to spend about NIS 14,15 per resident. Take a look at the list of the 9 strongest cities in Israel. They all spend more than NIS 000,15 per person. Compare that to the 3 weaker municipalities, which even after the balancing grants can spend something between NIS 825,5 and NIS 247,<> per person. That's one-third or one-fifth of the holdings, and all that difference is because of where you were born.
"This is something that substantially harms the municipal authority's current budget. It's at the administrative level, it's the quality of education and it's the welfare of the residents. It's how quickly the garbage will be removed, and when the hole in the road will be repaired, it's replacing old and broken sidewalks, and how many lampposts will operate at night. They say that education is free, but they forget that the municipal authority has a lot of education expenses. It's aides and transportation and guarding and special education and so on. As treasurer of the council, I can't afford to do all the educational activities I want, because I don't have money. Thus, a child in Tel Aviv receives a huge package of tutoring, educational psychologists, centers of excellence, training better teachers, and in the end, this is a significant difference that is entirely derived from where the children grow up.
"A child who needs emotional therapy will receive it in Tel Aviv, and with us, honestly, I will take out your soul until you receive the treatment. Not because I don't want to improve the lives of the children in my community, but because I have nowhere to get the money for this treatment. The same thing about welfare. And the essential result of this is that the lower your socio-locality, the more your children will not advance. These are gaps that are left behind, circles that fail to rise or advance."
So the ultra-Orthodox, in the name of the weaker municipalities, decided to take part of the municipal taxes of the stronger localities to the Arnona fund in order to achieve balance?
"Which ultra-Orthodox?" wonders Bleugrund, "The Arnona Fund is actually an invention of the Finance Boys from a few years ago. As usual, they only think about how not to take money out of the coffers. They are the ones who brought the idea of a joint Arnona fund, a socialist thought that would balance a little more the delusional gaps between property tax revenues throughout the country. By the way, the person who originally signed this law was the finance minister at the time, the great lover of the ultra-Orthodox – Lieberman," laughs Bleugrund, "but in Israel everything is political. They blame the 'blacks' because it's easiest to label us and say 'those parasites.' Only in Israel does the right pass a socialist law, the left opposes, the Arabs benefit, and who is to blame? The ultra-Orthodox."
"לא עניין של חרדים"
בלויגרונד היה מעדיף פתרון אחר של המדינה, למשל תקצוב דיפרנציאלי. "כיום המצב הוא שהמדינה משתתפת בתקצוב חינוך או רווחה ביחס שווה גם בתל אביב וגם, למשל, בחורה. במקום זה צריך שברשויות החזקות המדינה תשתתף פחות, ואצל הרשויות החלשות - יותר. אם המדינה היתה יותר הגיונית, היא היתה צריכה להשלים את הפערים האלו, כמו במענקי האיזון. המדינה מעבירה אבל זה ממש לא מספיק. המצחיק והעצוב הוא שדווקא ברשויות החלשות יש הרבה יותר צורך ברווחה. מבחינתי קרן הארנונה היא ממש לא פתרון קבוע.
"What people don't understand is that justice, in the purist sense, cannot exist. When the state invests billions in the light rail project in the Gush Dan region, doesn't it come from my tax money? So I'll resist because it's an investment in something that's not mine? I understand that there is a fundamental injustice because of differences. There's a pilot and there's a technician, and they won't get the same salary. That's how it is, not everyone is equal, but a little more distributive justice needs to be done. In the end, we live here and work here together.
"In this sense, it is clear that the strong authorities, even if they understand this need, will resist. By the way, even ultra-Orthodox authorities with large incomes, and there are some, are opposed. It's not at all a matter of ultra-Orthodox, Arabs or kibbutzim with commercial space. No one wants their cheese moved, whether it's boutique cheese or labneh cheese or strictly kosher cheese."
Standard of living vs. cost of living
While Levigrund takes time for treasury matters, I wander through the "Torah Capital of the North." The modest falafel next to the Town Hall Square is under renovation. A local guy informs me that if I want to eat something, I have to take a "Hasidic ride" to the slopes of the ridge to the commercial street at the entrance to the settlement. "What is a 'follower's ride'?" I ask, "Stand here, pray and maybe gain the grace of Heaven through the passengers in the square."
The few signs around indicate that there is no need for gender matching language for the sector here. Cute babies call out "Mommy", hospitals advertise in feminine straight to women. However, the municipal bulletin board also demonstrates the range of hidden changes taking place in Haredi society. "Children of Israel your salvation is near," declares the headline in yellow on red. But the novelty lies in the fine print, where virtues are offered for "those expecting a second pairing." In my opinion, a much better nickname than the deportees.
Instead of praying for the mercy of the opponents, I prefer to enter a mini-supermarket, a local maxi-consumerial: "Bar Kol Tov." Half of the shelves are filled with the "excellent" brand, which resides alongside the well-known brands of giant corporations from the secular sector. Very quickly you can understand what is excellent and what sometimes costs two or more times. But here, too, one can see the changes in Haredi society. Among the necessities of flakes and whole wheat couscous, there are surprising additions to the time and place on the shelf - soy sauce, teriyaki, and garlic ginger. The standard of living meets the cost of living.
On the ridges the signs are still gendered, photo: David Peretz
A team manager enters the grocery store and examines various options for feeding his workers - "Mama, gourmet hummus for 12 shekels, is that the gourmet of the cheap?! How did we get to the point where 200 grams of chickpeas cost so much?" he complains to the refrigerator or to the mercy of Heaven. Finally, he gives up the hummus and buys a cup of "sour cream from the willow" with a few packs of crackers for less than 20 shekels. Nutrient - yes. Healthy - not really. To artificially sweeten the evil of the decree, he adds a bottle of Coke, at a completely Israeli price. These are the things that have a lesson, even when they don't have a replacement brand.
In line to pay, I marvel at the non-existence in the ultra-Orthodox grocery store. A pop song plays in Arabic in the background, without it disturbing who the writer is coming. It will take a few minutes for a headscarf worker to emerge from the product shelves and answer her mobile phone in Arabic. All goodness or abundance Zevulun, every writer has his own Ramsey.
Valley of the Unequal
I'm sitting by the bus stop. Many local residents take advantage of public transport. One of the residents of Ridges wonders what I am doing on the spot. When he hears about the Arnona fund, he shows impressive knowledge of the subject. It is precisely here at street level that I understand how essential the issue is to the lives of local residents: "The Arnona Fund is a Band-Aid. It solves a specific problem, but not the essence. If we want to solve the problem in depth, we need to redistribute land and resources throughout Israel. The first thing we need to start issuing is to distribute municipal taxes on natural resources equally.
"It is inconceivable that ORL will pollute our air and transfer all their municipal taxes to one municipal authority, when in fact we are sitting next to them on the ridges. After all, it's not like the toxic winds will reach our road, check who they belong to in terms of municipal taxes, and then blow to it in order to pollute its air. Nesher takes ORL's revenues and says they have a lot of work to do, but I know that ORL doesn't produce a lot of garbage. What do they have there, a few cups of coffee and offices? In a residential building in Givat Shmuel, garbage removal costs are higher.
"ORL is net income for them. That's how you have a local authority bursting with money that can pour it on the residents, and then they talk about the fact that the ultra-Orthodox in the kollels are supported by 500 shekels, is that fair?" He wonders, "Why aren't municipal taxes from all natural resources in Israel distributed equally among all citizens of the country? Why does the Dead Sea belong to the Tamar Regional Council? So I understand they have to take care of it, OK, give them some edge, but you can't give them everything. Even here in the valley there is inequality. The fact that the Zevulun Regional Council gave us all this land for residential development means demanding, since housing for the ultra-Orthodox is beautiful and great, but where are the commercial and business areas? So what did the Sages do in installing them? If the government had an interest in arranging something properly here, they would give us a fishing rod, and not give us a pot of fish once every few years. If a person is hungry, does it help that you give him an original Lacoste shirt? There is no real logic in the Arnona fund, but it is a start. In fact, this is the Band-Aid of the beginning so that we maybe, perhaps, one day live here together in a balanced way." When I ask for his name and ask to take a picture, he kindly refuses. "That's the only thing I'm missing now, that all those with the money will chase me," the man smiles and disappears.
Making a U-turn
In the middle of ridges, Ovadia Yosef Street meets Yosef Ovadia Street. Among them is a square in honor of the Marne. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's books have become a huge statue, and on the table in the square sits the famous hat of the Maran as a flowerpot. One of the guys at the bus stop jokes that he gave the name of the main street at the entrance to the city to a Spaniard, because soon a new central entrance to the community will open directly from Route 6. On the building that will welcome visitors to the city from the new interchange, the municipal authority wrote a reminder of a great precept in the Torah - "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Bloigrund takes me on a tour of the new part of Rechasim, which is supposed to house the tens of thousands of new ultra-Orthodox Jews who may benefit from Tel Aviv and Haifa's municipal taxes. We walk through blocks from the 50s and run-down agency houses on one side, and multi-storey villa neighborhoods with beautiful forest views on the other, until we finally overlook the new ridges from a hill.
"Look at what urban thinking is. The Horseshoe neighborhood was planned so that the buildings would be towards the surrounding landscape, and in the center there would be all the public buildings. Above each kindergarten there will be a public building and parks. We concentrated all the schools in one valley so that everyone would be easy to reach and would not need dozens of buses all over the city. It's smart planning, but the Greens are killing us. For every meter we try to build on, they submit reservations."
And what solution do they offer you? Where will the ultra-Orthodox live?
"As far as they are concerned, they will be launched on the moon, as long as the forest remains. But really, what a beautiful landscape to live against?"
The earthworks people work in full dust to dress the Land of Israel with the concrete and cement it deserves. Soon the contractors will start marketing the many apartments. Everything is here as in the mirror world, an Israeli renewal from the anxious side of the map. At one of the bends stands a sign selling apartments to the Hazon Ish neighborhood. If you were thinking of crowded affordable housing, here the vision is painted in gold with molded letters, and the model houses present a wide-edged Haredi lifestyle from the Good Life channel, another testament to how profound the change Haredi society undergoes from within when you can't see. I wonder how much an apartment costs, and where will the ultra-Orthodox who don't work have money to fund a lifestyle vision of a golden man on the path of faith?
"Contrary to the stereotype, there are also people among us with money and businesses around the world. So it's a shame that they aren't allowed to do business in their city as well. When we approached the Ministry of Housing with a request to increase the commercial space in the zoning plan, they objected and said that because Haifa is a business center, our realization ability is low, so they don't approve more commercial space for us. It's crazy. Even after all the commercial construction, we will have a ratio of 3.6 business square meters per capita, instead of a proper ratio of 15-10 business square meters per capita. Other than that, you have to look at the big picture. The share of women working in Haredi society is much higher than their share in the general population in Israel. Every morning, several buses of women leave the ridges for the defense industries, and one of them even received an award for a secret development. So yes, we live a little differently from you, but if you walk around here you will also see jet skis in some parking. Haredi society is undergoing a major change.
"Today it is estimated that the ultra-Orthodox are already a million and 200,40 people. How many of them are Avrachim who don't work? About 30,<>-<>,<> people? But what about everything else? Why are you suffocating them financially? Look at the local newspaper and you'll see training courses for software testers, which is an area where you can also work from home for half a day and study for half a day."
אבל כדי לבדוק תוכנה או לתכנת בהייטק, לא צריך לדעת אנגלית ומתמטיקה? מה יש לכם נגד לימודי ליבה, בעצם?
"אין לנו שום דבר נגד מתמטיקה ואנגלית. אם זה היה כל מה שהיו רוצים ללמד, נראה לך שהיינו מתנגדים? אבל כשכל שר חינוך מתחלף וקובע לנו 'ליבה' חדשה של לימודים שאמורים לחנך אותנו, ברור שלא נסכים. אצל החרדים יש שני דברים, יש מה שאני רוצה ומה שאני עושה. וזה לא מתוך עצימת עיניים. האידיאלי זה שהבן אדם יישב וילמד תורה, אבל בפרקטיקה זה משתנה. בפועל יש כיום די הרבה חוגים אחר הצהריים לאנגלית ולמתמטיקה. גם עלינו יש השפעה סביבתית, ותרבות המערב נכנסה גם אצלנו. אם היית אומר לי לפני עשר שנים שחרדים ייסעו לחו"ל פעמיים בשנה או יותר הייתי צוחק, אבל כולנו משתנים. פעם אמי היתה מתקנת חורים בגרביים, היום מי מתקן גרביים בכלל?
"הציבור החרדי לא מנותק ולא רוצה להיות מנותק מהחברה הישראלית. לכן כל כך חשוב לא להשאיר אותו מאחור. יש לנו ארץ כל כך קטנה וכל כך הרבה ריבים, ולא צריך להוסיף עוד. אני לא בעד שיורידו את החזקים כדי לחזק את החלשים. אנחנו לא רובין הוד, אנחנו בסך הכל רוצים את האפשרות לעמוד על הרגליים שלנו ולהתפתח בעצמנו בדרכנו, ובזמן שלנו".
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו