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|  | Student Mission to Poland Photo: AFP
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| | | | | March of the Living in Auschwitz Photo: AFP
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Hefty price tag for kosher food
Knesset decrees that student delegations to concentration camps will only eat kosher food. Students’ parents to foot the bill
Eran Navon
Joining a student mission to the concentration camps in Poland is an immense honor; albeit an extremely costly one. It now appears, however, that the Knesset's Education, Culture and Sports Committee is about to make this privilege an even more expensive one.
The committee recently ruled that the meals provided to students on such delegations must be kosher. And just who will foot the bill for these considerably more expensive kosher meals? The students’ parents, naturally, who must pay dozens - even hundreds - of extra dollars to send their child on this student mission.
One enraged mother said Tuesday: “This is an outrage. If the state decided on kosher meals, let them fund them.” Yet another parent explained that her son’s school had informed her that the cost of the Poland mission had gone up from $1,100 last year to a current $1,500. This increase, she was told, stems not only from the necessity for kosher food, but also from the relatively low dollar exchange rate.
This marked increase in expedition prices means that some students simply cannot afford to go to Poland. Rupin High School in Emek Hefer reports that 167 students had signed up for the Poland mission prior to the “kosher food” ruling. It is unclear now whether all of these students will be able to participate.
The Ministry of Education stated in response that: “The price bid on the Poland mission is still open. At any rate, the cost of this expedition will only increase by dozens— rather than hundreds— of dollars. The m
inistry is still to contact the various schools involved on this matter. Furthermore, the ministry director is still to hold a formal meeting concerning the kosher food issue.”
MK Michael Melchior, Chairman of the Knesset's Education, Culture and Sports Committee, stated Tuesday that: “There are various reasons for the price increase on the Poland mission, which do not stem from the kosher food alone. The education committee merely decided to enforce a prior Ministry of Education ruling. To the best of my knowledge, parents would only have to pay an extra $50 for kosher food.”
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