Every year during the Knesset’s summer recess, renovations are carried out in the building. During the three months of vacation, the employees of the Knesset spend their days on the job as usual, although there isn’t much work for them to do.
The Knesset has almost 700 regular employees who are not affiliated with the lawmakers themselves or with any government ministers. These workers include gardeners, electricians, stenographers, ushers, and security guards.
There is one thing about the Knesset that is very nice: Every employee feels that he is part of a large family. Everyone who works in the Knesset, from the legal advisor of a Knesset committee to the average worker in the printing department, feels a sense of connection to his fellow employees. The Knesset printing department, it should be noted, is deserving of an article in its own right. Most of the department’s members wear yarmulkas; one of them even lives in Mattersdorf. It is one of the most widely admired departments of the Knesset, providing services to everyone affiliated with the parliament, and it is also one of the most efficient departments. The Knesset saves huge sums of money by having all its printing work done within the building itself.
The sense of family among the Knesset members is even more pronounced among those who are religious. This is something that is evident at the tefillos in the Knesset every day. Dozens of employees daven in the Knesset shul every day. On a regular workday in the Knesset, they are joined by the parliamentarians themselves and their aides. It is very pleasant to watch as the Knesset speaker sits among everyone else at the daily minyanim, without the slightest pretense of superiority. Things were not always that way.
The Knesset shul is one of the parts of the building that will be renovated this summer. It will be expanded significantly, and a removable wall will be installed so that it can be enlarged even further when necessary. This expansion has been requested for years, but these requests have gone unheeded. This year, it is finally underway. That is what happens when the Knesset speaker is one of the mispallelim in the shul.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
