The fees charged for various religious services will increase by up to 30 percent under an agreement reached between the Finance and Religious Services ministries on Wednesday, according to a report by Army Radio. The new fees will be enacted 30 days after they are officially published by the Religious Services Ministry, which is still debating their scale. The most notable rise will be in the fee for issuing a marriage license, which will increase from 600 shekels ($168) to NIS 775 ($218). The fee involved in issuing a kashrut license, which the majority of eateries in Israel carry, will go up by 25%, as will the fee charged by the various Chevra Kadisha burial societies nationwide. The ministry also plans to nearly double the fees charged by the various mikvaot across Israel. The Religious Services Ministry said the need to update its fees was a result of the increases in various indices over the past decade.
