16 Responses

1. I guess the Yesh Atid party is the Israeli equivalent of the Republican party in the US.

2. a least they aren’t taxing the yeshivos, yet

3. Can you let us know how much the budget it for universities so we can compare the insane amount they spend on Anti Jewish education in comparison to real Jewish education.

4. #1–That’s an incredibly ignorant comment. Billy Bob Clinton (a Democrat, if you’re old enough to remember) championed welfare reform, requiring recipients to work or lose their welfare checks. Israel is a secular state, founded by secularists on secular foundations. Indeed, why should the state support yeshivos? Forty years ago, when I was learning in Israel, Israeli bochrim rode for free. As an American, I was required to pay monthly tuition.

5. how exactly does a budget cut of 340 million from an original budget of 1.4 billion result in a new budget of 700 million?

   someone obviously didn’t pass math at school

6. Has anyone else noticed the arithmetic error in this report.

   The report says the old budget was NIS 1.4 billion, budget cut is NIS 340 million. But that would mean the following:

   Old budget: NIS 1,400,000,000
   Budget cut: 340,000,000
   New budget: 1,060,000,000

   But the report says the new budget has only 700,000,000 for yeshivos. Maybe some of the yeshiva reductions should go to arithmetic.

7. #4 — you are comparing stipends to yeshiva students to welfare in the US? The real ignorance is your getting a President’s name wrong.

   #3 — Sorry you think that universities are anti-Jewish. The many university-educated gedolim might disagree with you. But you do make an interesting point. I looked up the 2011 Israeli budget on the Finance Ministry web site and found that the higher education budget is about 7.5 billion shekels per year, a bit more than five the amounts referenced here. A quick Wikipedia search produced an estimate of 180,000 students in Israel’s universities. Given that the number of yeshiva students in Israel is a lot more than 1/5 that number, one can seriously argue that yeshivas are UNDERfunded.

8. #7- the universities that the university educated Gedolim are not the liberal brainwashing machines that they are now.. back in those days the universities actually educated people..

9. I’ll start refrencing charlie first b/c its my favorite hobby, to bash liberals.

   For months I’ve been wondering where you were when Nobama was losing support left and right (anyone remember 2010?) And now you’re back with your misinformation and spins. Anyone realize that its the democrats in the us that are against vouchers for yeshiva tuition so yesh atid is more like democrats

   Next on to my next favorite pastime, MATH the report says 1.04 billion (or 1,040,000,000. 700 million + 340 million equals 1,040 million or 1,040,000 learn math people.

10. Actually, they have already knocked off 20% of the funding provided to avreichim (I’m not referring to the other municipal subsidies allotted to public buildings that some yeshiva buildings qualify for). The paltry 900 NIS monthly that used to go to each avreich through his kollel from the government was reduced to 720 NIS as of January.
    No announcement, no complaints.

11. “For months I’ve been wondering where you were when Nobama was losing support left and right”

    Spending more time in the beit midrash and campaigning for Obama. 😉

    “its the democrats in the us that are against vouchers for yeshiva tuition ”

    I support repealing all the Blaine Amendments and giving religious schools direct government funding for the secular education they teach. This is done in parts of Canada and in many European countries and it works well there. This will never happen as long as the religious community continues to ally only with right wing extremists whose goal in establishing voucher systems is to destroy public schools and unions. The natural allies should be the urban minority parents whose children are stuck in substandard public schools, and the teachers unions who would like to help their members in private schools get better pay and benefits. We need to decide: Judaism, or right wing extremism?

12. “the universities that the university educated Gedolim are not the liberal brainwashing machines that they are now.. back in those days the universities actually educated people”

    Most professors in undergraduate institutions are happy when their students show up for class and do their homework assignments; most undergraduate students are too much into partying and drinking to pay attention to any brainwashing attempts (which I have yet to encounter in my decades in academia).

13. Charliehall, you’re in acedemia? No wonder you sound the way you do!

14. I have gone through the college system within past decade and from the 12 professors of humanities 10 were trying (successfully with most students) to brainwash everyone into religion of liberalism. One of their tactics entailed implying about everyone (except for Muslims of course)who has not yet “converted” some sort of primitivism of thought. I suppose that sentiment is really the only thing that compels some less confident elements of orthodox intellectuals to side with them.

15. No. 9: I stand by my comment no. 6, and I expect a thank-you note from the editors of YWN, who read my comment, checked their source and made a correction. As originally posted, the article reported the old budget was “1.4 billion.” And if the YWN editors don’t want to be bothered writing a thank-you note and suffering through my corrections of their grammar and syntax, they can send me a modestly priced bottle of single-malt Scotch.

16. To No. 9 – one more thing: Get another hobby. Yes, I remember 2012. Do you remember 2012?