Less than a day after Finance Minister (Yesh Atid) Yair Lapid announced he will cut over 300 million NIS from yeshiva funding, Housing Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel announces he will not be a part of harming any yeshivos.
Interestingly, many chareidi media commentators report the anger of the chareidi tzibur is not directed at Lapid, for they know who he is and what he represents, but they are blaming Minister of Industry & Trade (Bayit Yehudi) Naftali Bennett, the leader of the dati leumi party who teamed with Lapid, giving him the post-election backing that led to the exclusion of the chareidi parties from the coalition.
No less interesting is the analysis of non-frum veteran chareidi affairs correspondent Avishai Ben-Chaim, who points out the battle is being fought by Yahadut Hatorah exclusively, as was seen earlier this week in Knesset, explaining that “amazingly and to the credit of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu” he has convinced Shas that in a few weeks it will be able to enter the coalition and in line with this belief, “Shas MKs are sitting on the opposition benches quietly,” permitting Yahadut Hatorah to fight the battle alone.
Ariel on Tuesday 13 Iyar 5773 commented on recent media headlines containing scathing statements against the chareidi tzibur, calling the trend unacceptable. “Along my responsibility to encourage the chareidi tzibur to get out and join the workforce we may not harm the Torah world or the yeshivos” he added. He stresses the state budget has not been passed or approved, adding “I will not be part of any plan causing the financial collapse of yeshivos and the matter will be addressed in depth in committee.”
In the meantime, the Share the Burden Committee headed by Science Minister (Yesh Atid) Yaakov Peri convenes on Wednesday, 14 Iyar once again, moving ahead with plans to cut yeshiva funding. However, the committee has the authority to make recommendations and it cannot implement budget cuts to chareidi mosdos.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
sheim reshaim Yirkov bimheira v’yameinue
I find it highly doubtful that shas is sitting quietly when R Ovadia said this issue is more important than his son’s passing
What does the Ner Yisroel graduate, Lipmann, have to say about all of this?
We are all for limud ha Torah as long as someone else pays for it. There is only so much money in the Israeli budget.Read some of the other articles on the budget and the lack of sufficient resources. We in America should make up the difference to the yeshivos. If we don’t want to, it just shows that Torah is not so important if we have to pay for it.