Some 5,000 students have left Jerusalem’s Paris Square and are marching towards Zion Square as part of a protest against the yeshiva student funding bill – allotting millions in state funds to yeshiva students, which they say is a discriminating measure.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement Monday in the backdrop of the student protest which noted that the government is addressing the yeshiva students issue in accordance with governmental practice of the past 30 years.
The statement also noted that the government is working to encourage the integration of yeshiva students into the work force. It was mentioned that students will enjoy a NIS 1.3 billion ($360 million) budget addition in the next two years.
Meanwhile, MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) responded to a call to students by the Hebrew University’s president, urging them to protest against the bill granting yeshiva students stipend.
“Before he protests the yeshiva students’ stipends, he should at least reduce his distinguished salary, as well as those of the university’s senior professors,” Gafni said. “No one is supervising the wages of the university heads, or their flights abroad and benefits.”
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(Source: Ynet)
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6 Responses
While there’s no question that many of these protestors, and Israeli seculars at large, do not appreciate Talmud Torah and some would even do away with it all together, NONETHELESS, they do have a very valid point in this case.
This doesn’t mean that I ‘take their side’ as I would not ally myself with people who do not value Torah. But can’t we, frum Jews, recognize that it is financially hurting Israel to support a growing population of Charedim that use up so many of its resources?
Don’t we see the animosity this primitive system is causing? While we cannot, and should not, cave into every secular request for the sake of shalom bayis, in this instance, we must call a spade a spade and realize they have a point regarding this hypocrisy and crippling approach which is hidden behind a veil of Torah.
As much as I want money for Torah, I kind of hear they’re argument too. They’re putting they’re lives on the line for the country for at least three years after high school, not able to start college until then, not able to begin making money for who knows how long, and they don’t get a stipend? I’m not saying I would vote against the bill, but it is very controversial, and I do hear both sides.
Since they believe that learning Torah is merely an antiquarian hobby, from their perspective, it is wrong for the government to subsidize other people’s hobbies. After all, if some of them like stamp collecting or reading fantasy literature, or hiking, we would object if the government subsidized them to pursue their hobbies – and that is how they see it. From their perspective, they are rational. They are not evil, just different.
The problem is an irreconcilable difference between us and them. We are two peoples, with two distinct cultures. The various outwards symptons (riots, demonstrations, etc.) are mere evidence. The future of Klal Yisrael is either Tel Aviv or Yerusalayim – and its probably a zero sum game.
Did anyone read “B’Mechitzasam” the book about the giants of Torah in Eretz Yisrael and their views about issues pertaining to observant Yidden there? The Brisker Rav believed that the Torah that would be learned and observed in E.Y. would serve as the only source of protection for them. The secular medina is actually –even if they themselves don’t believe so–supporting the source of Eretz Yisroel’s continued existence. They can refuse to do so and withdraw funds; and then the true Torah learners may continue to be ‘oseik b’milchamto shel Torah’ with great sacrifice. On a ‘gashmius’ level I can see the point of the secular Jews who protest; with spiritual eyes I can see who is really protecting E.Y. Again that doesn’t mean that the way the secular see it is not valid-as they perceive the situation. And it does not make the Torah community ‘entitled’. It is simply the reality that the true protection of EY is dependent on them–whether they are funded or not.
I think the question here is whether or not those getting the stipend are sincerely studying Torah in a full time intensive manner.
Secular people in America and in Israel don’t find it to be a problem when serious scholars are given University or government grants for advanced study in, for example, micro-biology or nuclear physics.
In the same way I don’t think anyone SHOULD find fault with young talmidei chachamim receiving a grant (or stipend) for advanced Torah studies.
However, – IF they are just taking up time and space sitting in a bais medrash, bat’ling, because they don’t know what else TO do or HAVE nothing else to do, then I would have to agree with the commenters above, that we do, in those cases, have to understand the legitimacy of how chilonim, who are not receiving similar government aid, will feel.
The best graduate students should get very generous stipends as should the best Torah scholars.