A total of 120,000 students are learning at 1,860 yeshivas and kollelim in Eretz Yisroel, which amounts to at least 19 million hours per month based on the standard schedule. The statistics were gathered by the Eretz Yisroel Yated Ne’eman with the help of the Union of Yeshiva Directors.
The yeshivos ketanos (approximate ages 14-17) account for 28,000 students while the yeshivos gedolos (approximate ages 17-marriage (22?)) account for 32,000, including 8,000 from outside of Eretz Yisroel.
Full-day kollelim have 60,000 avreichim, including 5,000 from abroad. Four thousand are enrolled at half-day kollelim, with 250 students from abroad (these figures also include full-time students who split their time between two half-day kollelim). Another 330 avreichim study at special kollelim set up to train them to serve as rabbonim or dayonim.
According to the standard kollel schedule, the typical avreich learns 140 hours a month within the kollel framework, meaning the 60,000 avreichim in Eretz Yisroel learn a total of 8.4 million hours per month. At the yeshivas the learning schedule comes to 180 hours per month, meaning the 60,000 yeshiva students learn a total of 10.8 million hours per month. Of course these figures do not include learning at other times of the day and night and on weekends.
All of the above data excludes thousands of yeshiva and kollel students at institutions that receive no government funding and are therefore not included in the statistics.
The figures reflect a substantial rise in the number of lomdei Torah learning full-time despite various trials and impediments. Such large numbers are unprecedented in Eretz Yisroel, say roshei yeshivos and roshei kollelim, noting the mesirus nefesh of thousands of avreichim who overcome nisyonos from both without and within the chareidi camp and continue to devote their time to the hallowed tents of Torah.
Meanwhile the heads of the various institutions must wage constant battles against Reform organizations, legal advisors and government ministries who seek ways to reduce their numbers by curtailing funding, which has become especially burdensome of late due to the 30-percent decline in the value of the dollar. The sharp decline in the value of the dollar means that even someone whose overseas support remains steady, has lost about a quarter of its value.
Despite all the challenges, yeshiva and kollel heads keep their institutions going strong and are even adding more benches to the botei medrash — lehagdil Torah uleha’adiroh.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni says that the yeshivos ketanos the roshei yeshivos and the yeshiva managers wage unremitting budget battles following a series of High Court petitions over budget matters, but they continue to stand firm, maintaining Torah institutions through their mesirus nefesh. Even attempts to cut funding for foreign yeshiva students, kollel students and the entire yeshiva system have failed, largely through efforts by UTJ to torpedo these moves.
Thus despite all of the challenges it faces the Torah world is flourishing and the botei medrash continue to grow, in keeping with the Torah’s holy promise: “Ki lo sishokach mipi zar’o” (Devorim 31:21).
(Yechiel Sever for Dei’ah veDibur)
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18 Responses
This is great statistics and lets keep the learning going.
These are our soilders fighting the Milchemta Shel Torah helping keep Eretz Yisroel and Klal Yisroel safe.
כן ירבו
B”H. Kein Yirbu.
Never in jewish history has there been such figures of full time learners! Ken yirbu.
#8
In view of what gater very correctly said in #2:
“These are our soilders fighting the Milchemta Shel Torah helping keep Eretz Yisroel and Klal Yisroel safe.”
the Israeli gouvernment would be wise not to cut back for their very own interests. The Limud Hatorah should be viewed as part of the Security arrangements of the State because in reality that is exactly what it is.
#8
In view of what gater very correctly said in #2:
“These are our soldiers fighting the Milchemta Shel Torah helping keep Eretz Yisroel and Klal Yisroel safe.”
the Israeli government would be wise not to cut back funding for their very own interests because this is part of the security arrangements for the State. The Limud Hatorah should be viewed by the government as part of the security arrangements because in reality that is exactly what it is. The more they come to understand this and the more they begin to look at issues with the lenses of our timeless eternal Torah, the sooner Moshiach will come.
KINAYNA HARA!!! KAIN YIRBU!!POO POO POOO
That the typical kollel student studies 140 hours a month means they learn an average of 35 hours a week or 7 hours a day on a 5 day schedule, i.e. no weekend learning. If you have a job ask yourself whether that is in fact a hard schedule. And Israel has a 6 day work-week meaning they only learn about 5 3/4 hours per day. And that is an average; meaning while some work far more presumably, some also work far LESS.
There are 1,860 yeshivot for 120,000 students. Meaning an average of under 65 persons per yeshiva. Each yeshiva requires not only rabbis but administration. And some are much bigger meaning some must therefore, again, be much smaller.
All of this gets paid for by Israeli tax dollars. Not once is there any sense of gratitude in this article to the State or its citizens who pay for it. No the mesirah is all done by the students who get paid to learn about 5 3/4 hours a day. Worst of all, the money is seen as an entitlement.
One last thing, and I am hoping someone from Israel can answer this, the article reports that there are 32,000 in yeshivot gedolot and an additional 60,000 in kollel. All paid for by government money. Can someone tells me what is done to assure that this money is actually going for useful learning. I mean if the state is paying for someones 20th year of schooling they have a right to know its not actually being wasted on conversation. What standards are there? Are we trusting 1,860 institutions … which have an interest in continuing to receive state funds … to monitor this themselves.
NeveAliza, I very much believe they referred to regular hours and not שעות זמניות (nor should it matter, however, much since on average it should work out about the same). As for travel time, people who work at any other job also do not include travel time.
At the end of the day, the documented average hours that kollel members learned according to Yated is unimpressive. Certainly it does not indicate excellence. Paid for with unappreciated tax dollars.
People talk of zchut. If money is grudgingly given by the Israeli government to maintain their coalitions and accepted as an entitlement by those received; if the results are mediocre learning (and that learning is kept largely confined in specific communities anyway), no other job skills and communities with inadequate income and dependent on the largesse of others; just how much is this zchut really? Where is this heading?
In this article, I only see an accounting of hours in attendance, nothing about if anything was accomplished. Plus, the hours in attendance per day are not too impressive. These students do not seem to be over taxing themselves. Some may see this article as reporting wonderful news, I see an attitude whining that is very unbecoming.
hagtbg:
You make assumptions not necesarily based on fact.
1)Who says the money is not appreciated?
2)There are so many who learn literally day and night way, way beyond 35 hrs. a week contrary to your assumption.
3)As far as waste of time which you talk about, don’t forget that the boys who waste time are usually throw out.
So just cool your engines and also realize how much the State benefits from the Limud Hatorah. As I mentioned above the Israeli government would be wise not to cut back funding for their very own interests because this is part of the security arrangements for the State. The Limud Hatorah should be viewed by the government as part of the security arrangements because in reality that is exactly what it is. The more they come to understand this and the more they begin to look at issues with the lenses of our timeless eternal Torah, the sooner Moshiach will come. This does not mean to suggest that there should not be appreciation for the money. It’s a two way street where everybody benefits.
“All of this gets paid for by Israeli tax dollars”
Not exactly. The government gives a grand total of a whopping 700 NIS/month (~$150) to each kollel student. Not exactly enough to pay the rent.
Most money for Kollelim comes from Hachzokas haTOrah of Chutz L’Oretz/Working wives/Nissim v’Nifloas etc.
Yeshivos are suported more and truth to tell I do not know the numbers but I beleive that w/o donations from Chutz l’oretz the Yeshivos would not function.
Now for Chadorim there is a different story. Here the state actually provides very substantial funds (much less than public schools, but still substantial). But this must be expected after all it would be dicrimination to fund one sector and not the other (they support the arabs and cristians and who knows what else too). These monies are not meant to perpetuate Torah but part of the states overall educational budget. And this is why now the state has placed newe demands on the chadorim which Gedolei Yisroel across the spectrum have rejected.
They were always just biding their time until they felt that they could pull the rug out from under and thereby swallow up the frum educational system.
This is one reason why Edah Charidis institutions never took state money – an addiction is a hard thing to wean off of.
Amd of course everone knows that all of these funds are the result of putrid Knesset parliamentary-so-called-democratic powerbroking- horsetrading. (Chilonim rightfully hate this stuff)
Now I personally agree that since CHaredim offically at least do not hold from the state – even those that vote – and theefor do not serve in the army etc. etc. so we cannot really place demands on an entity we do not identify or participate in.
And the best attitude is shut up and enjoy while the free lunch lasts – as meager as the free lunch may be it is still something and count your blessings – do not complain during the lunch nor after the cook has decided he wants to go home.
But that being said, it is simply a canard to state that the state ‘supports’ Torah, much less does so with any sense of lishmoh.
SO bottom line, the good news from this article is that 60 years after BG, sry, said there was no reason to force Yeshina studetns into the army because at the time it was SO OBVIOUS to any one living that the shabby pathtic golus Jew with his outdated… had no answers for the Zionist Juggernouat and it would just peter out by itself (with somehelp of ocurse of Yemenite baby nappings, and Holocaust orphan payos forcibly shaved off and other forced shmads on those unable to protect themselves and other persecutions)
despite all this – not only has Torah Jewry in the state not cholila died out – it is at least in numbers the strongest it has been for a long long time.
We need to think of this Nes every day every time we say
“Lo Yomushu miPcho umiPi Zaracho u’mipi zera zaracha me’Atoh v’Ad Olam”
Yes it has been a difficult 60 years or 100 years if you will, and there have been many losses and much damage inflicted – shchoira ani v’novo – but we must say – Boruch Hashem the Baby is still kickin’ strong. And against that mindboggling metzius, all pales.
Mi k’Amcho Yisroel.
lawrenceyid,
1. The article says the money is not appreciated. The money is treated as an entitlement. (“must wage constant battles”)
2. The article gives the figures I use: 35 hours a week. That means for every person that learns day and night there is another person or two or three receiving funding but learning less then 35 hours. The Yated gave those number; if they were not proud of them they would not have printed it. Really though, they should have been covering this up.
(And the worst part is that its really doubtful the government inspects 1,860 yeshivos. That means the schools have great leeway in putting down whatever attendance numbers they like. For that matter so do the Union of Yeshiva Directors and Yateed. And they have no incentive to underestimate.)
3. Evidently those who waste time are not thrown out because the average numbers remain 60,000 kollel students learning an average of 35 hours per week. (And ‘learning’ really just means being present at yeshiva.)
As for the rest of your comments you can say that but who really knows. All I know is that 35 hours per week shows a system full of waste.
I never understood how these students are defending the state when they can’t even provide for themselves. Their lifestyle depends on deals made with in-laws, , the government, and charity.
If they had real Betachon, they wouldn’t constantly be whining about money and where it is coming from.
I feel urged to point out that if someone doesn’t go to the army, it is not indicative of hs stance on the legitamacy of the medinna. There are other reasons that most frum erliche Yiden do not go to the army in Israel.
With regards to gov. funding, only Hashem can make chshbonos for their actions and results, including the reasons and interests displayed.
Have a good Shabbos!
another point, based on his postings elsewhere, hagtbg seems to be in the ranks of Korach; “kol haedah kulam kedoshim…” We know what happened to him. You should comment more on jpost or ynet. This is the Yeshiva World, if you do not beleive in Tora shebaal pe, it is not for you.