HaRav Yosef Yechiel Bamberger of Haifa last week informed avreichim of the Nachlas HaLevi’im Kollel in the N’vei Sha’anan neighborhood of the city, which he heads, that anyone with internet in their home or using a non-kosher cellular telephone may no longer be eligible for kollel funds.
The rav’s kollel is the largest in the city, Chadrei Chareidim reports, and payment for avreichim is better than in most kollelim. The rav explained that any avreich accepting kollel funds and does not comply with the conditions is simply stealing money.
Immediately after announcing his conditions, 60 avreichim signed forms committing to abide by the takanah of the kollel. One who does not agree to sign will be compelled to leave the kollel.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Unfortunately, the charedi community in Israel is founded upon a culture of institutionalized lying. I tell you this as an insider, not an outside critic.
Every parent signs various takanonim at the schools, even though both the school and the parents know that it is a lie. It as if the litmus test for acceptance into a school is not what you do, but whether you’ll be complicit with the culture of lying that is the foundation of the society.
There are schools where parents sign that they don’t have a computer, but the school sends weekly communication via email. Go figure.
There are far more egregious examples, but just about anyone who lives in Israel can tell you about it.
Note that the Kollel is a PRIVATE organization, and private organizations are free to make their own rules. That’s what having a non-government sector is all about. If the Kollels in Eretz Yisrael were all government agencies, the government would control them but since they get their money from private sources, they aren’t under anyone’s control but their board of directors. One reason the hilonim are desperate to conscript the yeshiva students is that enough of the people learning are doing so with private funds, that merely cutting off benefits won’t accomplish its goal of destroying Limud ha-Torah in Eretz Yisrael.
One should note that for many years, most yeshiva student had neither telephones nor internet, and got along quite well.