The Ministry of Education appears unwilling to permit the Zluznik and Ladaas Chachma seminaries (High schools) in Elad to continue with their discriminatory policies. The story began when ministry officials learned that over 100 Ashkenazi and Sephardi girls from Elad, all Beis Yaakov graduates, are barred from the only seminaries in the chareidi city because their parents work. Kikar Shabbos reports that in the case of some of the girls, their parents do not work by dad is an avreich, but they are Sephardim and not Ashkenazim.
While the Knesset Education Committee is expected to convene in two weeks to discuss the matter, it appears Education Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Naftali Bennett is not about to permit the schools to lock out the girls for the 5776 school year. The ministry feels the problematic school is Zluznik, which was the first to implement the regulation that the parents of students may not work, with Ladaas Chachma simply following the lead.
According to the information available, the ministry is getting tough in its effort to bring an end to the discrimination in schools around the country. Teachers employed in the school will be summoned for a hearing and informed their license to teach is being revoked as they are teaching in a school that operates in violation of the law as well as being a school that was served with a closure order, which the ministry is issuing as well.
The ministry is attacking from a number of fronts as it is cutting off all funding to the school as well as funding to the ‘Beis Yaakov HaChadash’ in Ashdod, the parent school of Zluznik in Elad. Perhaps the harshest sanction is that the school is being closed for violating the law, which means the ministry is bringing Israel Police into the picture and not permitting the directors to deal with only an administrative situation, which is now becoming a criminal investigation. This may lead to the arrest of school administrators, somewhat similar to what took place in 2010 regarding the discrimination in Emanuel, which led to arrests and a major chareidi protest on Yirmiyahu Street in Yerushalayim.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
With such school policies who would want their children being educated at such a corrupt institution?! Home school them, bus them out of town, do anything else but not a day in this type of school. The govt. gotta find some way to end this nonsense.
If it is a hareidi school, meaning one that refuses to accept government money, they should be able to ignore the Ministry if they want to limit their enrollment to kollel families.
If it is a school that accepts government money, and from what the article says that seems to be the case, they aren’t really hareidi – and byaccepting funding from the medinah they agreed to follow the medinah’s rules (that is how governments do things), not to mention the classic principle “He who pays the fiddler, calls the tune”.
Discriminating against non-kollel families is probably a dumb idea economically, but that should be the privilege of a private non-state insitution.
Are these schools part of the Eidis Hareidis, or part of the Agudah/Degel ha-Torah/Shas grouping of hareidi style instituitons that seek out and accept money from the medinah?
To akuperma: Do you consider Bais Yaakov schools in EY to not be chareidi? I find that hard to believe. Yes, there are people who are against the medina who have set up private schools for their daughters to attend, but those are mostly chassidic groups and it would not seem that a city such as Elad could have two private seminaries and no regular Bais Yaakov seminaries. The students of Bais Yaakov come from chareidi families of all types, including Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Chassidim, and many have fathers who sit and learn in kollel and also some that work.
Now I cannot imagine how a seminary can demand that neither parent work. How can a family pay their bills? Can will they be able to afford maslulim for their daughters after they finish their first four years of seminary? How will they marry them off (at all, much less to a ben Yeshivah)? Maybe they consider teaching and being a ganenet “not working”. Halevai that we should all be able to get such jobs and keep ourselves in kodesh environments all day, but unfortunately not everybody is suited for such work nor is such work available for all the thousands of BY graduates that want such work. Many have to take other types of jobs in order to help support their husbands who are learning.
To #2:
“If it is a school that accepts government money … they aren’t really hareidi.”
Then, a priori, the Chazon Ish, Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, the Tschibiner Rav, should I continue?, aren’t really gedolei Torah, right? Chas ve’shalom.
It does not matter whether the scools in question accept government funding or not, they still must obey the law.
I still wonder where the idea that Charedi families should not work originated. Even Rashi worked for a living to support his family.
They idea of work OR learn, but not both is a total cop-out for inherently lazy people.
Don’t understand what’s the fuss all about – 100 girls can open their own school and show the 2 other ones how they can make it better and frummer…
Unfortunately these to seminaries have gone too far and crossed the red line in a way that will affect all hareidy schools and chadorim – school rules like no TV/Internet, Znius, no secular magazines etc will be very difficult to implement. Even chassidic schools will have problems to stick to their own community. Hashem should help tens of thousands of children should not suffer spiritually and emotianally from this mess.
If they are licensed by government and there are non discrimination laws. No they can not pull there licenses and close the school
When it is hit with criminal sanctions it doesn’t matter if it’s an Edah school or chinuch Atzmai school…
Glad that finally tough action is being taken against these schools!