The Chinuch Atzmai system and the Emanuel Beis Yaakov are under enormous pressure as the 3 Tammuz High Court of Justice appearance date approaches. All efforts to reach an agreement have failed, despite the involvement of many prominent rabbonim, including Rav Tuvia Blau and even Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Shlomo Amar Shlita, who has been approached as well in the hope of bringing the matter to a conclusion without the court’s interference.
Agudah officials met earlier in the week, expressing their unwillingness to accept any court ruling that will compel a compromise regarding chareidi chinuch. Deputy Minister Meir Porush has adopted a more militant attitude, and vowed if parents are sent to jail, he will move Agudah’s office to the prison gates and maintain a presence there if necessary.
There is also talk of shutting the school as a solution, but some fear the can of worms has been opened and it is too late, that the court’s involvement will be system-wide, impacting Chinuch Atzmai mosdos around the country, not just the beis yaakov in Emanuel.
It now appears that a number of notable Slonimer askanim are preparing a libel suit against Yoav Lalum, who stands at the helm of the Noar K’halacha organization and is responsible for bringing the entire Emanuel Beis Yaakov case to the court. The suit is based on an interview with Lalum on Kol Chai Radio this week, in which he stated that the Beis Yaakov and Slonim receive funds from the International Fellowship of Christians & Jews headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.
The askanim explain that unlike Lalum, they are not moving ahead with the lawsuit until their rabbonim shlita permit such a move, explaining they don’t just act on their own volition as it appears Lalum does.
Lalum in recent days has been interviewed quite a bit on radio, engaging in confrontations with opponents regarding the Beis Yaakov Emanuel.
Interestingly, the weekly BaKehilla, affiliated with Belz chassidus, reports it has received documents showing without a doubt that Lalum’s organization received hundreds of thousands of dollars in assistance from Rabbi Eckstein’s organization. Gedolim in Eretz Yisrael have prohibited accepting such funds, as has Yad L’Achim.
In a related matter, Agudas Yisrael leaders are also concerned regarding another petition filed with the High Court of Justice, by Prof. Uriel Reichman and others, seeking to have the court compel Chinuch Atzmai to include ‘core subjects’ in the curriculum. Leaders of Agudah met this week to decide how to address this suit, which may also place Chinuch Atzmai at odds with the nation’s highest court.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
i am sorry if my comment will offend anyone- i am just stating my opinion.i am not taking sides. i just want to say that in my opinion the chinuch atzmai of today is not the one of yesterday and i feel that if the gedolim of yesterday were here with us,(r kotler tztl for example) they would have all the chinich atzmai schools and this crisis handled according to the passuk drecha darchi noam vchu.
so i am not bothered by the fact that this is getting uglier and uglier.i am a talmid of rav pam. the torah is sweet and peaceful. torah learning is sweet and peaceful. if its the askonim that have allowed the situation in the schools to reach a crisis such as this, let it be written in the history books that it was them that destroyed a vital part of chareidi Judaism in israel and the gedolim will open a new one- call it beis yitzchok instead of beis yaakov maybe and in the new school system , there will be no askonim. or at least ones with yiras shomayim.
There has been a pressing need to restructure our educational system for some time. There has also been an even more pressing need to restructure the court system, especially the Supreme Cult, for even a longer time. Let us hope that both necessities will come out of this mess.
Aryeh Zelasko
Beit Shemesh
#1 how does ‘deruchayai darcai noam’ come into this equation.maybe weshould theow away chelk chosehen mishpat and not make din torahs because ‘deruchaya darkaei noam’?
This article did not specify which parites were supposed to agree with each other in the education of Haredi children.
The parties were the Beis Yaakov Chasidi vs. Yoav Lallum. Do you really expect Yoav Lallum to agree to the Beis Yaakov Chasidi rules? Do you really expect the Beis Yaakov Chasidi parents to aquiesce to Yoav Lallum, who is backed by the anti-religious activist New Israel Fund?
Look at the NIF website and see how much funds they manage to raise under the banner of “fighting for equality”, but really they are raising money to give to lawyers to fight frivolous lawsuits like this.
Like Attorney Mordecahi Bass said in his reposrt on the situation ine Emanuel, “When ethnic discrimination actually occurs, we must combat it with all our might. I express my sorrow about complaints like these – thrown in the air – that increase hatred among Israel , and are totally baseless.”
(In 2008, Attorney Mordechai Bass was sent by Shulamit Amichai of the ministry of education to evaluate the situation in Emanuel. He stated in his report:
“I spoke to the plaintiffs and asked for one instance of parents who asked to register their daughter and was refused and they had no such case.”
“The division was not ethnic, it was religious. I am convinced that there is no ethnic discrimination.” )
I live in Emanuel, an easy target as its members are not well off financially and it is a relatively far distance to travel to, so it is an easy place to lie about. Who will come out here and really check what is happening?