MK (Yahadut HaTorah) R’ Menachem Eliezer Moses acted expeditiously, achieving the intended results, funding from Jerusalem City Hall for 1,137 chareidi sector classrooms.

Moses turned to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, explaining the chareidi schools are experiencing difficulties obtaining funding from the Ministry of Education due to the lack of planning on the municipal level, resulting in the mayor announcing an allocation of NIS 5 million for the chareidi sector schools.

About a month ago, Moses addressed the critical shortage of chareidi classrooms in the capital during a Knesset Education Committee meeting, seeking funding from the ministry. The mayor confirmed the facts, explaining there is a shortage of at least 1,000 classrooms.

The mayor first reported to the Knesset committee on May 13, 2009, explaining the critical shortage of classrooms in the chareidi sector, prompting the Education Ministry to request a formal plan from Jerusalem for the classrooms. Jerusalem planning officials report that such a plan has yet to be formulated and if one does exist, they have yet to see it. A plan from the city was submitted last year, a plan that addressed 120 new classrooms.

When Moses was referred to the mayor by ministry officials regarding his request for funding, he became infuriated, stuck between a rock and a hard place, turning to the mayor to act to correct the situation. The mayor responded to the call and allocated the funding, telling Moses he remains committed to bringing an end to the discriminatory situation that exists in the city regarding the state of the chareidi mosdos.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)