Knesset’s Va’adat HaChinuch (Educational Committee), the government’s highest ranking body overseeing the country’s education, held an unprecedented hearing this Tuesday morning to deal with the saga of Shuvu’s Kfar Saba School.

Knesset members of numerous party factions make up the Educational Committee. MK Zev Elkin of the Kadima party chaired the meeting. MKs Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, Rabbi Meir Porush, and Rabbi Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism were present, as well as Rabbi Avraham Michaeli and Rabbi Chaim Amsalem of Shas. Alex Miller of the Yisrael Beiteinu party also took a keen interest in the situation.

Shuvu administrators, Shuvu Kfar Saba parents, Ministry of Education officials, Kfar Saba Municipality officials, and Histadrut representatives participated in the meeting.

From its inception, the Shuvu Kfar Saba school was considered to be a threat by the municipality, and, as such it did not issue the school a license to operate. One violation after another was issued to the school, even when it adhered to all safety and health requirements.

Recently the municipality held a meeting to unilaterally determine the school’s future. Shortly into the meeting all Shuvu representatives and parents were asked to leave so that deliberations could continue without their presence. It was then decided that the municipality would issue a Closure Order.

Subsequent to this meeting the municipality sent threatening letters to all Shuvu parents in Kfar Saba. Being that the municipality issued a Closer Order for the school, in their eyes it is now operating illegally. Therefore all parents who send their children to Shuvu are thereby guilty of assisting their children with truancy. The municipality therefore dispatched letters to Shuvu parents that they should register their children in government schools for the coming school year or stand the risk of being arrested!

Mr. Yuval Levi, chairman of the Shuvu Kfar Saba Parents’ Association, held up this letter from the municipality and exclaimed, “My wife was born in Russia. Her grandfather was forced to study elsewhere when the communists shut down his cheder. I would expect a letter like this from communists in 1917, not from the State of Israel in 2007!”

MK Zev Elkin called the meeting to order and reminded everyone that the committee had met in November 2006 regarding Shuvu. At that meeting, Ministry of Education representatives praised and lauded Shuvu’s achievements and expressed great admiration for the work the school network is doing across the country. Mr. Elkin then verbalized his wonder at why those same Ministry of Education representatives participated in the Kfar Saba Municipality clandestine meeting and assisted those officials to contrive “legal” excuses for shutting down the Shuvu school.

The answer of the Ministry of Education representative was unsatisfactory. It was apparent to all that the municipality, in cahoots with the Ministry of Education, was conspiring to remove Shuvu from the equation. The Education Ministry representative herself stated that as an ever-growing number of secular native Israeli parents enroll their children in Shuvu schools, the threat to the government school system is becoming more and more pronounced.

The mayor of Kfar Saba, Mr. Yehuda Ben Chamu, chose not to attend this hearing, anticipating the offensive approach the Knesset members would utilize with him. In his stead, the mayor sent Mr. Eyal Yonian, the municipality’s Director General. Try as he might to defend the city’s position, Mr. Yonian could not provide a satisfactory explanation why the Shuvu school was being hounded in such a manner.

MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni was rather fierce in his attack of Mr. Yonian. “You don’t want Shuvu in your city due to your bias against frum Jews. And this is in direct opposition to 200 parents, all residents of your city”, exclaimed Rabbi Gafni. “Rest assured Mr. Director General of Kfar Saba, that no matter what, the Shuvu school will not only exist in Kfar Saba, it will thrive!” MK Rabbi Gafni explained that he views this as a potential precedent for other religious schools, and as such he is determined to fight this to the end.

MK Zev Elkin obtained the protocol of the recent Kfar Saba municipality meeting. Quotes from the protocol were rather shocking –

“Chareidim have no place in our city.”

“Other schools have taken cheilonim (secular) and turned them into religious Jews; we can’t allow Shuvu to operate.”

MK Rabbi Avraham Michaeli declared, “On numerous occasions, I along with other Knesset members, attempted to reach the mayor of Kfar Saba by phone prior to this meeting. He wouldn’t take our calls, nor would he return them.”

Testimony was heard that currently there are three school buildings in Kfar Saba that are not being utilized. The MKs called upon Mr. Yonian to relay their strong recommendation to the municipality that one such building should be allocated immediately to Shuvu.

MK Alex Miller of Yisrael Beiteinu stated that Ratzon (will) to help is what’s needed – If there’s a will, there’s a way.  If the municipality truly wanted to help Shuvu, there would be no issues. He called upon the municipality to put all bias aside so that the school could start the school year in a proper manner.

MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, veteran proponent of Jewish education, exhorted Mr. Yonian to issue a license to Shuvu for the coming year. Rabbi Ravitz said that life today in Israel is very different from what it was when the State of Israel was just being formed. Today everyone can educate their child as they see fit. Not only is he resolute in ascertaining that Shuvu Kfar Saba will continue to exist, but if the municipality will not cease its current practices they will have a major battle with the Knesset. It should be noted that Rabbi Ravitz has been very supportive of Shuvu, and has assisted the organization on many occasions, especially when he was Deputy Minister of Education.

MK Elkin gave the municipality one week to repair the situation and to come up with the necessary venues for the Shuvu school to operate legally. If not, he exhorted, the Knesset members would make an investigative trip to the municipality and would themselves inspect the empty school buildings in Kfar Saba.

B’Tzedek, a project of Agudath Israel of America, has been assisting Shuvu during its difficult battle with the Kfar Saba municipality. Mr. Yisroel Gur of B’Tzadek was present at Tuesday’s Knesset hearing. “This was an extremely positive development”,  observed Mr. Gur. “With such a unanimous stand by the MKs, it will be very difficult for the municipality to justify their position”.

Nevertheless, Mr. Eyal Yonian was overheard, as he was exiting the hearing, saying that he finds it very hard to believe that the mayor, and the municipality, will change their position. They are preparing for a long, tough battle. Shuvu will require all the help they can get.

Everyone is asked to send a fax or email to Mr. Yehuda Ben-Chamu. The mayor’s fax is 011-972-9-765-9555 and his email is: [email protected] . Please email a copy to [email protected] as well. Everyone is urged to participate – a greater response will help ensure the school’s survival.