Students of Talmud Torah Yaldei Esrog will officially occupy
the building in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood which they
illegally entered last week. This agreement was reached in
the office of the director general of the Jerusalem
Municipality, Raanan Dinur, together with the director of the
Education Department, Meir Kraus.
The Municipality has affirmed the temporary placement of the
children in the former Tidhar School building, which they
entered without permission. The Municipal spokesman stressed
that, "The Esrog Talmud Torah is a private institution, and
there are many others like it in the city. The Jerusalem
Municipality is concerned first and foremost for public
schools, and then does its maximum to help private
schools."
The Yaldei Esrog Torah school for girls was founded 14 years
ago in the Katamon section of Yerushalayim. Three years later
a parallel school for boys was founded.
Both schools were part of a network of Torah schools that was
started 18 years ago by Rav Abba Sawiatitzky, with the
blessings of gedolei Yisroel. Maran HaRav Shach,
shlita, wrote him a letter in Teves, 5744 (1984).
Today, almost 1,500 students fill the five schools of this
Torah network. In Ramot there are about 600 students; in
Katamon a total of about 450; in Pisgat Ze'ev 150 students;
in Maale Adumim 100; and in the newest branch, in Tel Aviv,
there are currently almost 70 students. The schools are
financed by the tuition payments of the parents, as well as
donations.
The school that serves the southern Yerushalayim
neighborhoods known as the Katamonim has been located in
several caravans in the Beit Tzefafa area, somewhat distant
from the neighborhood. The structures are prefabricated, and
the current electrical supply is inadequate to the need, and
cannot support heating or air-conditioning, which are really
necessities in such uninsulated buildings.
Recently the school and its administration have been under
intense pressure from the parents to find adequate
facilities. For years they have asked the city to help them,
but without results. They heard about an empty school
building in their area and, after the city continued to
ignore their requests, they decided to move in.
The city reacted with unusual sharpness, arresting the
principal, Rav Dovid Ben Chamo, and four teachers. However in
the end it seems that the city recognized the justice of the
demands, and reached an agreement to alleviate the most
critical problems.
The directors of the school and the general director of the
Municipality agreed that it makes no sense for the Tidhar
building on Yossi ben Yoezer Street to remain empty while the
children have no place to study. It was agreed that within
ten days, improvements on the electricity infrastructure
would begin on its old caravans in Beit Tzefafa in time for
the forthcoming year. In the event that a suitable structure
isn't found, the Municipality will transfer new caravans to
the school, and the municipal committee for the location of
sites will find a site for the construction of a new building
for the school.
Jerusalem Classroom Shortages: The Reality
The difficulties of the Yaldei Esrog school are more intense
than many, but they are far from unique.
The shortage of classrooms for chareidi elementary education
in Jerusalem is not a new phenomenon. According to Deputy
Mayor Rabbi Uri Maklev, during the last five years no
building used by a secular or a mamlachti dati
(national-religious) school has been transferred to the
chareidi school system.
It is no secret that the national (secular) schools as well
as the mamlachti dati schools in Yerushalayim are
losing students. There are several reasons for this. An
increasing number of students are leaving these systems and
entering chareidi schools. The secular population of
Yerushalayim is decreasing -- in no small measure due to the
strife stimulated by the anti-religious.
In contrast, the natural increase in the chareidi population
automatically increases the number of students in its
educational system. In the lower grades, for example,
students in chareidi schools constitute over fifty percent of
all Jerusalem students.
The Knesset Education Committee, headed by Emanuel Zissman,
held two deliberations in the last few months about this
situation. The session was entitled, "The Impending Danger of
the Closure of Public Schools in Jerusalem." To Zissman, this
is indeed a dangerous situation. The honorable MK is guided
by the following idea: "It is inconceivable that public
school kindergartens and elementary schools in secular
neighborhoods be closed and other schools be opened in place
of them, usually chareidi schools. We must keep Jerusalem
strong, with coexistence between secular and religious.
Secular Jews also have right in the city, and the danger of
the closing of the city's secular schools is a struggle over
the character of the city."
Zissman called upon the mayor to negotiate with
representatives of schools about to be combined or closed, in
order to find acceptable solutions. If this is not done, "The
Committee, along with the parents, will struggle to keep
these schools open, in order to maintain the city's
demographic character," said Zissman.
In response, Shmuel Halpert, a member of the Committee,
stated, "I can't understand the fear that an empty secular
school will turn into a chareidi school. Are we speaking of,
cholila, the PLO or Hamas? There are natural
demographic changes. In the past, Chinuch Atzmai schools in
Tel Aviv were closed when they lacked sufficient pupils.
Jerusalem will never close a school where there are still
students."
Meir Kraus, director of the Municipal Education Authority,
was unequivocal in his remarks: "There are 400 empty
classrooms in secular schools throughout the city, because of
a reduction in the local secular population. On the other
hand, classrooms are extremely overcrowded in other schools.
There is no solution other than to combine two small schools
into one stable, normal-sized school."
Last week, Rabbi Uri Maklev stated that the Knesset Education
Committee prefers to let classrooms stand empty, rather than
have chareidim use them. Often, according to Rabbi Maklev, if
there is a 30-room secular school with most of the classrooms
empty due to a lack of students, the rooms are simply
enlarged; play rooms, libraries and large sport facilities
are built, so such a school, after the renovations, only has
eight classrooms, which is what it needs.
"Only tough policy decisions on the part of the mayor and the
senior officials will enable the transfer of empty buildings
to the chareidi school system," stated Rabbi Maklev. "Perhaps
the Education Authority needs the buildings for various
purposes, but they claim that they have a system of
priorities, and their priorities are not always desirable.
They use buildings as if they were the personal property of
the Education Authority."
On the other hand, it should be noted that the Municipality
has built many school buildings for the chareidi educational
system and many classrooms have been added throughout the
neighborhoods. (Politically it is not as hard to build new
schools as to transfer existing schools.) In Ramat Shlomo,
for example, new buildings have been built for schools; in
Ramot, 16 classes have been added to the Beit Yaakov school;
the Talmud Torah Itri in Ramot has received additional
classrooms; Har Nof has benefited from the new Talmud Torah
Derech Hachaim, among others.
Even after almost six years as the largest party in
Yerushalayim, the children of United Torah Judaism do not yet
have their minimal needs fulfilled.
