"The chareidi educational system is in danger due to the
moves made by this government. But we will not bend. That
won't happen. We will remain as we are with Hashem's help. We
will be meager, small and poor, but we will be rich in
spirit. Rich in conduct. Rich in Torah. And relief and
salvation will come to the Jews from somewhere else," said MK
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz in a charged and moving speech he
delivered while introducing a proposition to hold a session
on the topic of the "existential danger to chareidi
education."
"We are in a very perilous state from the standpoint of
chareidi education," he said, choosing to explain what is
happening to exempt institutions, i.e. talmudei Torah,
and referring to the 36,000 students enrolled in them as "the
scattered remnants of an age-old world who remained with us
throughout our years in exile."
Rabbi Ravitz related the advantages of chareidi education at
great length, explaining how it carries on the tradition
across the generation and preserves the education yaldei
Yisroel received for thousands of years in the Diaspora.
He stressed that the State's early leaders, recognizing the
uniqueness of the chareidi educational system and the need to
preserve it and its independence, reached an arrangement
according to which the chareidi educational system would be
allocated less funding than the mainstream system.
"This educational system did not disappoint. It did not
produce sour fruits. Neither did it produce what is sometimes
called "vehu yihiyeh pereh odom," whereas
unfortunately a portion of today's educational system, a
significant portion, is noted for these sour fruits . . .
"The State realized this back then in the beginning, despite
the wars of [anti- ]religious coercion, and this brought down
the government after an investigative committee [appointed
by] the second president, Ben Tzvi, over what they did to
immigrant children from the East. But they did not touch [the
children enrolled in chareidi schools]. One government after
the next, until this government, knew enough to respect this
sector which transmits [our] heritage, the torch, from
generation to generation. And these children place emphasis
on tefilloh, on observing mitzvos, on yiras
Shomayim, on learning the Aleph-Beit, on
Mishna, on gemora. Geniuses came out of
there.
"And now a national government comes along. All of us voted
for it. This is not Mapai, this is not the Left. These are
cherished Jews who know the meaning of the Jewish people, of
Eretz Yisroel, of Am Yisroel. And oy, what we have gone
through? The government is trying to bend this steel, the
chareidi educational system, these children."
At this point Rabbi Ravitz laid out a series of deep budget
cuts in chareidi education that far exceed the cuts made in
mainstream education. He cited a 17 percent cut in hourly per-
child allotments compared to a 6 percent cut in mainstream
education, which joins significant past cuts that bring the
total to a 65 percent reduction in hourly per-child
payments.
Later he spoke about the Core Program, which seeks to impose
on the chareidi educational system a curriculum inconsistent
with its values and threatens to discontinue funding for
students who do not study in accordance with program
dictates. This move would contradict an explicit promise made
to him while serving as Deputy Education Minister that the
Shoshani Committee would avoid curriculum issues, engaging
only in calculations and finding the correct way to divide
the education budget among the various educational
systems.
Responding to Ravitz' session proposal Deputy Education
Minister Tzvi Handel (HaIchud HaLeumi) said, "The claim that
the Education Ministry allegedly has intentions of bringing
the chareidi educational system to the point of existential
danger is unfounded."
He also found the responsible party, in his opinion, for the
chareidi sector's negative attitude toward the Education
Ministry. On many issues the Education Ministry does not have
a stance, he explained, and in these cases the Finance
Ministry dictates how to act.
Regarding the Core Program he said the Education Ministry was
compelled to deny funding for institutions that fail to
comply based on a High Court appeal filed by Minister
Paritzky (Shinui), and insisted that the Education Ministry
is merely trying to lighten the pressure.
In conclusion, Handel said that Education Minister Limor
Livnat is doing everything in her power to accommodate the
chareidi sector and to rectify distortions caused by the
Finance Ministry, the Justice Ministry and other ministries
with which there are major problems in all matters associated
with the chareidi sector. "I believe that the majority of
issues can be remedied through proper dialogue and patience
and perseverance."
