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NEWS
Funding Clauses for Chareidi Institutions in Hadera for
First Time
by Y. Ariel
Following concerted efforts by Hadera City Councilman Rabbi
Ben Tzion Nordman (Degel HaTorah), who serves as chairman of
the City Finance Committee, the city budget was approved with
clear, legally-binding paragraphs providing a total of over
NIS 1 million ($220,000) in funding for chareidi
institutions. The committee also decided to restore support
clauses after a hiatus of many years.
The Hadera City Council recently approved the 2006 budget.
After years of discrimination chareidi educational
institutions were explicitly included in the budget, which
specifically lists Chinuch Atzmai schools, Agudas Yisroel
kindergartens, private kindergartens, Talmud Torah Knesses
Yitzchok and other institutions. This is considered a major
achievement after years during which principals and parents
were left like beggars at the doorstep. Every funding request
they submitted involved laborious efforts and pleading.
As a school principal and director of Kollel Merkaz Torani
Hadera, Rabbi Nordman was closely familiar with the problem
and upon taking office made it his goal to end the insulting
treatment and dynamics. When the new mayor, Mr. Chaim Avitan,
was elected and after Rabbi Nordman was appointed committee
head and commissioner of Torah-based education and culture,
he held numerous working meetings with various figures around
the country and with the directors of the education
department, eventually leading to his success in introducing
and passing budget paragraphs for chareidi institutions.
Rabbi Nordman, the only Degel HaTorah representative on the
city council, acted under the guidance of HaRav Y. Ehrenberg,
rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Knesses Yitzchok. His main challenge
was to persuade his fellow council members to support the
idea and to convince them of the need to draft separate
paragraphs for chareidi education. At the conclusion of his
speech all of the city councilmen voted in favor of his
proposal with the exception of a Shinui representative who
abstained, saying he had been persuaded of the necessity for
the initiative, but would not vote in favor because in his
opinion the secular sector does not receive enough
funding.
The city council also approved another Finance Committee
initiative to restore support payments for local
organizations for the first time in years. All councilmen
supported the proposal. Mayor Avitan promised to work toward
carrying out the decision within the next few weeks.
Rabbi Nordman thanked the new mayor, who has shown concern
for the needs of the entire city and aims to work for total
equality for all residents, particularly in the area of
education. A Degel HaTorah representative noted the expansion
of chareidi educational institutions in Hadera, which now
have thousands of students enrolled, most notably Yeshivas
Knesses Yitzchok, which numbers over 400 bochurim.
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