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3 Shevat 5766 - February 1, 2006 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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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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