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NEWS
Beitar Illit and Modi'in Illit to be Included in Hot-Lunch
Program
By Tzvi Sofer
An important achievement for the children of Beitar Illit and
Modi'in Illit: Rabbi Yitzchok Pindrus, mayor of Beitar Illit
and chairman of the Forum of Chareidi Authorities at the
Center for Local Government, reached a final agreement with
Education Minister Yuli Tamir according to which the Prime
Minister's Office, in cooperation with the Education
Ministry, will fund the hot-lunch program as a pilot project
in the two chareidi cities using funds provided by the
government and the Sacta-Rashi Foundation.
The dramatic development follows a prolonged battle that
included High Court appeals and opposition in principle by
legal figures to include the two chareidi cities in the
program, already in its second year in dozens of towns around
the country. Beitar Illit took part in the pilot program
until certain jurists claimed that chareidi children do not
have the same rights as other Jewish children, a decision
that surprisingly received High Court backing in two
petitions, drawing public censure against the justice
system.
When Yuli Tamir became education minister she said she would
work to rectify the injustice. Recently Rabbi Pindrus held a
series of meetings with Minister Tamir and Raanan Dinur,
director of the Prime Minister's Office, to address the
issue. Rabbi Pindrus managed to persuade the two of the
urgency of the project in the two impoverished chareidi
cities and the duty to avoid discriminating against chareidi
children.
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