Part 3
Picture: Transit camp and new immigrant neighborhoods were
common scenery throughout Israel. Members of the
establishment circulated among the immigrants warning them
threateningly that whoever sent their daughters to Beis
Yaakov would immediately lose their jobs.
In the first years following the establishment of the state,
Bais Yaakov was faced with tremendous opportunities and
insurmountable difficulties. The schools were established one
after the other for a population that doubled its size and at
the same time, the small organization suffered incitement,
slander and a bitter struggle against them by the "state"
populations. On the front lines, stood the devoted teachers
and principals backed by diligent public activists working
non-stop: wandering around the world wearily collecting
donations, traveling distances across the country to visit
each small branch, working tirelessly night and day for their
brainchild — chareidi education.
At the time of the establishment of the State, 2,000 boys and
2,000 girls were learning in the educational institutions of
Agudas Yisroel. One of the miracles of the time was the
establishment of the educational branches. The new government
recognized these schools as its own educational stream at the
time when it defined the other educational branches. The main
and biggest among them was the general education, after which
came the Histadrut branch whose members consisted of the
workers' party (Mapai). The third was the branch of religious
education "Mizrachi" (it was the second biggest in Jerusalem)
and the fourth was the Agudah branch under which came the
Bais Yaakov schools, "Chorev" and a number of Talmud
Torahs.
"I remember," recounts Rav Hillel Lieberman zt'l,
"that Ben Gurion told Rav Yitzchok Meir Levin: 'You won't be
able to uphold your educational institutions alone. No
institution could! Therefore it's important that you include
another branch and I promise you that we won't interfere in
your curriculum. You'll continue to teach as you've been
teaching until today.' "
To what degree was his promise binding - that was seen over
the course of time. However, after a period of time, the
government fully supported each school of independent
education that was built. The activists didn't delay and the
enthusiastic building of schools throughout the country
began.
The establishment of the State of Israel in 5708 opened the
locked gates to masses of immigrants who had been waiting in
displaced persons' camps in Cyprus or in their countries of
residence. A big wave of immigration began coming from east
and west and in the next few years, the population of the
country doubled and even tripled - brothers who had come from
afar.
Transit camps and immigrant neighborhoods were common scenery
throughout the country. With the canvas huts, tin huts and
tents that sprouted overnight, the schools started to be
active among those who had come from near.
Collecting Money Abroad
With the waves of immigration, public activists, among them
Rav Lieberman, began opening branches of schools in the
immigrant neighborhoods, schools that would provide Jewish
education alongside general studies. A look at what
transpired in those years makes a deep impression: a small
population, believing in its way, sending registrars, opening
schools, bringing students and teachers — all this in
order to in some way stop the terrible erosion that tore away
most of the immigrants and distanced them from the life of
Torah and mitzvos. The waves of secularism flooded the
entire country.
Their activities encompassed the entire country from North to
South and Rav Lieberman, as other public activists, was
involved in it without rest. They went out on exhausting
trips every week, visiting distant places some of which they
previously didn't know the names of. Today they are branches,
which are growing all the time. It wasn't enough to establish
them; they had to be supported, strengthened and
encouraged.
In order to found an unknown school, money was needed. Only
after it was proven that the new school was functioning did
it receive a governmental seal of approval and a budget. So
it fell on the shoulders of the public activists to rent an
apartment, whitewash it and prepare it for activity, to get
basic furniture and to find teachers and a principal. Then
they had to bring the children to start learning.
This required great resources that the Agudas Yisroel didn't
possess. At one point, Rav Menachem Perush went to America
and succeeded, in the name of Gedolei Yisroel, to amass a
great deal of money that he transferred to Israel. This
provided the oxygen flow to the newly established schools.
"I went to participate in the Agudas Yisroel convention,"
recalled Rav Menachem Perush. "On the way my father said to
me that initially, we must open a school, and when it proves
viable, afterwards the government supports it. For 500
dollars (a significant sum then), one can establish a
school."
During the convention, the Rav of Kashoi, Rav Raphael Blum,
got up and spoke vociferously against the State and the
Government. Rabbi Porush reminisces: "I got up on the podium
and said: `Why must we beat our chests for other people when
we can save the children by establishing institutions of
learning and then have the government maintain them?' Then
and there we raised 25,000 dollars and at another assembly we
reached the amount of 85,000 and later an additional 50,000
dollars (unimaginable amounts then). This was the foundation
for building schools that were spread out across the country
and later were the core of Independent Torah Education
(Chinuch Atzmai)."
[Next installment: A Difficult Struggle]
