Yeshiva ketanoh managers are slated to hold a
gathering to protest the government's deliberate funding
sabotage against the yeshivas.
After learning of the extent of the budget cuts for their
institutions from funding already approved in the 2007
budget, in addition to administrative delays, such as not
renewing licenses of numerous yeshivas for no apparent
reason, the yeshiva managers arranged to unite in protest.
Funding for yeshivos ketanos hinges on a High Court
ruling not yet handed down in a provocative case filed by the
Reform Movement as part of efforts to undermine the yeshiva
world. In the interim, a decision was issued to transfer
reduced funding, and as various Education Ministry officials
take note of recent inroads against the yeshiva world, they
are making further cuts and interfering with yeshiva funding
based on various claims, pretexts and bureaucratic
entanglements.
Tens of millions of shekels earmarked for the yeshivas have
been drastically and callously cut. Some yeshiva managers
have to cope with budget cuts of NIS 1.5 million ($370,000)
per year and more.
This week all yeshiva ketanoh managers in Eretz
Yisroel received notice of an initiative to unite. Thousands
of staff members have been waiting for their salaries for
over a month and the situation is worsening.
The yeshiva managers expressed hope that uniting in protest
will lend strength to the lawyers, MKs and public figures
working to reverse the harsh decrees.
