In a special official document as part of the series entitled, "Review of the General Manager," in which official policy is announced, Minister Rabbi Aryeh Der'i announced that an advanced Torah education will be considered equivalent to an advanced academic degree with regard to all official announcement of available positions in government authorities. This announcement was made in full consultation with the official Government Workers Authority (equivalent to the Civil Service in the US) and the permanent professional staff of the Ministry of the Interior. These steps ensure that it will become a permanent part of official policy.
According to the release, anyone who holds a rabbinical certificate of ordination from the Chief Rabbinate at the Yoreh Yoreh level, or who can provide official documentation of six years of study in a yeshiva of kollel after the age of 18, as well as anyone who has passed at least three tests of the Chief Rabbinate, will be considered to have an academic degree equivalent and will be eligible to be hired for positions in local authorities.
The memo stresses that the local councils must publicize these alternate qualifications in every tender they issue for employment requiring a general academic degree, without the need for a specific major field of study. The significance of this is that members of the chareidi sector who successfully completed exams at the Rabbinate or learned in a kollel will be eligible for key jobs in the local councils throughout the country.
Minister Der'i said this Monday: "I am happy to be able to execute this revolution which I declared and promoted, regarding Torah higher education to be recognized as equal to an academic degree. It is unthinkable that a young man who has acquired a degree in social sciences be preferred for job acceptance over one who studied and excelled in Torah studies. We shall continue to sponsor the trend that has been established from now on in the local councils and that it be extended to government offices as well. I am certain that this will open a door of opportunity to many in the chareidi sector who possess advanced Torah scholarship and seek to join the work force as key position holders in local government and in public services all over."
An additional accomplishment was scored in the area of employment for the chareidi sector. After innumerable sessions in the Knesset plenum, in the Knesset Finance Committee and in internal meetings initiated by its Chairman, MK Gafni, on the subject of recognition of advanced Torah study in yeshivos, and following a recent discussion on the subject in the Committee, an official letter was finally received from the Government Services Commission confirming the recognition of years studied in a yeshiva for the sake of applying to work tenders in national government services.
