"Gedoilim" Made the Wrong Call Again Instructed Chareidi MKs To Turn Down Secret Offer From Bennet & Lieberman Which Would Increase Budget To Yeshivos

 

Bechadrei Chareidim revealed an unusual incident among the charedi parties that took place on the night of the vote on the state budget in the Knesset.

Two MKs from Agudas Yisroel, Meir Porush and Israel Eichler, had a particularly tempting proposal in their pockets which included large budgets totaling about 1.2 billion NIS that would be given by the government to the Yeshivos and Talmud Torah programs in exchange for abstaining during the vote on the state budget on second and third readings. The proposal did not require all party members to abstain, just those two. 

Most of the Charedi members of Knesset did not even know about the proposal at the time. The plan was for them to become acquainted with the plan after the pair abstained from the votes. However, a short time before the vote, the rumor spread among the members of the Charedi factions, after receiving messages about the proposal from various rabbonim and their entourages after the pair of MKs went to seek the instruction of the rabbonim with regard to how to proceed. 

The results of what happened are well known. Due to the opposition of some members of the Agudat Yisrael Council of Torah Scholars, the proposal never went forward. This was in spite of the fact that the Charedi parties stood to gain more than 1.2 billion NIS for the Charedi community.

The proposal was drawn up between members of the Prime Minister’s Office and members of Agudas Yisroel, and budgets were earmarked for the benefit of the Charedi public. However, as some of the Charedi world is now reflecting on this as a loss for the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, others are standing by the rabbonim who determined that no cooperation between the Charedi parties and the government can take place, whatsoever. 

According to a report which was published by B’Chadrei Charedim the monies that were discussed in the secret meetings and agreed upon included 158 million NIS to be added to the budgets of Yeshivos, 124 million NIS to be added to the budgets of dormitories for social services in the Charedi sector, 105 million NIS for the further development of schools that fall into the category of recognized institutions that are unofficial, i.e. private Charedi schools, 66 million NIS for girls seminaries, 60 million NIS for additional hours for teachers in elementary schools, 50 million NIS for raise in salaries for private daycare teachers, 44 million NIS for increasing shiurim in Charedi culture and Torah, 20 million NIS to help prevent high schoolers falling off the derech and dropping out of school, and an additional 20 million for special needs schooling in talmudei torah.

Both Prime Minister Bennett and Finance Minister Lieberman agreed to these budgetary increases for the simple action of these two MKs abstaining from voting against the budget. In the end, the two MKs voted against it and the budget passed anyway, causing the loss of this increased financial aid to the Charedi school system and Yeshivos across the country.