What’s the biggest obstacle?
There is no class-room space in Charaidi mosdos for children of French immigrants. I currently have a list of over 1,000 children that have arrived in the past 5 months and in many towns/cities there ar no ehrliche mosdos that can accept them.
In Netanya for example, where many immigrants have settled, there are over 350 children that come from religious mosdos in France that have no space in similar schools in Netanya. This is a catastrophe! There are askonim that are trying to create a special school for the French kids.
Children that were registered in France in religious schools like “Merkaz Hatorah” and “Otzer Hatorah”, where boys and girls are separated, are encouraged by the Soknot to attend secular or semi-religious co-Ed schools.
How can we influence the parents?
The key is to get them in a timely manner. The French Jews keep their plans to leave France secret until they are already on the plane. They fear the government there and Ayin Hora. We find out about them after they arrive, and by that time they are already in the hands of the [Israeli] government.
Once the children are registered in secular schools, it’s much harder to convince the parents to withdraw their kids and place them in religious schools.
The ” Soknot” gives money. The government finances the first two years of education for all immigrant children. That’s a lot of money.
To be finished…