If you are a foreign student coming to Eretz Yisrael to study in the Mir, Brisk or elsewhere you might want to bring a canteen, sunhat and a camera.
Due to the efforts of MK (Nissim Slomiansky) of the Bayit Yehudi party, 50 million shekels in state funding for foreign yeshiva students has been restored to the budget. However, Finance Minister Yair Lapid remains unwilling to back down to his stipulation, that the talmidim take part in programs to familiarize them with national sites, as was reported by YWN-ISRAEL.
At first Lapid agreed to restore funding to Zionist yeshivot for their foreign students but Slomiansky continued pressuring towards the inclusion of chareidi yeshivos. Lapid has finally agreement but with the understanding talmidim on erev Shabbos and during vacation days will be taken to army bases and national sites to enlighten them. 20 million shekels in government money is being allocated for the program through the end of the academic year.
In the statement released on Sunday, 3 Sivan by the Finance Ministry, officials explained they are confident he program will help connect the Torah community to the “essence and culture of Eretz Yisrael” and therefore the decree to cancel the funding for foreign talmidei yeshivos has been reversed.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
1. Once funding for foreign students is tied to political indoctrination, it becomes questionable whether one can (under halacha) or should accept it.
2. Why is Israel which is a borderline third world country (in many ways, it is exactly on the border between developming and emerging countries) subsidizing rich Americans (and Brits, Australians, Europeans, etc.). While such subsidies may produce more paranassah for Israelis if they are the deciding factor in whether to learn in Israel or elsewhere, might it make more sense to aid poor Israelis?
I wonder how much dollars israel receives from the U.S. and others for education purposes, and what’s the conditons on those grants, years ago there was a ruckus on that when congressman Rooney from NY tried to divert U.S. funds allocated to foreign education direct to bait leplietos orphanage and school.
Let the bochrim get some training from Lev L’Achim on kiruv and have them get to work when they visit the army bases. Guaranteed, government insistence on the program won’t last for long.
I like this idea. Like #3, it gives the bochurim a chance to meet people who don’t know about Torah and Mitzvot, and it gives them a chance to make a positive impression on soldiers, museum workers etc.
At the same time, the bochurim will see fellow jews fighting for eretz yisrael and the history of our land.
20 million shekels is worth it if it decreases the sinat chinam present in our nation!
Nice psak from hagaon aka pooka
wonder which halacha this is
I do understand him though his halacha is based on politics at least he is consistent
And I really don’t mean to put you down I just want you to see the difference between emes and politics