When Rabbi Yitzchok Silberstein, a son-in-law of HaRav
Eliashiv who serves as rosh kollel of Beis David in
Cholon, recently heard that Israeli government budget cuts
would mean that the local Chinuch Atzmai school with which it
shares a facility would be forced to close down this fall, he
was shaken.
The building's administration had threatened to evict the
school by Sept. 1, 2002, if no additional funds were
forthcoming. The school had given the administration a check
for half of the rent for the months of December, January and
February, but the check was postdated for Sept. 15. It had
also not made any sort of payment for the months of March,
April and May.
Rabbi Silberstein, who also serves as rav of Ramat
Elchanan, discussed the issue with the members of his
kollel, and was even more surprised when he heard
their reply. Four members of the kollel offered to
contribute their meager monthly kollel stipends to the
school so that it won't have to close its doors. All of the
men have large families and live on modest incomes.
Rabbi Silberstein immediately contacted Rabbi Meir Luria,
director-general of Chinuch Atzmai schools in Eretz Yisroel,
and told him about the offer. Rabbi Luria was likewise
impressed by the men's dedication to Torah.
"These kollel men showed unbelievable mesiras
nefesh," Rabbi Luria says. "They are literally giving up
the money that goes to pay for their bread and milk to ensure
that Jewish children get a Torah education.
"But this can't be a long-term solution. These kollel
men simply don't have the means. They are helping us this
month, but who will pay to keep the school open next month
and the month after that?"
Without The Basics
According to Rabbi David Nachum Blau, a senior Chinuch Atzmai
official, many people aren't aware just how much Chinuch
Atzmai schools will be affected by the government budget cuts
to the Education Ministry that are expected to go into effect
next month.
The cuts -- in transportation, rent, renovations and teaching
hours -- will mean that some 2,000 children may not receive a
Torah education this fall, and that 500 teachers will lose
their jobs. In total, Chinuch Atzmai will be faced with a
$4.5 million deficit in government funding.
Though a solution -- albeit temporary -- was found in Cholon,
many other Chinuch Atzmai schools haven't been as fortunate.
A Chinuch Atzmai school in Carmiel, for example, is in very
real danger of being shut down.
Victor Glazerov, a Ministry of Health inspector, visited the
school in July. What he found was a bomb shelter converted
into four classrooms that serve 49 students, ages 7 to 12.
Glazerov also noticed that the school lacks any sort of
grounds or play area for the children -- but that's the least
of their problems.
Last month, the school nurse sent nine students from grades
one, three and five for medical examinations. Six of them
needed to upgrade their eyeglass prescription. The reason:
The school can't afford enough electricity for adequate
lighting in the classrooms and, as a result, the students'
vision was seriously affected.
According to Israeli law, a school building must be lit with
a minimum of 300 units of electricity. Whereas surrounding
schools have the means to supply 890 units of lighting, the
Chinuch Atzmai school in Carmiel has between 120 and 270
units.
There's more. The administration cannot afford to supply the
bathrooms with toilet paper and the sinks have no liquid
soap. Cold water, which is so essential in the hot summer
months, cannot be found anywhere on the premises.
There's also no money to pay a janitor, so the classrooms are
in disarray. The floors are stained with dozens of spills,
and the bathrooms are in very poor condition. The situation
would give any person more than enough reason to shut the
school down.
That's exactly how Glazerov felt -- and what he reported to
the Ministry of Health. The Carmiel school now has no choice
but to clean up its facility or face a shutdown.
But its budget is already stretched to the limit, and with
the impending government cuts, meeting the Ministry of Health
guidelines is -- in one word -- impossible.
Unwilling To Bow To Pressure
The situations in Cholon and Carmiel are, unfortunately, not
unique. Chinuch Atzmai currently runs 248 schools and 458
kindergartens throughout the country serving more than 76,000
children, but most were already subsisting on minimal
funding. With the government budget cuts, many of them will
be forced to close down unless funds can be raised
immediately.
According to Rabbi Blau, the schools most at risk are not
those in Yerushalayim or Bnei Brak, but those that cater to
children from non-religious or traditional homes. For the
most part, these students do not have religious schools in
their areas, and they must travel long distances to and from
school. This translates into a major expense for Chinuch
Atzmai.
The cost of transporting these children is $17 million
annually. And because one of the areas where cuts are
expected is in transportation, Chinuch Atzmai will not be
able to transport these children to religious schools unless
funds can be raised from the private sector.
Chinuch Atzmai also now faces pressure from the Education
Ministry to introduce non-Torah subjects, such as Moslem
Religion and Zionist History, into its curriculum. If its
schools don't comply, they could lose additional funding for
class hours.
Chinuch Atzmai, of course, has no intention of bowing to
government pressure. Created by the gedolim 50 years
ago to provide a Torah education to children throughout Eretz
Yisroel, Chinuch Atzmai has a long history of remaining
independent of outside influences.
When the network was founded, many people did not believe
that a Torah-true educational system that was recognized and
subsidized by the Israeli government could remain independent
of it.
But instead of the medina influencing Chinuch Atzmai
school children, as the school system's opponents originally
feared, the exact opposite happened. School children who
might have otherwise lost touch with Judaism began to defect
from the state-run schools by the thousands and demanded
instead to receive an intensive Torah education.
Today, Chinuch Atzmai boasts 300,000 graduates. And while a
half-century ago, religious school children accounted for
only 6 percent of the national total, Chinuch Atzmai now
represents 20 percent of the national total.
And that means that it needs to raise a tremendous amount of
funds before Sept. 1 to ensure that its schools in Cholon,
Carmiel and many other locations are not forced to close
their doors.
"Our whole purpose," says Rabbi Blau, "is to provide a Torah
education to children from non-religious and traditional
homes and gradually mainstream them into regular yeshivos and
Bais Yaakovs. We can't let something like government budget
cuts stand in our way.
"At the same time, we can't just count on selfless kollel
men, like the ones in Cholon, for help. I hope that
someday soon we'll be able to pay them back for their
mesiras nefesh. Meanwhile, we need to ensure that come
September 1 all of our schools will be open, and that every
single one of our more than 76,000 children receives a Torah
education."
