For the first time since the end of Yair Lapid's term at the Finance Ministry, the yeshiva budget will be cut by 40 percent, starting this month. This was revealed this morning (Thursday) by political commentator Yaakov Rivlin in the newspaper 'Bakhilah'.
The reason for the new cut: In addition to reducing coalition funds, due to the lack of a budget law for 2020, the Treasury also cut the base by tens of percent.
Those responsible for this are the people in the Budget Division at the Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General at the Ministry of Finance - who, starting January 1, are exclusively responsible, without supervision and control by the Finance Committee, for every shekel of the state budget.
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In addition, unofficially recognized institutions received a special offset this month for the outgoing year, due to budgetary difficulties of the Ministry of Education.
The only ones who are currently immune are the large Haredi education networks - the independent education and the Maayan Torah education network - whose budget is anchored in law almost as much as the state-run schools.
According to Rivlin's report, the Ministry of Finance decided that the budget base for the Torah World in the coming calendar year will be 762 million shekels - a reduction of 150 million shekels, which is added to the 360 million shekel reduction in coalition funds that do not exist in the absence of a budget law.
Bottom line: The budget of the Torah world drops from one billion and three hundred million shekels (in a rounded number) to 762 million shekels. Approximately forty percent.
To make it easier for yeshiva administrators to prepare for what's to come, here's a calculation that will help them know today how much they should receive next month: The point value will be only two hundred and sixty shekels. A high yeshiva student who receives one point value will receive this amount instead of four hundred and twenty-four shekels.
A benefactor, who receives a semicolon eight, will receive only four hundred and seventy shekels, instead of seven hundred and sixty-four shekels.
For comparison: during the infamous Lapid days, the value of a point was two hundred and forty-five shekels.
The announcement about the cuts in yeshivot has not yet been made to the institutions and was first published in Rivlin's column: "Only a few administrators who are linked to the yeshivot department and receive data directly have heard about it.
""These days, the yeshiva directors are considering their steps, and by the end of the week, a harsh letter is going to be issued to the Haredi members of Knesset, some of whom sit in the government and on important committees in the Knesset. A protest rally in the synagogue hall in Bnei Brak is also on the agenda. Not that it will help anything, but at least they have fulfilled their duty to protest.".
