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The court did not immediately respond to his request. But it issued an interim order barring the government from funding the monthly subsidies for religious students of enlistment age who have not received a deferral from the army. Those funds will be frozen starting Monday.While the loss of state subsidies is certainly a blow, it appears the yeshivas can continue to function. Israel’s Channel 12 reported Friday that the state provides only 7.5% of all funding for the institutions. Netanyahu’s coalition could also search for discretionary funds to cover the gaps.HOW IS THE DECISION BEING RECEIVED?Many Israelis are celebrating the court’s decision, believing it spells an end to a system that takes for granted their military service and economic contributions while advantaging the ultra-Orthodox, or “Haredim” as they are called in Israel.The religious exemption dates back to Israel’s founding, a compromise that the country’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, made with ultra-orthodox leaders to allow some 400 yeshiva students to devote themselves fully to Torah study. But what was once a fringe Haredi population has grown precipitously, making the exemption a hugely divisive issue to Israeli society.Many ultra-Orthodox continue to receive government stipends into adulthood, eschewing getting paying jobs to instead continue full-time religious studies. Economists have long warned the system is unsustainable.”The next government will have to hold a long overdue conversation about the future of the Haredi relationship to the state,” commentator Anshel Pfeffer wrote in Israel’s left-leaning daily, Haaretz.”Now, the Haredim will have no choice but to take part in it. It won’t be just about the national service of its young men, it will also have to address fundamental questions about education and employment,” he said.Ultra-Orthodox leaders have reacted angrily.
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Israel’s high court says the government must stop funding seminaries. Could that topple Netanyahu?
