'There are those better than Zionists': Rabbis seek donations for yeshivas post-High Court ruling

Senior rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox sector went on a fundraising campaign in the United States to benefit yeshivas on Sunday. This came following the High Court of Justice’s decision to stop state budgets for yeshivas in the absence of a law exempting haredim from enlisting in the IDF.

The rabbis’ goal was to raise $116 million for the “Olam HaTorah Fund,” which was established after the High Court decided to help those educational institutions through a series of events and meetings with local tycoons from the ultra-Orthodox sector.

“The Holy One, blessed be he; there are those better than Zionists,” said a rabbi who came to accompany the leaders before their departure.

Delegation contains several representatives affiliated with the coalition 

The delegation contained representatives of almost all streams of the ultra-Orthodox sector, including the Lithuanian leader affiliated with the Degel Hatorah faction, Rabbi Dov Lando, a member of Shas’s Torah Council, the Rebbe of Rachmastrivka, Rabbi Avraham Salim, and one of the leaders of the Hasidic current of Agudath Israel, Rabbi David Tversky.

In March, the High Court issued an interim order to stop payments to yeshivas whose students did not enlist in the IDF, and funding was stopped from the beginning of April. The judges prohibited the government from making financial transfers to support Torah institutions for yeshiva students who have not shown up for conscription since July of last year and have not received an exemption or deferment or those who rejected the recruitment. Still, the rejection expired due to the expiration of the law.

There are more than 40,000 yeshiva students, which is about a third of all those studying in Torah institutions today.