Shas labor minister requests year delay in haredi daycare subsidy cuts

Labor Minister Yoav Ben Tzur (Shas) requested in a letter to Deputy Attorney-General Gil Limon on Monday that the decision to cease daycare subsidies for military-age haredi men apply only to the 2025-2026 school year and not to the upcoming school year.

Limon's decision, which he announced on Sunday, was based on the High Court of Justice's ruling in late June that ended the legal exemption of haredi men from IDF service. Israeli executive orders laid out by the Labor Ministry dictated that the state subsidize daycare only for low-income families in which both parents either worked or studied. Until Sunday, the latter included studies in yeshivot, but this will now no longer apply to haredi men who are required to enlist.

Limon explained that now that the legal basis for haredi men of military age to continue studying in yeshivot had ended, the state no longer had the authority to continue issuing benefits based on something that was essentially illegal.

The order could have dramatic effects on haredi families' income. Limon recognized in his letter that this could affect changes in haredi families' preparation for the coming school year, and therefore left open the option of enabling a short "preparation period" before his decision into effect.

Ben-Tzur penned a letter to Limon arguing that this preparation period should last a year and the subsidies should only cease ahead of the 2025-2026 school year.

The labor minister gave four reasons for the request.

The four reasons

The first was that it could negatively affect toddlers. The change in income may lead families to remove their children from their current daycare centers for lack of being able to afford them. Ben-Tzur argued that the sudden change in setting could harm the toddlers' development.

The second was the ability for parents to prepare properly. Financially, the cessation of significant income may force parents to change their employment conditions, such as increasing hours or adding a second job. This could take some time. In addition, regulating the status of haredi men with the IDF was also a process that took time, and therefore, a delay in the order was necessary, Ben-Tzur argued.

Third was the ability of daycare managers to organize. According to Ben-Tzur, the order will lead to many haredi parents removing their children from current daycare centers, and many centers would be forced to close. Employees at these centers also needed time to search for new employment, the labor minister wrote.

Fourth was the labor ministry's ability to amend its computer systems in order to accommodate the change. According to Ben-Tzur, removing yeshiva studies from the list of occupations that qualify for daycare subsidies would require a number of software updates. In addition, the need to determine the status of haredi men would require coordination with the IDF and the defense ministry, including merging different databases, which would take time as well.

Ben Tzur concluded his letter by requesting that if a year was too long, the order should apply beginning in February, five months after the start of the school year.