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Last update - 14:58 28/08/2008
Record yeshiva enrollment predicted to cost economy NIS 5 billion
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Jewish world 

Some 63,000 young men are expected to begin studying this week in kollels - yeshivas, or Talmudic academies for married men, the Education Ministry announced Wednesday. The cost of funding this year's studies is estimated at NIS 5 billion.

The figure represents an all-time high in kollel registration, an increase of 4,500 from last year and 67 percent from 10 years ago.

The rise in matriculation comes amid a general increase in employment among ultra-Orthodox men.
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The rate paid by the Education Ministry for every student is roughly NIS 720 per month, or NIS 8,640 annually.

In the regular ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, in which most students are at the age that most Jewish Israelis are serving in the military, some 30,000 students were enrolled last year, a figure also expected to climb this year.

The cost of funding study in those institutions is NIS 400 a month, or NIS 4,800 a year.

Altogether, the number of students enrolled in yeshivas and kollels this year is expected to reach a record 95,000, compared with 88,000 last November, according to Amos Zaida of the Education Ministry.

The yeshivas' combined budget this year is NIS 685 million, but Zaida says this figure will have to be raised by NIS 60 million in order to meet the heightened demand.

The 95,000 students in kollels and yeshivas represent 3.5 percent of working-age men.

Prof. Eran Yashiv, who teaches economics at Tel-Aviv University, said "It's clear we're talking about tremendous losses." He added, however, that if the trend of growing employment among the ultra-Orthodox
continues, GDP could fall by NIS 10 million within a decade.

A 2004 Knesset report found that if members of the community participated in the workforce as do the general population, their contribution would be close to NIS 5 billion.

A 2000 Finance Ministry report produced similar findings, placing the economic damage of ultra-Orthodox men's absence from the workforce and the army at NIS 5 billion.

MK Avraham Ravitz of the United Torah Judaism party rejected the economic estimates. "Billion, schmillion," he said. "It's a numbers game."

Ravitz did not rule out the possibility of reviewing the system for budgeting the Talmudic academies, but expressed skepticism about the results. "I don't trust secular people -you can't do business with them," he said.

The Finance Ministry said Wednesday that "the participation rate of the ultra-Orthodox sector in the workforce has been rising steadily in recent years," a spokesperson said.

"In the framework of the government's social-economic agenda, staff are working on encouraging the employment of men and women in the ultra-Orthodox sector. This will be done while trying to maintain the current trend or even accelerate it. The staff will present its recommendations in the coming weeks."


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      1.   should be 630,000 09:14  |  dave 28/08/08
      2.   The Jewish future 09:50  |  Joseph 28/08/08
      3.   MK Avraham Ravitz of the United Torah Judaism 09:51  |  SJ 28/08/08
      4.   WHY IS IT FREE????????? 10:14  |  B`Galil 28/08/08
      5.   Hellzapoppin` what is happening here?! 10:22  |  Zev Davis 28/08/08
      6.   Yeshiva enrollment 11:00  |  Nathan Phatti 28/08/08
      7.   What A Waste 11:36  |  MR 28/08/08
      8.   I`m one of those 63,000, and I don`t think production is lost. 12:05  |  Dan 28/08/08
      9.   yeshiva enrollment 12:17  |  chana 28/08/08
      10.   B`Gallil, its not free, and . . . 12:30  |  Zev Davis 28/08/08
      11.   h 12:41  |  Raymond Morris 28/08/08
      12.   Wrong numbers 12:43  |  jon 28/08/08
      13.   The numbers will only increase 13:08  |  observer 28/08/08
      14.   Mr. MR, who is uneducated??? 13:27  |  sptz 28/08/08
      15.   Self Contradictory 13:48  |  Jay A Friedman 28/08/08
      16.   Living on the Dole 13:55  |  guy 28/08/08
      17.   Religious education is not free 14:34  |  Avi 28/08/08
      18.   you have a choice. 14:37  |  Ani 28/08/08
      19.   Outrage 14:41  |  Allan 28/08/08
      20.   Yeshiva studies 15:06  |  Rabbi Yosef Ashkenaz 28/08/08
      21.   Reduce US aid by same amount 15:22  |  Nathaniel 28/08/08
      22.   #13 "Amen Rabbi" 15:27  |  SJ 28/08/08
      23.   Rabbi Ashkenaz, that is not the issue! 15:52  |  Zev Davis 28/08/08
      24.   We should stop this nonsence ASAP! 15:54  |  Puhi 28/08/08
      25.   to Ani 15:59  |  the Pope 28/08/08
      26.   There is no point to this article other then to perpetuate hate 16:06  |  Ira Piltz 28/08/08
      27.   This Is A Civil Rights Problem NOT a Religious one 16:08  |  B`Galil 28/08/08
      28.   just math- 63000 is like tel aviv, jerusalem and haifa universiti 16:30  |  joe 28/08/08
      29.   B`galill, it ain`t religious, its cultural! 16:36  |  Zev Davis 28/08/08
      30.   Yeshiva Funding 16:49  |  Alon 28/08/08
      31.   NIS 5 Billion! And the ministry was looking... 16:57  |  The Archives 28/08/08
      32.   5B? Not fair! Work for money or IDF/Natioal Service as payment... 17:27  |  bat yam 28/08/08
      33.   BAD MATH - Yeshivas bring in income-Macroeconomic impact 18:14  |  AWK 28/08/08
      34.   Pardon my ignorance 18:20  |  Yonatan 28/08/08
      35.   You are all missing the point 18:40  |  Yonatan 28/08/08
      36.   And where pray-tell does the money by private fund-raisers 19:17  |  shtar chov 28/08/08
      37.   It`s time the religious finance themselves 19:24  |  Taxpayer 28/08/08
      38.   Haaretz scapegoats religious people again 19:25  |  Gili 28/08/08
      39.   Half-Billion vs 5 Billion 19:54  |  Sean Gordon 28/08/08
      40.   Ken Yirbu 19:59  |  mm 28/08/08
      41.   Any less? 20:57  |  Akiva 28/08/08
      42.   #35 continued 21:07  |  Yonatan 28/08/08
      43.   What prompted this journalistic piece of dribble 21:20  |  sz 28/08/08
      44.   In the military? 21:26  |  J 28/08/08
      45.   billions 22:20  |  joan 28/08/08
      46.   AGREED---THIS ARTICLE IS BLATENTLY ANTI-RELIGIOUS 22:23  |  JOHN 28/08/08
      47.   #29 and #33 have got it right 22:40  |  observer 28/08/08
      48.   #29 - Are there really 60,000 Film Students each year? 23:36  |  B`Galil 28/08/08
      49.   Dear Observer #40 - pacifism has nothing to do with it 00:32  |  Joe Sittizen 29/08/08
      50.   Yeshiva Students 06:05  |  Tom 29/08/08
      51.   Yesshivas are waste of money and waste of time 06:12  |  Shimon Cleopas 29/08/08
      52.   Haaretz wroteYeshiva studentoutdo secular in Education 16:00  |  Ani 29/08/08
      53.   We`ll say what`s to be done and how. 06:40  |  Golodh 30/08/08
      54.   The taxpayer and Haredi education 21:48  |  Maskil 02/09/08
      55.   Soldiers? Taxes? What to do with them 21:09  |  M 13/11/08
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