Daycare subsidies for children of Haredi yeshiva students to be halted from November
Deputy AG says lack of legal framework to exempt ultra-Orthodox students from IDF service makes the financial aid illegal; cut in funding expected to have large impact on community
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The Attorney General’s Office told Labor and Welfare Minister Yoav Ben Tzur on Tuesday that his ministry must halt daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who were previously exempt from military service, by November 30.
Writing to Ben Tzur, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon told the minister that the decision stemmed from the ruling by the High Court of Justice in June that there was no longer any legal framework for Haredi military service exemptions after the relevant law and government decision expired, and further ruled that as a result financial support for such students was also illegal.
“In the absence of authority to encourage, through financial support, the Torah studies of ultra-Orthodox men who are subject to conscription… it is required to immediately stop supporting them, in accordance with the criteria for daycare [subsidies],” Limon told the minister.
“Taking into account the constraints presented in the discussions, it is possible to establish a transition period that will not exceed a period of three months… until November 30, 2024,” Limon added.
He also instructed Ben Tzur, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, to immediately send a warning to Haredi men eligible for the draft informing them that daycare subsidies will be halted by that date.
A decision by the Bennett-Lapid government to immediately cut childcare subsidies was postponed by the High Court owing to the severe financial impact such a step would have on the livelihood of Haredi families.
Monthly subsidies for the daycare of young ultra-Orthodox children have until now been available for the children of full-time ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who received annual deferrals from military service – de facto exemptions – because of their religious studies.
The subsidies were available for children aged three months to five years old, and range from NIS 1,100 ($300) to NIS 1,600 ($436) for each child, and the cut in funding will have a heavy impact on the community.
The subsidies constitute a vital part of the household economy for many Haredi families whose income is typically far lower than the Israeli average, with some families having two or even three children eligible for daycare benefits.
The suspension of the daycare subsidies comes after the High Court of Justice barred the government from providing funds to ultra-Orthodox yeshivas for those eligible for the draft, effectively ending the transfer of subsidies for nearly 50,000 full-time Haredi students.
Until March of this year, ultra-Orthodox men of military age had for decades been able to avoid being conscripted by enrolling at yeshivas for Torah study and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reached the age of exemption from service.
In 2017, the High Court ruled that mass exemptions to military service on a group basis are illegal and discriminatory. Successive governments have since that time tried and failed to formulate new legislation to settle the matter, while requesting repeated deferrals from the court.
But after the government failed to prevent the expiration of the legally dubious — and supposedly temporary — regulation, and the High Court ruled that there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting them, the army began calling up members of the Haredi community in July of this year.
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that those who enlist will be secularized. Israelis who do serve, however, say the decades-long arrangement of mass exemptions unfairly burdens them, a sentiment that has strengthened since the October 7 attack and the ensuing war, in which more than 680 soldiers have been killed and over 300,000 citizens called up to reserve duty.
Sam Sokol and Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
