Even before the High Court ruling announced Tuesday morning, which forbids transferring budgets to yeshivas whose students are required to enlist in the absence of a law regulating their status, the legal impediment was well felt in ultra-Orthodox yeshivas. Starting in April, due to the determination of the legal adviser to the government , the transfer of money to yeshivas was prevented for Haredi youths who are obligated to enlist, which resulted in a reduction of millions of shekels in funding. Because of this, on Sunday, a number of senior Haredi rabbis went on a campaign to raise funds from the Jews of the United States , who see value in the existence of the Haredi yeshiva world in Israel. So far $60 million dollars were raised from these donations.
The fundraising meetings were held in the homes of donors, as well as in synagogues and conference halls. Some of the events were attended by several rabbis, some were attended by only one rabbi, and the major events were attended by all seven rabbis of the delegation. On Tuesday, after the High Court ruling, the leader of the Lithuanian Haredim - who is considered the successor of Lithuanian Haredi leader Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman and of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky - Rabbi Dov Lando said: "Save us! The evil authorities, the courts, have cut the budget of the Torah with malice, please make up the shortfall and not at the expense of your regular contributions."
The Sephardi representative in the rabbinic delegation is Rabbi Avraham Salim, head of the Maor Hatorah Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and a member of the Shas' Council of Torah Sages. "We fear because of all the persecutions that the source of the Torah will stop, God forbid," he said.
Before the announcement of the decision, in one of the meetings held at the home of a donor, Lando was recorded saying to the hosts: "I came here to cry out for rescue, save us! The yeshivas and the kollels are in great danger, fill in the gaps."
Rabbi Dan Segal, a spritual leader in the Ashkenazi yeshiva world, said: "Our Kollels stand before us. The kollels are the apples of the eyes of the Jewish people." In a meeting with one of the donors, Rabbi Salim said earlier this week: "This is a terrible situation, we have been humiliated. The respect that the Torah world has received in recent years from all walks of life is unbelievable, and today it is humiliated."
On the second day of the fundraising trip, a large meeting was held in Lakewood, New Jersey, which turned into an open-air rally, with the participation of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The head of the Slabodka Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, one of the prominent Lithuanian rabbis, said: "When the cuts began, the head of a large yeshiva called me and cried that he had no way to pay. I told him that I had nothing to answer him, but maybe American Jewry could answer that for us, the donations that are coming from here they show devotion."
At the same time, a prayer service was held and psalms were read with the Hasidic representative in the delegation, the Rachmastrivka Rebbe. Baruch Karfunkel, a well-known ultra-Orthodox Jewish donor in the United States, also hosted a meeting with the rabbinical elite on Monday night.
The goal of the rabbis is to establish a fund for the benefit of the yeshivas affected by the freezing of funds, the Olam HaTorah Fund, with the goal of raising $107 million.
On Monday night, Zvi Cohen, who accompanies the rabbis on the fundraising campaign, said in an interview with Kol Barama radio that "$60 million out of $107 million dollars have been collected so far." Cohen added: "This should provide a solution for a whole year to the cuts to yeshiva and kollel. The elders of Israel are tramping their feet from city to city with self-sacrifice and crying out for salvation, and Torah supporters are standing up to answer their call and donate sums they don't have with self-sacrifice for the sake of the world of Torah."