A follower of the Gur Hasidic dynasty says that as a married yeshiva student in 2003, he went months without a stipend after then-Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slashed budgets for the Haredi community, forcing him to pursue academic degrees. The account, reported by journalist Yoeli Brim, illustrates economic pressures that drove some Haredi men out of full-time study.
A Gur Hasid quoted by journalist Yoeli Brim recounted that he and his wife endured severe financial hardship in 2003 after then-Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut budgets allocated to the Haredi community. The man, who was then a full-time yeshiva student (avrekh), said he received no stipend for over six months and his wife worked at an underfunded institution, leaving him no choice but to study law — ultimately earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree. The story reflects a period when economic measures by the government prompted some Haredi men to leave full-time Torah study for academia and the workforce, a trend that later shaped policy debates about Haredi integration into Israeli society. The account is attributed to a single source and has not been independently verified by The Zioneer. No prior reporting on this specific anecdote was found in our archive.
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