yeshiva study
yeshiva studyIsrael news photo

The Knesset has passed into law, by a 34-0 vote, a bill exempting research grants from tax obligations. Thanks to two Knesset Members – Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) and Uri Ariel (National Union) – the law also includes Torah research institutes.

The original law, proposed by MKs Ronit Tirosh (Kadima) and Alex Miller (Israel Our Home), was meant to exempt university students and researchers from paying taxes on grants they received. MKs Gafni and Ariel then worked to make sure to add to the list of recognized institutes those that deal with religious-Jewish scholarship.

Among the newly-recognized Torah institutes is HaLakhah Berurah, located in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook in Jerusalem, which publishes the various tractates of the Babylonian Talmud together with elucidation of Jewish Law based on the Talmudic sources and commentaries, passage by passage. The unique idea of combining and reuniting the studies of Jewish Law and Talmud on the same page was originally that of the renowned Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, who also began the work with Tractate Beitzah.

Zomet Institute for Science and Torah, Ohr Etzion Torah Institute, Shlomo Aumann Institute in Yeshivat Shaalvim, Yad HaRav Herzog, and others recognized by the Ministry of Culture are also on the list.

“In addition to the encouragement this law gives to students,” MK Ariel said, “I see it also as a form of public recognition of the importance of the Torah research for future generations. I hope that this will lead as well to the full recognition of scholarly Torah accomplishments as equal to academic degrees, and we are working on legislation to this end.”