Kollels Shut Down, Accused Of Fraud

The police have moved in and locked up a number of kollels in Jerusale, Beitar and Modiin Ilit on the susp-icion of serious levels of "kollel fraud".

While details are not yet clear, it seems the main issue is the number of kollel students registered in the various kollels not matching the actual number. Over-registration  is a common issue in kollels and yeshivas, and was generally ignored, with the occassional spot-check, that was not such a spot check. I remember when I was in yeshiva every once in a blue moon word would spread that the rosh yeshiva requests everybody present on a specific day because someone from the misrad hadatot, or misrad haotzar would possibly be coming to check the lists.

It was not such a big deal if you were in yeshiva - just you had to make sure you were in the beis medrash even if you were sick, and you better not have any external conflicts that day. The issue was more with the guys they had to notify who were registered in the yeshiva but had not been there in many months. In my yeshiva the number was small. There were some older guys who were probably working "black" who were no longer in yeshiva but never unregistered, but it was not such an Israeli yeshiva, nor such a large one, that we would have had large numbers of discrepancies.

The reports have it that these kollels, and more to possibly be shut down as well, have very large numbers of over-registrations, and many knew about it for a long time and allowed it to be covered up.

What will come of it? We wait and see. Maybe the kollels will produce the books and show that they are operating properly and not committing the fraud they are suspected of.

Either way, the damage is already done. People will now remember, even if the kollels, or some of them, clear their names, that the kollels were shut down for fraud. At a time when hatred is at a high, and the fights over the stipends and welfare payments to kollel men is under serious dispute, this could not have happened at a worse time for creating a chillul hashem.

(sources: all the news media, including haredi websites)