Law to Assist Avreichim Passes First Reading

YERUSHALAYIM
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that would provide financial assistance for avreichim with families whose incomes are below the poverty line. The bill, approved on its first reading, now goes back to committee for discussion and preparation for its final vote.

The law was approved with 46 MKs voting in favor, and 31 against.

The law, proposed by United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni states that “students at institutions of higher learning, yeshivas, and Torah institutions, will be eligible for stipends if they have at least one child. Ownership of a home for these families will not be counted towards income. In addition, single parents will be eligible for such assistance if they are studying in such institutions without the need for further tests.”

In a statement accompanying the law, MK Rabbi Gafni said that the current law that did not provide assistance to such students was “outmoded. We believe that it is due to the study of the Torah by scholars that the Jewish people, and indeed the whole world, survives, but there are also many families whose breadwinners spend time getting training who also need to live in dignity.”

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