Yeshiva-Dodger Ordered to Pay Back Stipend

A Jerusalem court has ruled that a Haredi Yeshiva student must pay back NIS 84,000 he received as a government stipend for his yeshiva studies, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

The man received the money as a government stipend for the past 7 years, because he was listed as being enrolled full-time as Yeshiva student. He had declared that "Torah study is his trade", which is the basis for deferrals from IDF service. The requirement for the stipend is that he would learn in Yeshiva between 35-45 hours a week.

A state investigation uncovered that the man had not been learning in Yeshiva full time, and in fact had been running a girl's seminary without pay, when he was supposed to be studying in Yeshiva.

As a result of the investigation, the state also cut the funding of the Yeshiva were the man was listed as studying at.