Q&A: A Yeshiva Sustained Through a Transgression
A Yeshiva Sustained Through a Transgression
Question
A yeshiva manages to pass the Ministry of Religious Affairs inspection by fraudulent means. The inspection checks that a certain percentage of those registered are physically present in the yeshiva at that time, and the yeshiva passes the inspection by having students go in twice using photocopies of their friends’ ID cards. As a result, it continues to receive funding, even though under normal circumstances it would have been fined and would not receive funding for the coming year. Is this considered theft?
Is there a problem with studying in that yeshiva (because of theft or because it is a commandment that comes through a transgression)?
Answer
In principle, this is outright theft. There are, however, cases in which a problematic accidental situation arises because the Ministry of Religious Affairs inspectors happened to descend on them at a moment when there were several constraints and a few students happened to be absent, while the yeshiva’s actual ongoing situation is proper. In such situations there may perhaps be room to bend the rules a bit. But if the real situation in the yeshiva is not as reported, then this is theft, and one should not cooperate with it.
Discussion on Answer
I wrote that one should not cooperate with the fake reporting. I did not write that it is forbidden to be a kollel fellow in that kollel. But even being a kollel fellow there is not exactly squeaky clean. Perhaps one should distinguish between a situation in which the stolen money goes to the missing fellows and a situation in which the kollel itself is sustained by stolen money, so that you too benefit from it indirectly. In any case, you are part of the gang.
Rabbi, I understand that it is forbidden to help them falsify things, but if I am a serious kollel fellow who does not miss days, why should it be forbidden for me to benefit from the money just because the administration is stealing? My portion did not come through theft.