Q&A: Daycare
Daycare
Question
Haredi yeshiva students and kollel students ("suit-wearers," in your terminology) who are subject to the draft do not receive daycare subsidies. As a result, Minister Ben Tzur from Shas decided that the rest of the population also would not receive the daycare discount. Now I have a one-year-old daughter and I’m paying 4,000 shekels, and I’m a student, so this is simply crushing us financially.
Is it permissible to work off the books in order to manage?
To clarify: I’m not asking legally, but whether there is any halakhic / Jewish law problem with it.
Answer
In my opinion, there is no problem at all.
Discussion on Answer
What’s the problem? The minister is robbing him, and he is taking the law into his own hands.
Is withholding a state benefit considered robbery? And besides, if everyone took the law into their own hands in matters like this, the state treasury would be severely harmed.
This is not withholding a benefit. The law states that he is entitled to it, and the minister cannot rob him of it in violation of the law. It’s not his father’s money, and he cannot behave like a robber. Not everyone would do this, only someone who wants to save his money from robbers. The categorical imperative cannot serve as a shield for robbers against people who have been robbed.
Could you elaborate?