Israel’s Welfare Ministry gives yeshiva dormitories up to NIS 80 million a year, yet it does not carry out night inspections at about 75% of them to verify that students actually sleep there, according to a response obtained by the Movement for Freedom of Information at the request of Calcalist. Over the past three years, 153 night checks produced only one negative finding, and even that case involved only minor deficiencies.
The ministry supports about 200 dormitories for high-school-age students, saying the money helps low-income families. In practice, the article describes the program as a second budget channel for the “small yeshivas,” ultra-Orthodox high schools that do not teach core subjects. It is largely funded through coalition money and disappears when ultra-Orthodox parties are out of government. The permanent base budget is NIS 22 million, and coalition additions have pushed it far higher, reaching NIS 80.4 million in 2023, when the monthly rate per student was NIS 591. Despite the war, the ultra-Orthodox parties kept the funding, though the additions were reduced. The budget was NIS 60.4 million in 2024 and NIS 55.1 million in 2025.
In 2025, the program funded 12,086 students in 207 institutions at NIS 395 per student per month. Support rules say a dormitory qualifies if at least 30 students stay there overnight. The article says a growing share of ultra-Orthodox students no longer live in dormitories, and in many cases the facilities are used only for daytime rest, raising concern that the state is subsidizing places where no one actually sleeps.
A 2001 State Comptroller report had already warned that the lack of night inspections undermines oversight. According to the freedom-of-information reply, the ministry chose to keep most inspections during the day. In each of the last three years, it conducted 550 to 600 routine inspections, nearly three per institution, all in daylight. Night inspections were limited to 46 in 2023, 55 in 2024 and 53 in 2025, across about 2,000 institutions. None found problems except one in 2025, which found minor defects.
Attorney Or Sadan of the Movement for Freedom of Information said the data shows poor state supervision and said it is unacceptable that yeshivas receive tens of millions of shekels without anyone checking whether students sleep there. The Welfare Ministry said it carried out 623 physical inspections in supported dormitories in 2025, mostly during operating hours, because daytime checks allow staff to verify data with administrators and students, assess living conditions and infrastructure, and confirm actual overnight stays. It added that night inspections are rarer because there is little activity then, but when daytime checks reveal inconsistencies, the ministry conducts an additional surprise night inspection.
