Tel Aviv, Israel - A religious educational program funded by a billionaire and banned twice by the Education Ministry is still being taught in more than 70 Israeli schools.
The program, called "Zman Masa," or "Journey Time," is paid for by the foundation of Lev Leviev, a Russian-born Israeli real estate and diamond magnate, who says he hirrified by what he calls a lack of religious education in secular Israeli schools.
The Education Ministry's Pedagogical Department said last year that the courses offered by Leviev are unsuitable. The program was later rejected for a second time, due to the fact that the material pushes the ultra-Orthodox stream of Judaism, as opposed to the secular-humanist approach of the state education system.