What is going on with the funding of the Charedi school system in Israel? Is there an actual high school in Israel that has a basic secular core curriculum That seems to go against the very essence of what they have been preaching: that at best they are a waste of time and at worst anathematic to Torah. But here is what I just read:
"Due to the political clout of two ultra-Orthodox Knesset factions - Shas and Agudat Israel, however, their ultra-Orthodox school networks (Maayan Hachinuch Hatorani and the Independent Education Center), which agreed to teach the full core curriculum, receive the samebudgets as state schools."
"Thus equal budgeting was made contingent on equal curriculum content at the schools. The problem is, however, that the budgeting was provided but the core curriculum is apparently not being taught."
I was not aware that they had any schools like this. But what is more troubling is, that if they do they seem to be a sham. The curriculum is not being taught. If this is the case it is very loathsome to me. For a school to receive money from the government based on a promise to fulfill a condition which they do not fulfill is nothing short of Geneva. The problems I have with Israeli Charedi school system never included suspicions that they set up a school system with a sham secular curriculum in order get government funding. There must be more to the story.
Be that as it may I have a problem generally with the government funding of the Charedi schools. They are currently equally funded with the secular and Daati Leumi (Religious Zionist) schools.
The funding is the result of political compromise. Charedi votes on issues important to the political party in power are traded in exchange for the funding of Charedi institutions. I understand the world of politics. And on the surface I have no real problem with a political compromise that gives one the most favorable result one can get for their constituents. But as a concerned Jew who is interested in the welfare of all of Klal Yisroel, I am very troubled by the results of funding a system that produces so little in the way of economic benefit for its constituents.
What troubles me even more is the rhetoric I often hear from the Charedi political leadership when it doesn’t get the funding it thinks it deserves. They claim that they are being treated like second class citizens because they are refused equal funding.
They blame it on the anti Torah attitudes of the secular government. But this is disingenuous. They are now crying ‘wolf’ far too often. Their complaints are no longer legitimate. The Israeli government may be secular but it is not really anti-Torah anymore, at least when it comes to funding Charedi education. If it was truly anti Torah the religious Zionist schools wouldn't be getting any money either.
The problem that the secular governemt has with the Charedi schools is that that do not teach a basic core curriculum for secular studies in high school. We are not talking about teaching heresy, mind you. We are talking fundamentals of eduation: Courses like English, math, science and history. These courses do not exist at any level at all in the Charedi high school system.
I understand why Charedi leaders take umbrage at not getting equal funding for their schools. They feel that their schools should be given at least the same level of respect that the secular schools do. After all they are teaching Torah. They are teaching Judiasm. They are in fact the true purveyors of Judaism in a state that insists on maintaining its Jewish character. And they feel they are doing so in its most pure and pristine form... unfettered by any distractions. All Judiasm.. all the time! And their communities sacrifice materially in maintaining the high religious standards they learn in those schools.
Indeed their constituents are generally amongst the most ethical, kind and caring of all the Jewish people. And they are the ones having the most children and thereby contributing to the desired Jewish demographic. And, finally it is their belief that they are the ones holding up the world with their Torah learning. What better contributions to society can there be?
But, while much of this is basically true, as has been pointed out here so often they do their constituents a great disservice in not giving them a decent secular education so that can better compete in the job market when the time comes. That has produced the largest single poverty class in Israel (next to the Arabs). Charedim therefore place a greater strain on the economy because of their use of the welfare system.
The obvious answer to this problem is for Charedi leadership to re-adjust their thinking about how to educate the Charedi masses. They need to return to an era when learning fulltime was reserved for the elite in society, those who have the potential to become the Yechidei Segula… Gedolim.
I have suggested many times, the need to restructure the system to include secular studies to go along with religious studies. Certainly during the high school years. After that they can continue to learn full time for two or three years and at some point combine their Torah study with post high school secular study, whether it be college, trade, or professional school, so that when they are done with learning full time they can get decent jobs. They can in the meantime get married and have families. When the secular studies are completed they can continue learning in a Kollel if they wish but should not be there more than two or three of years. Of course the truly best and brightest who are so motivated should continue learning full time in their quest for greatness in Torah.
The Charedi leadrship not only doesn’t do that, they condemn and boycott any high school that offers any secular studies at all... and they disparage any post high school student for even considering studying for a career part time.
What does government funding have to do with this? The Israeli government has essentially tried to set up as a condition for funding that it implement at least a minimal secular curriculum in their high schools. It never in any way mandated study which would be deemed Assur. Their entire purpose is to have minimum standards which will help produce the most productive kind of citizen. As I indicated this is an Idea I’ve long advocated. And this why I am so troubled when Charedi leadership react so strongly against implementing such standards and cry foul in the process.
I know the song and dance: "We can’t have anti Torah people telling us what to teach!" Well, that was fine in Volozhin when the Czar had an ulterior motive and was helped along by influential Reform Jews who had the same agenda. They were indeed insidious. The plan was to at first introduce innocuous studies. And then to slowly wean Jews away from Torah and Mitzvos, and eventually assimilating and integrating them into secular society.
That may have been the goal of the early pioneers of Zionism too. But that is far from the case anymore today. Such claims are no longer legitimate… especially since the Israeli government has been funding Religious Zionist schools since day one. Whatever one says about those schools, no one ever accused them of teaching material that is anti Torah.
Minimum Standards. That is not only not too much to ask, it is an important change that Charedi leaders themselves should be implementing. The government wants to see a bigger bang for their buck and I don’t blame them one bit! Right now the bang is a negative one on the economy, and on the welfare of their own community.
If anyone ever hears a Charedi political leader complaining about inequality in funding between secular schools and Charedi schools and blame it on the anti Torah agenda of the secular Zionist government, they ought to think about it and not automatically condemn the government. They ought to instead consider the consequences of those demands and that they actually help perpetuate Charedi poverty. When I hear such complaints now, they fall on deaf ears.
