The familiar knock on haredi education is that it does not prepare its graduates for life after yeshiva.
So begins a column by Jonathan Rosenblum in the Jersusalem Post. And of course he's is right.
The article then goes on to talk about the Shuvu School in Kfar Saba. Shuvu for those who don't know, is a school system which is Kiruv oriented and geared towards children from Russian speaking families.
In what has to be the height of irony, the students at the Charedi sponsored Shuvu school outperform the students from the municipality's own public school system. Yet they are fighting to close it down. Why? Because it's too Jewish. There is too much religion being taught there. Parents have nonetheless been flocking to enroll their children there since the citizens in Kfar Saba are more interested in quality education than they are in the political struggle between religious leaders and anti religious elements in the government.
What's more… the parents actually appreciate a little religion in their children's lives. Instead of trying to shut down competition from SHUVU, Kfar Saba might be better advised to emulate its educational model. Jonathan's point is well taken and I agree with him.
What Jonathan does not say, however is whether he agrees with that 'familiar knock on haredi education '. Does he believe that the mainstream educational system for Charedim are in fact short changing their children? My gut feeling is that he does. But as a prominent spokesman for Charedim in Israel he is probably reluctant to say so. I have seen critical pierces about Charedim written by him but I do not recall him directly criticizing the educational system which… to me… is perhaps the most important issue in Israeli Charedi society.
Based on my reading of his many columns he seems to believe as I do… that it is important to make Torah learning the primary focus of Jewish education but that it should also include better preparation for graduates to function in the real world. That is kind of the undertone of the article here. He seems to extol the high academic level of secular studies in the Shuvu school in Kfar Saba:
THREE-PAGE spread on the SHUVU system in the June 28 Globes shows why Kfar Saba officials are so fearful of competition from SHUVU. On an unannounced visit to a first-grade class in Rishon Lezion, the Globes reporter found the entire class easily solving mathematical equations in which they had to figure out the missing term, a level of conceptual thinking with no parallel in the state curriculum for that age. She found the pattern repeating itself in every one of the required secular subjects and at all grade levels.
SHUVU schools, Globes reported, provide eight hours of weekly math instruction versus four in the state system. English classes start in first-grade as opposed to fourth, and computers are introduced in kindergarten.
Jonathan's very valid point aside, it is a smaller issue in my view. The fact is that the school he praises in this article is anathema to his own Charedi community in Israel. As I have said many times, the Charedi leadership denies its own male constituency any secular education at all post 8th grade!
So why does a Charedi Kiruv organization allow its Kiruv schools to have such a superior secular education? Because it realizes that Kiruv will never be possible if it offers the typical Charedi curriculum to its target parent. Parents of such children would run like the dickens from such schools.
The bottom line ends up being that those Baalei Teshuva who attend a Shuvu school receive a far better education than do mainstream Charedim.
The Charedi leadership ought to take a page from their own vbery successful Shuvu schools and introduce secular subjects into their mainstream high schools. It is beyond unfair to cripple future generations because of a lack of a basic secular education.
I always set up Marava as the model. But it doesn't have to be a Maarava clone. It can be modeled from any of the American Charedi high schools. One rabbinic figure in Israel whom most Charedim consider a Gadol actually endorsed Marava at first. But when Rav Shach condemned it he withdrew his support!
Why should a school like a Marava be all but put in Cherem? Do they really believe that great Talmidei Chachamim cannot be develop if they study secular subjects in high school? That is so untrue. There are a great many Rabbanim and Roshei Yeshiva that have high school diplomas. Some, like HaRav Yaakov Perlow even have college degrees. Is anyone prepared to say that had they not gone to high school or college they would be even greater than they are? Did their study of high school math… or English… or history make them any less great?
I think the answer is obvious. And I think Jonathan knows that too. It is high time that people like Jonathan Rosenblum make that point and not simply use it as a means to criticize anti religious bureaucrats in the education ministry... even though it is justified in this case.
There are far too many people who believe that Rav Shach's condemnation of a Marava type school was wrong. Many of them are considered Gedolim. In fact I have recently been told the following by a source who asked not to be identified and asked that I not identify the Gadol. What he told me is that a very big high profile Gadol in America actually said that Rav Shach was wrong about Marava. But I have yet to see any public figure follow that up! What are they so afraid of?
The result is that Charedi children are paying a very high price by the perpetuation of this attitude. I therefore end this essay in the same spirit Jonathan ended his: Instead of being so anti secular studies, Charedi leadership might be better advised to emulate its own Shuvu educational model.
