A House of Cards

Image for illustration purposes only (Rationalist Judaism)

Unfortunately I am not surprised. Although I am still saddened by a situation Rabbi Natan Slifkin is calling ‘downright terrifying’!

It involves one of the things I lament frequently here: The lack of any secular education at all post high school in the Charedi world in Israel. As Rabbi Slifkin notes: 

There are two types of such institutions. One is the mosdot petur - the charedi elementary schools which receive barely any secular education. The number of children in these institutions has now risen to 90,000. The other are the yeshivot ketanot - the yeshivot for boys in grades 9 to 12 who received a basic secular education in elementary school, but who receive no further high school secular education whatsoever. The number of boys in these institutions has nearly doubled over the last decade, to 37,000. 

It is no secret that the Charedi world is one of the poorest communities in Israel. Many families subsist on bare-bone budgets supplemented by government subsidies, charities, and free loan societies. Carrying a huge debt load via maxing out credit cards is not uncommon. Just putting food on the table is a struggle in many Charedi households in Israel. What often happens is one free loan society is paid back with a loan from another free loan society - in a sort of rolling debt kind of way.

This is not to say that there aren’t a lot of Charedi families that live relatively middle class but modest lifestyles. It is true for example that many work at jobs - that when combined with the income produced by a working wife - enables them to live that way. Some have gotten a post Kollel education at one of the increasing numbers of training centers designed to enable Charedim to get better paying jobs. There are also those that have somehow become successful in various other ways. Or that rely on support from their relatively wealthy families abroad. Then there are also those government subsidies. But there are also a lot that can’t even put food on the table - let alone live a modest middle class lifestyle - without outside help of some kind.  

I have maintained for the longest time that the paradigm insisted upon by the Charedi leadership in Israel - combined with the typically large family - is mostly responsible for this. Their insistence on the primacy of Torah study is so strong, that all other studies must be abandoned in favor of it. I believe that their refusal to offer a curriculum that would help prepare them for the future is mainly what puts them in this situation. 

What about the programs designed to help Charedim get better jobs post Kollel?  Doesn’t that solve the problem? If enough of these programs become available, won’t the net result be the same as if they had a decent secular studies curriculum in high school? Why does it matter when they get that education… as long as they get it eventually? In theory I suppose it shouldn’t matter. It should put Charedim on equal footing with those who have had decent high school education.

The problem is that it doesn’t. Most Charedim either don’t or can’t take advantage of it. As Rabbi Slifkin notes: 

According to the Times of Israel, the state comptroller's office released a truly alarming report. Despite over half a billion shekels being invested in last eight years in special academic programs for charedim, these programs have been a disaster. Only 22% of charedim in these courses are men - and an astonishing 76% of men drop out! 

This is a startling statistic, even for a skeptic like me. It reinforces my resolve to keep pushing for the type of education that was the paradigm of just about every Yeshiva high school in America – including the vast majority of Charedi Yeshiva high schools. (I say ‘was’ because it’s beginning to happen here too. Once Chasidim established their own schools they offered only religious studies. And it seems like an increasing number of Lithuanian type Yeshivos are beginning to do the same. That is a tragedy in its own right but beyond the scope of this post.)

American Yeshiva high schools divide the day into 2 parts. Mornings are devoted to Limudei Kodesh (religious studies – mostly Gemarah). Afternoons are devoted to secular studies program. While their might be different emphases among schools of differing Hashkafos, that is the basic model. And for the most part it worked pretty well here. The fact is that Orthodox Jews in America are able to pursue careers through a higher education if they so desire. I know plenty of American Charedi professionals that do quite well in a variety of fields.

But when secular studies are treated as a waste of time at best and avoided in Charedi high schools, what are the chances that those attending them will eventually catch up? The answer is now before us. The chances are slim if the above statistics are anywhere near accurate.

I realize that I am probably ‘spitting in the wind’. No Charedi leader will ever change the paradigm let alone listen to someone like me. (…which they obviously don’t. They don’t even know I exist!) But that doesn’t mean I can’t talk about it til I’m blue in the face.  

There are those that say it is none of my business and that the Chaaredi world has a right to live the way they choose - and learn what they please. Who am I to tell them what to do?! I am not even Charedi and have zero standing in that world. And even if I did, who am I compared to the Charedi leadership that insists on that paradigm. Bottom line -  they might say - is that I should just mind my own business. 

I don’t see it that way. It IS my business! Kol Yisroel Arevim Zeh BaZeh. Jewish law requires us to be responsible for each other. Both spiritually and materially.  Our sages tell us - Ein Kemach - Ein Torah! Without material welfare, one’s spiritual welfare can and too often does suffer. How many times have I heard about Charedim that went OTD precisely because they could not stand the poverty under which they were raised - and associated it with their parents’ religious observance!

I have been told many times to just leave them alone by people on both sides of the Hashkafic aisle. By the right – that I should focus instead on my own community’s problems. And by the Left to just ignore them and let them stew I their own juices.

I can’t do that. How can I ignore a problem that I am convinced will surely be helped if only the paradigm would change to the American style program described above?

It is now more apparent than ever that something needs to change.  This community is growing at an exponential rate. Free loan societies will not be able to keep pace. Government subsidies will likely decrease per capita as the community grows – even if the amount of money they distribute remains the same. Meanwhile the economic base that supports that largess through their taxes is shrinking as the Charedi world and its proportional poverty expands. That means more takers and less givers. That is not a formula for success. It is a formula for disaster if things don’t change.  The only question is when that disaster will happen.