Limudei Chol? Or No Limudei Chol?

I don’t know what to believe. Does the Charedi community in Israel finally realize that a way of life that ignores preparation for the workforce is unsustainable? Or are they doubling down on that way of life as the only legitimate way to serve God?

There are competing forces that suggest both things are happening.  JTA reports that there are increasing numbers of Charedi families that want their children to have an education that will enable them to better support their families. An education that includes a core curriculum of Limudei Chol that is under government supervision.

That realization has apparently moved some Charedi rabbis in Israel to consider opening schools that offer such a curriculum under their own supervision - in order to avoid losing control.  On top of that, there is the following:   

A few days ago, Israeli media reported on a meeting of prominent leaders of the pious “Lithuanian” haredi sector, known as “Yeshivish” in the United States. According to one account, the leaders, including two rabbis who are among the favorites in the race to be crowned the next “rabbinical giant of the generation,” met to discuss the “state ultra-Orthodox school system, with the objective of considering the challenges in education and the best way to proceed.” The teaching of secular subjects was clearly the context of their meeting.  

This is all good news. Especially in light of their strident support for the right of certain Chasidic schools to not offer any Limudei Chol. That they are now discussing secular subjects being taught in Israel seems to contradict their defense of those Chasidic schools that don’t. How can they consider the creation of a system in Israel that they are themselves running away from? The so-called ‘top Yeshivos in Lakewood don’t offer and Limudei Chol at all. 

Perhaps that is precisely the reason they are concerned. The following statistic might help explain that concern:

 …more than 25% percent of the Yeshivish stream hold academic degrees, and the annual average earning of a Yeshivish household is 60% more than a Hasidic one.  

Why they are not concerned about the Chasidic households is a question that begs an answer. 

On the other hand I found the following statistic to be quite surprising:

 In research we conducted on Haredi boys’ education in the United States, a principal of a Lithuanian institution told us that removing secular studies would lead 90% of parents to remove their sons from the yeshiva.

What is surprising about that is that the Yeshiva world is going in the opposite direction. For reaosn that seem to contradict that statistic. The so-called top Yeshiva high schools in Lakwood do not offer a secualr curriculum. They are all Torah all the time. Abd the compettion to get yoru son into one of thse schools is fierce. That seems to contradict the finding that 90% of Charedi parents would remove theiir sons from a Yeshiva that stopped teaching Limudei Chol. 

Back to Israel. It appears that there is another side to this story: 

David Leibel, a well known rabbi who is also a businessman and social entrepreneur with a long record of success, announced the opening of an advanced yeshiva (for students ages 16 through marriage) that would also teach academic subjects.  

The attacks (against Rabbi Leibel) were swift and brutal. The Orthodox weekly Yated Ne’eman declared it totally out of the question to discuss the idea and condemned Leibel as the spiritual murderer of the greatest rabbi of the next generation, who instead of devoting himself entirely to Torah will choose to focus on secular studies.  

Is there a war in the Charedi world between American and Israeli rabbinic leaders? Are the increasing number of Charedi parents that desire to educate their children in Limudei Chol - now ostracized? Are parents that send their children to schools like Rabbi Leibel’s - considered to be aiding and abetting a spiritual murderer? 

I cannot speak for Israel’s Charedi leaders. But I can speak for myself.. 

As should be obvious from my many posts on the subject, I am pleased to see grass roots efforts by Charedi parents to buck the trend and send their children to schools that offer a dual religious/secular curriculum. I am am pleased to see the courage of Rabbi Leibel to support that as a legitimate pursuit and create a school that offers it. And I am pleased that American Charedi leaders are on board with it, too. not o 

Now if only they would express the same positive attitude about secualr studies to those Chasidci schools instead of supporting their roght to  not offer any, then who  knows. Maybe there is hope that that every Jew will have the opportunity to choose the path that is right for them by giving them a choice heretofore unavailable to them. And finally  put an end to ‘cookie cutter Judaism’ that has defined Charedi schools for decades.