Israel's Other Existential Crisis

Hundreds of thousands of Charedi men attended the 'million man' protest (eJP)

Half the children in Israel are receiving a third-world education. That was the headline of an article warning that, as Israel’s educational system currently stands, the country’s demographic and economic trajectory is unsustainable.

That is the conclusion of economist Dan Ben-David who has done an in-depth study on the subject.

Ben-David was interviewed by Judah Ari Gross for eJewish Philanthropy, where he laid out the case for his findings. He is in the middle of trying to convince the Israeli government to act before it is too late.

The bulk of the problem lies with the Charedi educational system, which refuses to offer a secular curriculum. Although there are a few exceptions, such schools are usually frowned upon by mainstream Charedi leadership. They believe that Torah study must become the exclusive area of study once boys reach high school. Until then, their primary education consists of basic elementary-school math and Hebrew. The vast majority of the day is devoted to Torah study. After that—nothing.

They insist on this because they believe the vast corpus of Torah in our day is so immense that one could spend a lifetime studying it and still never finish. Secular studies, they claim, detract from that mission.

I have no problem with the elite students among us focusing 100% of their time on Torah study. Although I believe that doing so detracts from the full richness of Torah knowledge - that one might gain from various secular disciplines - I will concede for argument’s sake that exclusive Torah study will maximize Torah knowledge. I am not the only one who sees value in secular knowledge; the most honored Torah scholar of the last few hundred years, the Vilna Gaon, felt the same way.

But as I have said many times in the past, not everyone has the talent or drive to study Torah exclusively. Every human being has their own personal strengths and inclinations that can better serve both their people and God - than forcing them to struggle with a page of Gemara half-heartedly. Those students should be encouraged to pursue their strengths—not made to conform to a single mold.

The problem is that the Charedi educational system does not recognize this reality. Their view is that whatever strengths one may have in other areas – they should be redirected into Torah study.

But as Ben-David notes, Israel needs its population educated in order to provide vital services. While Torah study is surely vital to the Jewish people, so too are doctors and other medical professionals who require a strong secular education in order to practice. Israel has done quite well in that regard until now; secular and non-Charedi religious Jews have obtained the necessary education and filled those roles. But what is happening now is an explosion of Charedi population growth, with the following result:

“(About) half of the children today in Israel are receiving a third-world education… which means that when these kids grow up, they won’t be able to support a first-world economy. That means that the economy will not be able to maintain first-world health care or welfare, but also not a first-world army, which we will need to defend ourselves like we have for the past 77 years...

When we talk about health care, it’s a huge sector, but the people responsible for keeping us at the highest levels in the developed world are the physicians. The number of physicians that we have relative to the adult 25-and-up population is just half a percent - 0.6% of the population. And the people who teach them in universities are just 0.2%.

The issue is this: …three groups - the high-tech people, the physicians, and the people who teach them—number less than 300,000 people altogether. We have a country of 10 million. You don’t need a million to get up and leave for it to be a catastrophe. We have less than 300,000 people basically keeping Israel a first-world economy, a first-world health-care system, and a first-rate university sector.”

Studies have shown several hundred physicians have left the country in recent years.

The issue of eliminating ignorance in the Charedi world is no longer the primary concern. Although it certainly deserves our attention. The far greater problem is sustaining a nation capable of providing the essential services that only higher education can produce. The Charedi refusal to recognize this reality will surely come back to haunt them a few generations from now. If secular Jews leave, and fewer Jews are educated enough to replace them - let alone increase those numbers as the population grows - Israel’s standard of living will deteriorate, as will the health and lifespan of its citizens. In short, they will become a 3^rd world country.

Israel needs the fastest-growing segment of its population to step up. Its leaders need to recognize that their current paradigm of Torah-only will ultimately result in disaster. Not enough people will be educated in the secular disciplines necessary to sustain a first-rate nation with a first-rate health-care system. That they do not recognize this is mind boggling!

To be sure, there are individual, very bright Charedim who - on their own initiative - seek to become part of these sustaining professions; they catch up with their secular counterparts and gain admission to professional schools where they can learn their craft. And women do in fact receive a decent enough education to become professionals of this kind. But are they? And if so, are there enough of them to sustain Israel as a first-world country?

I honestly don’t know the answer. But I do wonder whether Charedi leadership would be comfortable living in a society heavily dominated by women professionals. I find it difficult to imagine, for example, Charedi men comfortably going to a female doctor for a physical exam. And I am not even sure enough women will enter these professions to maintain Israel’s first-world status. Common sense suggests that you need men becoming doctors too.

From what I can tell, Israel’s existential crisis is not only about dealing with enemies who wish to annihilate it - though that is certainly true. There is another, more subtle existential crisis creeping up on the nation because of how the Charedi educational system operates. And it appears that Israel’s government has been unable or unwilling to change that paradigm.

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