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| Dr. Nechumi Yaffe (TOI) |
According to the polls, the new Charedi party, HaTzibur
HaCharedi, has not yet crossed the threshold needed to be included in the
Knesset, which is about 150,000 votes. But at the last count, I believe they
were at approximately 100,000. What this tells me is that there are a
substantial number of Charedim who actually do feel an obligation to serve
their country.
They also seem to agree that getting a decent secular
education is a positive thing. Something that will help lift their community
out of the poverty so many of them experience because of the lack of such an
education. Which would better prepare them for the workplace. (An education
available to women but not men.)
Religious Charedi schools that teach secular subjects
already exist. But they are few and far between and are frowned upon by the
mainstream. Those Charedim who send their children to schools like that are
generally looked down upon, with some considering those schools’ religious
teachings to be a watered-down version of the schools that offer only Torah
studies.
It appears that things are changing, if the polls are right,
I suspect that the numbers might even be higher once Charedi voters with those
inclinations are in the privacy of the voting booth. A Charedi voter who may
not want his vote in favor of the party to become public.
None of this is new. I’ve discussed it before. What is new,
however, is the following, as reported by the Times
of Israel:
For the first time in Israel’s history, an ultra-Orthodox
political party on Monday selected a woman to run on its Knesset slate for the
upcoming election.
The newly formed Charedi Public party, chaired by Moti
Leitner, announced that Dr. Nechumi Yaffe, an ultra-Orthodox political
psychology researcher, has joined the party, a day before the deadline for
parties to submit their final candidate lists to the Central Elections
Committee.
In a statement, the Charedi Public said Yaffe has worked
with Harvard University on a research project focused on the ultra-Orthodox
community and is a senior faculty member and researcher at Tel Aviv University.
What an amazing turnaround from the typical stuff you hear
about the Charedi world in Israel. We now have a party that reflects a more
diverse view of Charedi life and includes a large number of Charedim that
believe in a more balanced way of life.
Much the same is true of the Charedi world in the U.S. There
is a lot more diversity among Charedim here than there is in Israel. So even
though the Charedi world here is moving in a rightward direction, it is not
doing so as monolithically as does the Charedi world in Israel.
There seems to be a significant backlash among Charedim in
Israel that may yet produce the grassroots changes that many of us are hoping
for.
That being said, I’m sure that the mainstream Charedi
leadership in Israel rejects this new party and probably doesn’t even consider
it Charedi…
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