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| MK R' Shai Piron, former co-head of a Hesder Yeshiva |
An unidentified official in the Council on Higher Education termed the registration for the start of the upcoming academic year among chareidim as a “catastrophe.” According to the best estimates of the head of the council, Professor Manuel Trachtenberg, there will be a 20 percent decline from the chareidi registration in the 2013 academic year. The decline has been particularly dramatic among male students.
This in spite do the fact that there has never been a better
time for Charedim to do this because of increased government support in the
form of student loans and grants – and at a time where government handouts have
been reduced because of the economy.
The same is true for Charedi enlistment in the military:
Defense Minister Moshe (Boogie) Ya’alon recently told the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security that the IDF had witnessed a 50 percent decline in chareidi enlistment in recent months.
(What kind of a nickname is Boogie? But I digress.) Why does Jonathan blame Yair Lapid for this? Because of the
Charedi view that his goals are anti Torah. As such the formerly tacit approval
by Charedi leaders to those who felt they needed to go to work, get the army
out of the way and get educated has been
changed to seeing this as an attack on Torah study - a Shas HaShmad even.
As such these leaders have been directing their students to
resist anything even remotely related to leaving the Beis HaMedrash. Statements by Yesh Atid Kenesset members, like MK Rabbi
Shai Piron about integrating Charedim
into society were (and still are) seen as an attempt to wean them off the true
path of Torah via assimilation into the world of the secular Jew.
What a bizarre interpretation of reality. MK
Piron’s idea of ‘forg(ing) a common Israeli identity’ for Charedim does
not mean one must leave the path of Torah. Nor does it mean that one cannot be
as Charedi as they wish. It simply means giving Charedim a sense of pride in
country. Much like American Charedim have a sense of pride in being Americans.
There is nothing wrong with that. It is not Shmad to call yourself an Israeli…
and know what that means and what it doesn’t mean. Being an Israeli does not preclude
being Charedi.
On the contrary. There is by far not enough of such
identification by Charedimin Israel. Some
are so anti Medina (State of Israel) that identifying
as an Israeli is anathema to them. You may as well call them a Kofer. The
result of such thinking is to lack any sense of gratitude for what the state of
Israel has done for them. Basic decency
requires you to have gratitude for what your are given, even if you have legitimate issues.
If - as is the goal of Yesh Atid – you are imbued with a common Israeli identity, you will not see things as myopically as you have in the past. The blinders will have been taken off. You will see the positive as well and not only the negative.
This is what forging a common identity means. It does not
mean dropping one jot or tittle from Halachic observance or even Charedi
Chumros.
The irony of blaming someone like Lapid for the reduction in
the number of Charedim taking advantage of incentives for military service and a
college education should not escape anyone. It is his party that has advocated
for them. They are incentives. No one is forced to do anything. The fault lies
not with Lapid, or Rabbi Piron. It lies with the Charedi leadership who have unjustly
characterized Yesh Atid’s goals and have
reacted in ways that are detrimental to their own constituents. And even
against their own interests which include the economic survival of the Charedi
world
I’m sorry that Jonathan has spinned it this way. He should
instead appeal to his leadership to stop mischaracterizing the motives of Yesh
Atid, a party that includes 2 religious rabbis whose goals are the exact
opposite of what the Charedi leadership has said they are.
Message to Charedim in Israel: Take advantage of these
opportunities, you have nothing to lose but your poverty.
