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| Shas Party leader, Aryeh Deri (TOI) |
I have no clue whether Dr. Shuki Friedman is observant. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably not. But that does not mean we can’t take his critical article in JNS about Charedi poverty and his remedy for it seriously. I absolutely think we should. He basically says the same thing I have been saying for years.
Poverty among the Charedim in Israel does not have to be their destiny. And it’s the fault of their leadership that twice the proportion of Charedim in Israel live below the poverty line compared to the general population. And if you look at Charedi children which constitute the majority of their population - 60% live below the poverty line. Considering the fact that there are approximately 1.2 million Charedim in Israel - that is a lot of people.
This statistic does not sit well with me. Especially when something can be done to remedy the situation. Which I have suggested in what seems to be an endless number of times. The message of which can be distilled into 3 little words:
‘Get a job!’
Of course that is a gigantic oversimplification. Because it isn’t only about getting a job. My guess is that many Charedim do have jobs. Some of them do quite well. And there are also other reasons for their poverty. Such as the amount of money needed to support their typically large families. Where having 7 or 8 children is almost the norm. Most jobs do not pay enough to support a family that large.
The Charedi world in Israel places almost no value on what might be called the Charedi Baal Habos. An individual who decides to leave Kollel in order to support his family while establishing daily times for Torah study - is looked down upon. No matter how much of his free time he devotes to that. This is unlike America where there is a huge population of Charedim that do that and are well integrated into the Charedi world.
The fact is that in America the Charedi working population is quite large and well integrated into their world. I think the reason for this might have something to do with the fact that they are actually much better prepared for the workplace than their Charedi counterparts in Israel.
Most Charedi day schools and yeshiva high schools (still) provide a decent secular studies curriculum. At least enough for them to apply and get into college - and then a professional school. That is where all the better paying jobs come from. This is the population I call the moderate mainstream Charedi world. Although there are many Charedim that choose to stay in learning full time, their percentages are by far not anywhere near as high as they are in Israel where it is in Israel.
By contrast, Israeli Charedim never see a secular textbook in their schools. It is all Torah all the Time – especially beyond the 8th grade. This accounts for the following dismal statistics:
While in the state and state-religious education systems, 81% of pupils are eligible for matriculation, the corresponding figure for the haredi system is just 4%. This gap persists in higher education, as well. Only 4.5% of Israeli higher education students are haredi, and a quarter of them pursue degrees in education. A small minority (11%) are enrolled in universities, with an even smaller minority studying technological or other high-demand subjects.
It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s true that getting a decent secular education is no guarantee for a better job. But it is clearly more likely to be. The same thing is true about not getting an education. Some people do quite well without one. But clearly most do not. By far.
It’s a pity that so much of the Charedi world has to be condemned to a life of poverty. Many will retort by saying that Charedim are nevertheless happy with their lot – since they are doing the Lord’s work by studying Torah full time.
But what about the children? How many of them are happy with THEIR lot?! How many go OTD where an impoverished lifestyle is a contributing factor? I’d be willing to bet that a lot more go OTD than would be the case if they weren’t so impoverished.
Of course Parnassa – making a living - is not the only reason to study secular subjects. As someone recently pointed out on the Areivem mailing list this the vfollowing is the view of the Vilna Gaon. R’ Baruch M’Shklov wrote the following introduction to his book on Euclidian geometry written at the behest of the Gaon:
When I was in the illustrious city of Vilna in the presence of the Rav, the light, the great Gaon, my master and teacher, the light of the eyes of the exile, the renowned pious one [may HaShem protect and save him] Rav Eliyahu, in the month of Teves 5538 [January 1778], I heard from his holy mouth that according to what a person is lacking in knowledge of the “other wisdoms”, correspondingly he will be lacking one hundred portions in the wisdom of the Torah, because the Torah and the “other wisdoms” are inextricably linked together …
Whither ‘Daas Torah’! Whatever happened to that kind of thinking? As important as that view is I would be happy even if they jst valued secular studies for purposes of Parnassah!
But they don’t. And they won’t. Instead they blame their poverty on their favorite ‘fall guy’ – the Israeli government:
Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri has released a video accusing the Israeli government of starving haredi children...
The video shows a haredi mother and child forced to remove items from their cart at a supermarket checkout counter, because of Israel’s tax on disposable plasticware and sugary drinks, and because the government canceled the “Deri coupons.”
Now I am not a fan of taxes in any form. But to blame Charedi poverty on legislation based on environmental concerns or legislation to curb obesity really misses the boat. It’s not having to pay a few pennies more for plastic bags at the grocery store that causes Charedi poverty. And Deri knows it. They all know it. But they don’t care since they think they are serving God best doing it their way.
Even though
I keep saying the same thing over and over again, I will not stop telling the
truth as I see it to whoever wants to hear it, no matter how few. And no matter
how many times I have to do it.
