Ramat Gan, Israel – Every afternoon, after Aharon Rayner completes his daily Torah studies, he gets in his car, drives to Ramat Gan, logs onto a computer and starts buying and selling US stocks. The 30-year-old father of four who lives in the haredi community of Elad trades for a few hours before going home to spend time with his wife and children.
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Rayner’s decision to become a stock trader, where he can earn an average salary in just a handful of hours each day, is unusual among the ultra-Orthodox community, but it is gradually becoming less so; partly because, unlike many other professions, stock trading can accommodate the haredi lifestyle.
“To me this is the ultimate solution. It combines Torah life with work and family perfectly,” said Rayner, whose red hair and beard stand out against his traditional black garb.
Integrating ultra-Orthodox Jews into the labor force, particularly men, is one of Israel’s most pressing long-term economic challenges. Due to their high birthrate, haredim, who currently comprise about 10 percent of the population, are expected to account for 27% within 50 years, according to the Bank of Israel.
“If there isn’t a continuation of the process of rising participation rates of the Arab and ultra-Orthodox populations, the combined demographic changes are expected to reduce future annual growth by around 0.6 percentage point,” BoI Gov. Karnit Flug said in a speech last week, referencing Israel’s Arabs, whose low labor-force participation is as notoriously low as that of haredim.
For ultra-Orthodox men, choosing to work instead of Torah study can elicit a backlash within their community.
Those who do want to work, however, find that their yeshiva education leaves them ill-equipped for good jobs.
Because most have families to support from a young age, the prospect of spending three years getting a college education is uninviting. Many have not taken the required psychometric matriculation exams for university study to begin with.
When a friend of Rayner’s told him he was going to learn how to trade stocks, he took the plunge too.
According to Dudu Roz, the founder of the day-trading school where Raynor learned the ropes, Simple Trade, just about 7% of his students are ultra-Orthodox (all men), but the flexibility the lifestyle affords them is a good fit.
“If we learn to accept the haredi population as it is, we will get to the right solutions,” he said. “The haredi community isn’t looking to get rich. Their priorities are study, family and then salaries,” Roz continued. Instead of sitting and trading all day, they prefer to come, make their money quickly and move on.
For Rayner, the fact that he can study Torah each morning and still have plenty of time to devote to his family is key.
“It’s the hours. You can maybe do a few trades a day and get $100-$200 a day, and that leaves you the evening to spend time with your family,” Rayner said.
A lifetime of religious discipline and adherence to rules is also helpful in a vocation where adrenaline can fly high and traders are often tempted to go against best practices.
“When a haredi man learns the rules about what you are and aren’t supposed to do in trading, he is someone who knows how to control himself. He does what’s allowed and does not do what’s not allowed. It’s helpful in trading,” Rayner said.
Roz found that his model, which eases students into trading through a six-month course, gives them a mentor and, at the end, offers them a shared workspace to sit and trade together, works for haredim. The fact that the office provides computers – which many ultra-Orthodox do not have in their homes – is an extra boost.
Despite the many qualities that drew Rayner into trading, there are still tough barriers to getting into the field. For one, the six-month training course can cost between NIS 2,500 and NIS 13,000. Beyond that, traders need to have a starting lump sum of money to trade with, usually at least NIS 10,000.
Furthermore, the social taboos are persistent. Despite having several friends who trade, Rayner said people keep quiet about it.
“People who trade don’t love to say it,” he said. “I won’t tell you that traders are shouting it in the street, because people start saying, ‘He must be earning millions.’” One friend realized he had been “discovered” by a member of the community when the two entered the same trading chat room.
Without wondering why a fellow ultra-Orthodox individual was also in the chat room, he panicked and changed his screen name.
But for Raynor, those challenges were easier to overcome than the alternative options – whether seeking a degree or taking out hefty loans to start a brick-and-mortar business.
Moreover, he cherishes the fact that he can support his family without having to give up Torah study.
“I’m trying to get my friends to understand that you can stay in the Torah world and be in the labor market and there’s no contradiction,” Rayner said. “I didn’t leave the yeshiva. I’m still there.”
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Why are they wearing prison outfits?
This is what our grandparents did, learnd In the morning sent to work and learnd at night – the satmer rebbe once said he enveys the olem haba of the laymen that goes to learn after a hard day of work
this is like the machon parnassa thinkg that aguda does in Brooklyn, doesnt work as non-haredim dont trust it.
Beautiful story . Lol hakavod. I hope they have much hatzlacha
Gambling on the stock market via the internet. If they think they can sit in liesure and make lot’s of money then they are dreaming. “get some dirt on your hands, son”.
That’s exactly what the frum day-traders of the late 90’s/early 00’s thought and did. It worked great, until the market corrected, and then there were none, until this very day.
Teach the Charedim a real profession, and “feed them for a lifetime”.
I do the same thing each morning I learn, than in the afternoon I either play the slots or the ponies, boruch hashem oif mir hut gezugt Torah u’gedulah b’mokom echad.
That’s exactly what the frum day-traders of the late 90’s/early 00’s thought and did. It worked great, until the market corrected, and then there were none, until this very day.
Teach the Charedim a real profession, and “feed them for a lifetime”.
I am trying to figure out the logistics here. First..where does someone get the money for the course? And let us say it gets paid in the same way as other things are paid for.. Then how does someone with 10,000 NIS (roughly $2,500) make enough trades to earn and take home at least $100 a day? That would be a lot of trades as the brokerage house needs to also make money. And with that little amount of money in the account what about if there’s a bad day or a bad week… Then what?
Day trading is not a Parnassa it is gambling. Just like gambling the only person who is guaranteed to make money is the “house”
Being able to make a living picking stocks, is almost as easy as finding the elixir of life. It just ain’t happening…or else everyone would be doing it forever.
There was a great Lubavitch rebbe who was a big tzaddik and talmid chacham who started every day at the Rebbe’s (ztl) kever at the ohel to ask for a baracha and then would go to the racetrack and bet on a few races and almost always won modest sums of money. He donated a percentage to various tzadakahs and modos managed out of 770 EP but otherwise earned his parnassah through this type of gambling. He now has become the rosh yeshiva of a big kollel but still can be seen doing the Ohel/Track visits on some erev shabbosim when the horses are racing.
I am trying to figure out the logistics here. First..where does someone get the money for the course? And let us say it gets paid in the same way as other things are paid for.. Then how does someone with 10,000 NIS (roughly $2,500) make enough trades to earn and take home at least $100 a day? That would be a lot of trades as the brokerage house needs to also make money. And with that little amount of money in the account what about if there’s a bad day or a bad week… Then what?
I said it was gambling, and a few people have told me they do make money trading and I should get a life. I would like to know if you can also make a regular income when the market goes on a long term downward trend. Blind Freddy can make money when the market is rising, and he will usually increase his outlay when times are good, until the correction or bear market appears. Hopefully by then these traders won’t have mortgaged their house and the inlaws’ houses when they were making lots of money. etc.
I agree that only if you have mind and mental control. Hopefully they amd everyone out there work responsibly as it can become a bad parnassa chas veshalom