Israel – An amendment to the Economic Arrangements Bill that would condition the funding of elementary haredi schools on the teaching of math, Hebrew and English generated a heated argument in the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee on Tuesday, with haredi MKs denouncing the legislation as an attempt to destroy ultra- Orthodox society.
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During the session, senior UTJ MK Moshe Gafni was so incensed with the proposals that he denounced committee members MKs Ruth Calderon and Yifat Kariv as “evil” who came to the Knesset to do evil.
Currently, haredi schools known as “exempt institutions,” which run from grades 1-8, have had to teach just six hours a week of general studies, which could include an hour of gym class and an hour of citizen studies. Such schools are funded at a rate of 55 percent in comparison to nonharedi schools that teach a full curriculum of secular studies.
According to the new proposals which were debated in the committee session on Tuesday, haredi “exempt institution” schools would have to teach 11 hours a week of math, Hebrew and English in order to qualify for funding at 55%. If such schools teach less than 11 hours of these subjects, they will be funded at just 30% of non-haredi schools.
The haredi political parties are fiercely protective of the independence of the haredi education system and the new proposals are strongly opposed by United Torah Judaism and Shas.
Gafni said during the hearing that if the bill was passed he would recommend that exempt institutions cut off all contact with the Education Ministry, while Shas MK Nissim Ze’ev said the bill represented a “culture war” being waged against the haredi community.
MK Ya’acov Asher, also of UTJ, said, “We’re talking here about a process of elimination, not a gradual process. The purpose is to eliminate the [exempt] institutions, and there is no intent here to find common ground or to help [the haredi community].”
The haredi rabbinic and political leadership sees the education system as the primary medium through which a child’s haredi identity is formed, and so zealously guards it from outside interference.
In response to the haredi denunciations, Amit Levy, an adviser to Education Minister Shai Piron, denied that the intention was to harm the haredi way of life and insisted that the minister’s goals are to encourage the development of general studies within the haredi school system.
Committee chairman Amram Mitzna (Hatnua) said that he would “search for dialogue in order to reach common ground on the issue.”
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
sigh….
How sad to see Haredim make a mockery like this. 11 hours of math,Hebrew and English is not a bad idea at all.
That is a good way to win them over, Moshe Gafni, Don’t let the kids learn Hebrew or English, they open a book and know how to read it.
Look up Calderon on you tube. She spoke so eloquently and demonstrated a true love for Torah. I will take her Torah over the unfortunate hatred being spewed from our corner any day.
In a recent poll 70% of Israeli companies don’t want to hire qualified charedim
Why push math in Science when you wont hire them in any case what hypocrites!!
The only logical conclusion is as the Charedi MK said ” it is an attempt to destroy ultra- Orthodox society”
They are pushing Chareidim to the extreme right. It’s being done with spite rather then with tact.
Things were gradually beginning to change on all areas, education, military etc. They are creating such a backlash, that it will take years to fix.
If there’s no minimum for each subject teach 11 hours of Hebrew. Use a chumash or a sefer as the text book.
To Number 4 and 5..You are both right..This is done in spite and jealousy.What I cannot fathom is how Mr Bennet who considers himself a religous Jew should go so far and totally disregard all Gedoley Yisroel ..Does he honestly think that he will solve the problems of Haredi Jewry..Even if he had some good points he has definitely lost any trust.. He will now go down in the history books forever as a partner to one of the most anti religious leaders we have ever had in Israel and one who attempted to destroy the traditional Haredi way of living in every sense..
They don’t really care for the education of the charedim. They only do it to create fights. Acting like little children.
Ultimately, the shoe is about to fall off their foot.
Why is it ok in the rest of the world like USA and Europe for Chareidim to have those secular studies and not OK for Israeli Chareidim?
Ya know what. When the secular school teach yehadus for the amount of time they want the charadei yeshivos to teach secular then well talk!
Can someone please expkain why teaching children basic skills to earn a living is such a sin? They are asking for 2.75 hours 4 days a week don’t we teach our kids in usa morw than that? I just don’t see what is wrong. Ps if the charedim would be more knowlagable as a group they won’t be excluded from the workforce. Being that a good percentage are poorly equiped to work and the scheduals are more demanding than hilonim it is easier to look for a non haredi.
I have a degree in Mathematics and I am still a Hasidic person, but with a job.
It’s quite fair of the government to require of schools to have basic educational requirements. The hysteria that they are trying to destroy their society is nothing but hyperbole!
I wonder what Dr Rambam,Dr Ramban and Dr Abarbanel would say? Or the Lubavitcher Rebbe who was an engineer?
The reason the Chareidi leaders don’t want this is fear. Fear that these children will be able to learn about the outside world and leave the cloistered 18th century life that they lead.
These leaders have no faith in what they teach the next generation because if they thought the emunah of their children was so strong then no matter what they learn about the outside world will matter. If their faith and beliefs were so strong then no matter what they learn and experience in the outside will matter. It will only strengthen their love of Torah and of God’s world filled with wonderful creations.
Man is tasked with filling the world and capturing it not to sit in Yeshiva ad ignore masei Bereshit.
It seems like the penalty for not complying with this requirement is a reduction in subsidies from the government. No one is being forced to do anything. The government has the legal right to insist on certain basic educational achievements, as does the government in the US and indeed elsewhere, in exchange for federal funding. The charedi world–so very different than ours in many ways, including its approach to chinuch and secular education–will either have to comply or find the financial resources (probably from American chareidim who themselves took secular courses, went to college, etc) to make up for the decrease in funding of their school system.
Good for the gedolim. They will no doubt succeed in keeping their clientelle ignorant and stupid. At a certain point, the chareidim will figure out that they have been duped , and will realize that the gedolim are in fact ketanim.
Ignorance is bliss and of course amoratzes too. The Rambam[Maimonides] was a physician treating the Sultan, fluent in Arabic, Greek and Latin and a little bit of Hebrew too.
What many charedim fail to realize is that a solid secular education is necessary to run a modern economy. A modern economy is needed to feed and house a growing population and defend Israel in a very violent part of the world.
We trust in hashem, but must do our histadlus.
I personally do not understand how it is possible to understand many Gemorrahs – particularly in Eruvin and Succah, without solid grounding in basic math skills.
Growing up as a Reform Jew myself, I must remark that it was horrible to have the issues of True Torah Discourse avoided, but if I grew up in today’s Charedi culture, I would likely have never pursued an education and become a physician. I must say that I am aghast at the limited visions of the jewish community in the Ultra orthodox world and if you ask me, its not Torah.
Unfortunately, the Chareidi system as it exists presently in Israel would prefer to produce a generation of which about maybe 10 percent are Torah learning capable, with the rest wasting away their talents in flafel shops, street corners, shopping, davening 11 am – so long as they walk the walk and talk the talk. Individual achievement and fulfillment must be sacrificed for the greater good of absolute uniformity, absolute power and political clout.
If Moschiach comes within the next 5 years, we’re okay – but the if that is not the timetable, this program of large families, K”Y, and no education and work avoidance is not sustainable. It is a messianic program – however, we need to live in the possible future.
Can someone please expkain why teaching children basic skills to earn a living is such a sin? They are asking for 2.75 hours 4 days a week don’t we teach our kids in usa morw than that? I just don’t see what is wrong. Ps if the charedim would be more knowlagable as a group they won’t be excluded from the workforce. Being that a good percentage are poorly equiped to work and the scheduals are more demanding than hilonim it is easier to look for a non haredi.