Jerusalem – Two new and separate petitions challenging the refusal of the haredi educational system to teach core curriculum subjects essential for the modern workforce are currently afoot in the High Court of Justice.
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One was filed by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). The other was prepared by Uriel Reichmann, president of the Interdisciplinary Center – Herzliya, former Education Minister Amnon Rubinstein, and four men who left the haredi community into which they were born.
The latest initiatives are part of an ongoing effort to force haredi schools to teach at least the key subjects of the core curriculum, including mathematics, a foreign language and Hebrew studies; or, if they refuse, to cancel the state budgets they currently receive.
The full core curriculum includes Bible, expression in Hebrew, Hebrew literature, history, the history of the Jewish people, citizenship, mathematics and one foreign language.
In 2002, IRAC and the High School, Seminar and College Teachers’ Association petitioned the High Court with the same demands.
At that time, there were two haredi school systems. The larger one consisted of schools that were recognized by the state but were not official state schools. They received 75 percent of the state funding (state schools receive 100 percent) and, in return, were expected to teach 75 percent of the core curriculum. Another stream, known as the “exempt” schools, comprised mainly talmudei torah which received 55 percent of the state funding and were expected to teach 55 percent of the core curriculum.
The recognized but unofficial school system includes primary and secondary schools (little yeshivot) for boys, and primary and secondary schools for girls.
The primary and secondary girls’ schools have been teaching “modern” subjects. But the boys’ schools, particularly the “little yeshivot” have not.
In 2004, the High Court ruled that the haredi boys’ schools should teach the core curriculum, but gave them three years to introduce the courses.
In 2007, after the haredi schools failed to introduce the core curriculum, the petitioners returned to the High Court and demanded a final ruling on the case.
Four days before the ruling was due to be handed down, the Knesset approved a haredi-initiated law establishing a new type of secondary school, described as “special cultural” educational institutions. According to the definition included in the law, these schools were “educational institutions in which a systematic education was given in accordance with the special characteristics of the special cultural group that studied in each.” The law exempted these schools from studying the core curriculum (since it allegedly clashed with the “special culture” of the various communities that studied in each school). According to the law, these schools were to receive 60 percent state funding.
Four days later, the court handed down its ruling. It sharply criticized the Knesset for passing the law on the eve of the ruling, but said that it could not order boys’ secondary schools that were recognized by the Ministry of Education as “special cultural” schools to teach the core curriculum.
Now, some four years later, the battle is being joined once again.
Reichmann told The Jerusalem Post that he is calling for the rescinding of the law allowing haredi high schools not to teach the core curriculum on the grounds that it violates the Basic Law: Human Freedom and Dignity, and the Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation.
“The law causes human and national damage,” said Reichmann. The human damage was represented by the four petitioners who had left the haredi community.
“They did not know a word of English,” he told the Post. “In fact, some of them did not know there was an English language. Some did not know how to multiply.”
One of the petitioners began to study when he was 23 years old, Reichmann continued. After beginning law school at the Interdisciplinary Center, he got bogged down for almost two years because he had trouble learning English. Earlier, he had had serious problems when he joined the army, but ended up as an officer in the Golani Brigade.
“They are wonderful people who have suffered terribly,” said Reichmann.
The petition filed by IRAC charged that the state had failed to keep its promise to increase the supervision of the haredi schools regarding not only the core curriculum – which still applies to recognized but unofficial primary and secondary schools and “exempted” schools – but also other standards, such as the minimum number of visits by school supervisors each year, the number of teaching hours, the schoolbooks in the curriculum, levels of learning achievement, and so on.
The petitioners quoted from the state’s response to its petition in 2007, in which it admitted that the supervision in the haredi schools was insufficient and must be “significantly” reinforced.
Since then, wrote IRAC’s attorney, Ricki Shapira Rosenberg, a total of two supervisors has been added to the recognized but unofficial school system, and none to the “exempted” schools.
Thus in 2007, there was one supervisor for every 101,901 students in the recognized but unofficial school system, none for the estimated 40,000 students in the “exempted” schools, one for every 5,328 students in the state secular schools and one for every 3,941 in the state religious schools.
With the addition of the two haredi supervisors, there is now one supervisor for 50,950 students in the recognized but unofficial school system – and that is the extent of the promised improvement.
Over the past several months there has been a steady and growing pushback from the mainstream community in EY against the Chareidi efforts to isolate themselves further from the medinah and impose increasingly greater costs and risks on the nation’s future growth. The last remaining barrier is the political coalition system which will soon crumble and the political power wielded by the zealots who answer only to thier rabbonim will be shattered forever.
Every student should be compelled to take, math, science, history and Jewish history, as well as Hebrew. The students should have the basics which will allow them to compete, if they choose to when they grow up, in the modern world. Learning is a life long venture. Israel, as a thriving society, needs people who are educated and who can WORK and make a living. The Charedim can not expect the society to support them if the cdountry is to survive.
Its all about money. The schools want to operate as they see fit, but still want funding from the Israeli Govt. The funding is in return for all the taxes the Charedi sector pays to the Govt.
I live here in EY, but I am not a charedi. I have chosen to send my kids to schools where they are taught Torah and derech Eretz; however, just like I have the right to choose from a spectrum of educational choices, so does the charedi community.
If they choose not to learn math and english, so be it. Those who wish to learn it, will learn it later. You can’t force this down the tzibburs throat. They will simply home school their kids.
Wha can be done is to remove the stigma from working. It could be taught that making parnassa and learning at the same time (while raising a family) is a maale,
not a chisaron. Then charedim would learn math, english, etc on their own accord.
If kollel learing was reserved for the few, rather than a mass movement like it is today, this would bring more kavod to the Torah from the chiloni public.
I personally feel sorry from those who have left the derech. They have traded
diamonds for coal. And the ones who go public about it, are simply not honest-
but they lack the guts to to admit they are wrong because they have painted themselves into a corner. To them we say ” Shuvu Banim Shovivim….”
The core curriculum is a mixed bag. I can’t see how anyone could argue with teaching math, Hebrew, basic chemistry, etc. Anyone who does is either living on another planet or has a political agenda for keeping the people ignorant.
Hebrew literature, on the other hand, could be a problem. Much of the modern literature is anti-religious, non-religious, or contains serious pritzus. Jewish history is a whole other area – where what is taught is dependent on the political bias of the teacher. Still, it would be helpful to know the basics of world history and some relevant dates.
You don’t need to know who came in which Aliyah, but you do need to know math, how to read and write modern Hebrew, and maybe some basic chemistry biology and physics. The language of the country you live in shouldn’t be a foreign language.
The Israeli chareidi system is producing generations of dysfunctional retards
simple answer – don’t accept money from them and they can’t tell you what to do – there is an achrayus that comes with accepting their money – that’s why Satmar, Toldos Aharon, Brisk, Dushinsky, Breslov, etc. do not take. I know some Agudist Yeshivos that vote and pay taxes etc. that also do not take anymore because of this pushing by the medinah – hopefully there will be more support from Chutz L’Aretz and all Haredim will stop taking from the Medinah.
To all Jewish anti semites posting above, the Chareidi system really hasn’t changed much in a thousands years. It continues to do what it was designed to do and has done in every state of Golus, produce chareidi Jews. The talmidei Chasam Sofer and the talmidei R Mordcha Bennet didn’t learn calculus either. The misnomer that we don’t learn “mathematics” makes people think we can’t add 2+2. Ask a Chareidi child who learned Sukka to explain shlish milibar and shlish milgav and he’ll have no problem. Ask a Chiloni that went through the secular system and is not currently involved in a profession such as engineering or architecture, when was the last time he used calculus, algebra, geometry, or trigonometry, 99% of them will tell you never. Jewish history? Jews doing non Jewish things is not Jewish history.
#4,
Who tries to be open minded, still reveals how contaminated the non-chareidi education is. Did he read parshas bichukosi two weeks ago? What happened to “she tihiyu amaelim batorah” in exchange for “vishavtem livetach biartzechem”? G-d can’t fulfil his promise? Torah is what maintains the security of the Jews that live in the secular zionist state. Not the opposite.
To #14 : The parsha also discusses the mitzvah of shmittah- who worked the land, the Thai and the Phillipino’s? I don’t think so.
What about ” Yegia kapecha tochal”?
There is nothing wrong with making a living.
There is nothing wrong with learing, if you are qualified. Not everyone is. Be honest about it. Shouldn’t there be a self screening process? Not every one can get a fellowship at Harvard. Not everyone should be sitting and learning?
Rav Yochanan was a sandlar, Rashi cultivated grapes, just to mention a few.
Of course after the War the Torah world had to be rebuilt. But now it is time for a paradigm shift.