In an effort to get its new chareidi employment program up and running, the Ministry of the Economy sent a memory to local municipalities around the country to explain the program and define who is eligible. It appears that in the eyes of the ministry, many who live a chareidi lifestyle will find themselves outside of the eligibility requirements.
To date the Knesset has not managed to define just who is chareidi, that is to say to put defined criteria on paper. However, it appears the Ministry of the Economy run by Minister Naftali Bennett has succeeded where the Knesset has failed.
A chareidi woman must meet one of the following criteria:
1. The woman’s children must be learning in a chareidi school until the age of 18, placing an emphasis on ‘recognized but not official’ schools. This would include many Chabad yeshivos and Chinuch Atzmai. (The ministry is looking for a school with a license recognized by the Ministry of Education).
2. The woman’s husband learned in a yeshiva ketana and she studied in seminary.
A chareidi man must meet one of the following criteria:
1. His children must be learning in a chareidi school until the age of 18, placing an emphasis on ‘recognized but not official’ schools. This would include many Chabad yeshivos and Chinuch Atzmai.
2. Must have studied in yeshiva ketana.
3. Must has served in the IDF or recognized national program as per paragraph 6 (the law permitting one to push off military service after one declares limud Torah a full time profession).
4. Has been entitled to a minimum of a year during the past five years of a studies program to assist avreichim to integrate into the workplace.
The criteria will be problematic for many including baalei teshuvah, Shabbos observant Jews who recently became chareidi, those who attend yeshivos that are not recognized by the Education Ministry and others.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
What does the definition then enable………
Mostly makes sense.
The point is to bring people into the workforce who otherwise would culturally not be. That doesn’t apply to people who became chareidi later in life.
The schools thing is a kasha.
The entire concept of “Hareidi” is absurd. Hareidi is a level Torah observance and not an ethnic group. The action of those to define as a separate and distinct group Jews on the basis of certain external factors is within the ISSUR DEOREITAH of MACHLOKET. When G-D defined AM YISROEL, He defined us along the lines of the Tribes. There is no other Kosher division of Jews. The only significant question of a Jew is: “Are you a Torah Jew or not?” That is to say, do you accept the Torah as being the divine will of G-D or not. Within the community of Torah Jews there are all sorts of levels of education, commitment and traditions.
Individuals often change their status within the Torah community. They learn more and commit themselves to a fuller actualization of the MITZVOT. Or sometimes, they move in the other direction. As long as they accept the divine origin of Torah, they are within the historical norm of what has always been considered a Jew.
So I would request that all Torah Jews stop using these artificial and forbidden distinctions when referring to a fellow Jew. They only serve the agenda of the unJews and Jew haters who are always trying to stir up trouble and fighting amongst us.
Once more, an important article with very poor spelling and syntax, leaving the reader to guess at the meaning of each paragraph. Please hire an editor.
“The criteria will be problematic for many including baalei teshuvah”
The idea of the program is to facilitate rescuing someone from being hareidi, since from a zionist point of view, convincing a hareidi to become a “normal” zionist is a rescue. The last thing they want is to do anything to encourage or create an incentive for someone become a “Baal Tseuvah”.
Similarly, of course they don’t want people who went to yeshivos not recognized by the Medinah – they are considered to be “too far gone” to help. The target is focused on those who are zionist enough to go to yeshiovs that accept (and depend) on government money, and serve in the army or alternative service. The “pure” hareidim who reject the medinah are unlikely to respond and it would be a waste of money for a program aimed at dehareidizing people to even try to get to them.
This also means that a oleh chadash has no criteria to be called a charedi