President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday evening 10 Iyar commented on the coalition agreement signed between Likud and Yahadut Hatorah. The president addressed the chareidi contention regarding ‘sharing the burden’, that limud Torah represents the chareidi tzibur’s share of contributing to the nation’s defense and success.

“The fact that I am hearing now the [elimination of the requirement to introduce] core subjects [in chareidi mosdos] is a mistake, first of all by the chareidim. The first interest of any system should be the study of core subjects and this should not be a condition of coalition talks. There is a need for chareidim to understand mathematics and the other core subjects.

“The issue of limud Torah is not an excuse for canceling chareidim from society and when who cannot is forced to learn Torah they do him an injustice. It is our obligation to engage in dialogue with the chareidi leadership. In the Equality Law the argument that they are chareidim is an excuse, and they the Arabs can certainly do civilian service too.

“In Israel we live in groups and each has its own education system. One cannot compel another to study what the other does not wish to. There are no minorities in Israel. The educational systems in Yerushalayim of the chareidim and the Arabs are becoming the majority. We must speak. We must state our opinion that some sectors want to enter our main education system but don’t know Hebrew. These things must be addressed by the Minister of Education.

“Unfortunately, every rabbi and community is entrenched in its position and has built wall around it to block the outside [influence]. Even the Jewish/Arab conflict creates an isolated reality of people who are afraid to mingle. The chareidim and the Arabs unfortunately are too often not hired due to their various practices of old and even have difficult becoming a law intern. In Israel the vast majority of the economy is in Hebrew and one who does not learn the language has difficulty entering [the workplace]”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)