An economic advisor to Finance Minister Dr. Yuval Shteinitz has caused a storm with his disparaging remarks pertaining to his disapproval of the chareidi education system and way of life.
Prof. Omer Yoav, who was recently appointed to the senior advisory post, in an interview with ‘The Marker’, lashed out at the chareidi sector, referring to chareidim as the “sector that is a burden to the working population”, blaming “the sector that is supported which is growing rapidly” with being a contributory factor for the national tax burden.
Yoav described the chareidi chinuch which is void of a secular education “a scandalous disaster that lacks any economic return” since they do not learn the skills required to join the working class.
Journalist Yair Lapid joined in, calling on the national government to cut funding to talmidei torah, using the period during which the government is announcing major budgetary cuts to promote his anti-chareidi philosophy. Lapid is a son of the late Tommy Lapid, who founded the no-defunct anti-religious Shinui Party.
Deputy Minister of Education R’ Meir Porush responded angrily, stressing that the chareidi education network is more than just a process to instill data into the children, but to instill in the youth “yiras Hashem” above all, in addition to a love of Torah and Eretz Yisrael.
Porush rejected all attempts to compare the Jewish People or Eretz Yisrael to the other nations, stating that just as we received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, we are and remain unique, as does Eretz Yisrael, stating therefore, it is not a possibility for the chareidi schools to include secular subject matter in their education curriculum. “The values of the chareidi community education exceed that of the mere secular education subject matter”.
Porush discussed the need to include the Torah values in the general stream education system, “to teach children about a mezuzah, tzitzis, shema, and our tradition” but added to date, the results are most disappointing. He pointed out the curriculum is designed in consultation with Gedolei Torah.
MK R’ Moshe Gafne joined in, responding harshly in the unprovoked attack by the senior civil servant. “His statements attest to his ignorance or worse,” making reference to recent studies that revealed Israeli schools are sadly lagging in comparison to other Western nations, adding the chareidi system on the other hand showed more impressive results. “Let’s not forget the increasing school violence in the state schools. The public schools can learn a great deal from the chareidi network” stated Gafne.
A number of chareidi elected officials have signaled they do expect an apology and retraction from Yoav.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
Porush’s answer is not “tzum zach.” These people obviously have no clue nor do they give a hoot about “‘yiras Hashem’ above all, in addition to a love of Torah and Eretz Yisrael.” I would think that the education minister would employ the adage, “chanoch l’naar al pi darko.”
Gafne on the other hand is telling them something they can understand.
Is there a hiddush in this? Torah and Zionism are inherently at odds. One must realize the secular Israelis are to Jews, what Hitler and Haman were.
Seen in this context, there is nothing surprising in the article. It’s not news, as is “would you have a headline saying “Eichmann disparages Jews”?
or “Haman denounces yeshivos”?
The fact that many Hareidim manage to find secular job skills outside of schools is irrelevant (indeed, the American home school movement suggests that secular education doesn’t really require schools, and that secular skills are best obtained outside of school).
sounds like a good deal to me – a little bit of serious secular education for haredim (a la what happens in the US) and a little bit of serious Torah education for so-called ‘hilonim’.
SOunds like win-win to me! WHy the fuss?
(seriously – do we really see such a difference in light of the time differential between the products of the American system and the products of the Israeli system in terms of TOrah knowledge and Yiras Shomayim? Not really, the Torah curriculum actuallt needs an overhaul but that is a different story for a different day….)
How is attacking the secular school system a response to the charges of the deficiencies in the Haredi system? As far as I can see, Shteinitz and Yoav were not saying to abolish it. Rather, they were saying they they should teach a little secular education. Yoav wen on to refer to chareidim as the “sector that is a burden to the working population”, blaming the sector with being a contributory factor for the national tax burden.
Lets face it, he’s right. I am a frum yid, went to mainstream yeshivos and send my kids to mainstream yeshivos. I also received a secular education which allowed me to get a decent paying job and make a parnassa. If the charedim in Israel are going to refuse to educate themselves sufficiently so that they can get decent paying jobs, then how can I blame the chiloim from being upset about that and criticizing it? If they pay taxes, they are allowed to criticize the segment of the population which received a disproportionate amount of tax aid. Porush may be right that they can choose to educate their children as they see fit — that doe not mean they should have a right to have the rest of the country support them.