{"id":646,"date":"2010-11-08T21:49:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T21:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html"},"modified":"2010-11-08T21:49:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-08T21:49:00","slug":"israels-haredi-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s Haredi Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college kids.<\/p>\n

Bibi and his case for Israeli security are completely superfluous at the GA.\u00a0 Who among the delegates there is opposed to Israel\u2019s security?\u00a0 Who really needs to hear from the prime minister one more time about his commitment to secure borders?<\/p>\n

It would be more interesting for American Jewish leaders to discuss what\u2019s going on in the state we are asked so hard to defend.\u00a0 How many American Jews are aware that the Jewish state is slowly losing its liberal democratic character?\u00a0 Haredi Jews, the most backward and fanatically religious people in Israel, are quickly emerging as the dominant force.<\/p>\n

J.J. Goldberg addresses it in this week\u2019s Forward<\/i><\/a>:<\/p>\n

The numbers tell the story. According to recent studies\u2026fully 65% of adult Haredi men are registered as full-time yeshiva students and don\u2019t work for a living \u2014 up from 20% in 1980, when the stipends were introduced. In some families the wives work, but most live on a basket of government welfare stipends, child allowances and direct grants to yeshivas. More than 50% of Haredim live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

\u2026Fertility among Ashkenazic Haredim is estimated at an average of 8.8 children per woman, compared to 4.5 in the Modern Orthodox community and 2.6 among non-Orthodox Jews. Simply put, the population is exploding.<\/p>\n

The growth is straightforward. In 1992, Haredim made up 5% of the draft pool \u2014 that is, 5% of that year\u2019s 18-year-olds claimed yeshiva-student deferments from army service \u2014 while among incoming first-graders, 11% were Haredi.<\/p>\n

Thirteen years later, in 2005, Haredim were 11% of draft-age youth and 23% of first-graders. This year\u2019s first grade is 27% Haredi. At the current rate of growth, which shows little sign of change, more than a quarter of 18-year-olds will be claiming a yeshiva deferment by 2023. By 2040, if nothing changes, deferments will top 50%, leaving a dwindling pool of stalwarts to defend the country\u2019s borders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You think Iran is a threat to Israel?\u00a0 What happens when Israel turns into Iran?\u00a0 What kind of Israel will there be to defend?<\/p>\n

This is the kind of question that the American Jewish community should be asking about Israel.\u00a0 There is a solution to this, and if we want the Jewish state to remain a successful democracy, someone over here needs to start paying attention to the kind of Israel we\u2019re supporting.<\/p>\n

If you think there\u2019s no reasonable or ethical way out of this, you\u2019re wrong.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t involve forcing the Haredim to become Reform Jews or atheists (although the more who leave voluntarily, the better).\u00a0 For starters, it would involve making them learn some math:<\/p>\n

Lack of skills also hinders Haredi entry into the labor force. The Haredi school systems \u2014 there are three, with some 150,000 students in all \u2014 refuse to teach the core curriculum required by law, which includes math, English and civics. Lacking the basics, even those Haredim who want to work find few jobs they\u2019re qualified for.<\/p>\n

The standoff over core studies has been batted back and forth between the Knesset and the Supreme Court for years. It finally exploded in mid-October, within days of the stipend protest, when Israel\u2019s education minister threatened to cut funding from schools ignoring the curriculum, leading the Council of Torah Sages, the top Haredi rabbinic authority, to compare his action to the anti-Semitic policies of pre-World War II Poland.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This, by the way, is the standard revolting retort by the Haredim to anyone who opposes them.\u00a0 They shout, \u201cAntisemite!\u201d any time they face political opposition.<\/p>\n

Goldberg concludes his article with this:<\/p>\n

Despite the size of the challenge, optimists about Israel\u2019s first-world future believe that the fledgling reforms now underway will eventually take root. In time, with patience, the Haredi world will adapt and embrace a Western educational and work ethic. The Israel of 2050 will probably turn out more straitlaced, less tolerant of religious, cultural and sexual diversity, and more restrictive in dietary habits and Sabbath travel and entertainment, but it will survive and thrive as a modern nation and a center of world Jewry. That is, if enough non-Orthodox Jews stick around to see the outcome.<\/p>\n

Pessimists, on the other hand, fear that determined rabbinic opposition will prevent Western knowledge from entering the Haredi bloodstream. Over the next three or four decades, they say, a Haredi majority will inherit an Israel that has gradually lost its high-tech economic edge and settled into a poor but pious \u2014 some say Third World fundamentalist \u2014 equilibrium. If, that is, it still has an army capable of defending its borders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Either of these possible futures is still going to be problematic when it comes to nurturing Israel-Diaspora relations. \u00a0But that\u2019s for another post.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college kids. Bibi and his case for Israeli security are completely superfluous at the GA.\u00a0 Who among the delegates there is opposed to Israel\u2019s security?\u00a0 Who really needs to hear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,20],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-haredim","tag-israel"],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael's Haredi Future<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel's Haredi Future\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-08T21:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. Falick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey L. Falick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html\",\"name\":\"Israel's Haredi Future\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-08T21:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-08T21:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372\"},\"description\":\"The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Israel’s Haredi Future\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/\",\"name\":\"The Atheist Rabbi\",\"description\":\"The blog of Jeffrey L. Falick, Secular Humanistic Rabbi.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey L. Falick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeffrey L. Falick\"},\"description\":\"Jeffrey L. Falick is the Secular Humanistic Rabbi of The Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Michigan. He is also certified as a Senior Humanist Celebrant by the American Humanist Association and is president and founder of Humanists of Southeast Michigan.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/author\/jfalick\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel's Haredi Future","description":"The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel's Haredi Future","og_description":"The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html","og_site_name":"The Atheist Rabbi","article_published_time":"2010-11-08T21:49:00+00:00","author":"Jeffrey L. Falick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeffrey L. Falick","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html","name":"Israel's Haredi Future","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-08T21:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-08T21:49:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372"},"description":"The big news in the Jewish community today is the protest of Bibi Netanyahu\u2019s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations by some college","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/11\/israels-haredi-future.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Israel’s Haredi Future"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/","name":"The Atheist Rabbi","description":"The blog of Jeffrey L. Falick, Secular Humanistic Rabbi.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372","name":"Jeffrey L. Falick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeffrey L. Falick"},"description":"Jeffrey L. Falick is the Secular Humanistic Rabbi of The Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Michigan. He is also certified as a Senior Humanist Celebrant by the American Humanist Association and is president and founder of Humanists of Southeast Michigan.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/author\/jfalick"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}