By Rabbi Dow Marmur
SAN DIEGO — Whereas during his term of office as president that ended a year ago, Shimon Peres was an outstanding spokesman for Israel on the world scene – and very much needed at the time when the foreign minister was virtually a persona non grata in many countries – his standing in Israel was less stellar; people remembered his time as a strident and controversial party politician.
It’s the other way around with his successor, President Reuven Rivlin, He may not be well known internationally, but he’s beloved in Israel, despite his career as a Likud politician. And he has very urgent things to say about internal Israeli issues: his stance on behalf of the country’s Arab residents has been extremely important.
At the annual Herzlia Conference earlier this week, President Rivlin had equally important things to say about the danger to the Israeli school system because of the spectacular growth of the haredi population due to its very high birthrate.
In the not-too-distant future their student population will be larger than the student body in the general Jewish school system. Thus even basic subjects such as mathematics and English won’t be taught there and its graduates won’t be able to find work, even if they wanted to earn a living instead of saving the world by studying God’s Word.
In addition to the serious consequences for Israel’s economy, the situation will also affect Israel’s armed forces because, despite various largely symbolic moves to the contrary, the majority of haredi youths won’t be called up for military service. This may compel the country to abolish conscription in favour of a professional army. The consequences for nation building may turn out to be harmful.
Less than half the Jewish population – secular and “modern” Orthodox Jews – will have to defend and feed everybody. No wonder that many young secular Jews are already now tempted to live abroad (Berlin is currently a popular destination).
The sensible answer would be to impose a basic curriculum consisting of core subjects on all the haredi schools in the country and, in tandem, encourage graduates to find jobs that would enable them to earn a living. At the moment they’re more inclined to send their women – who aren’t supposed to study Torah; their path to piety is to be modest in dress and demeanor – while they themselves hang around in yeshivot and similar economically unproductive institutions.
But that isn’t likely to happen because successive governments, including this one, have taken in the haredim as their coalition partners. One of the conditions for the haredi vote is to leave their institutions well funded and intact. They probably hold their noses when they have to interact with the others, but the price is right.
Haredi Judaism is alien and opposed to the Israeli way of life. Its adherents may live in Israel but they’re not of Israel – and proud of it. Like the Palestinians, they refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state; only the Messiah can proclaim it.
Since its creation, Israel has been able to deal with its external dangers. It has grown and prospered despite the many threats both from its neighbours and from other nations around the world. Will it also be able to meet the challenges from within?
The President of Israel tells us that we must if we’re to survive as a nation and a state. So far, however, there’re, alas, no clear signs to that effect.
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Rabbi Marmur, spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, now resides in Jerusalem. You may comment to him at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com or post your comment on this website provided that the rules below are observed.
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