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The Heretic: Will Wall Street Bring the Collapse of Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Welfare State? |
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 by Shmarya Rosenberg, October 2, 2008 |
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Israel is facing an economic crisis of truly epic proportions, but even though its immediate cause is the declining dollar and the crisis now gripping US financial markets, its roots lie in Mea Shearim quarter, not on Wall Street.
Every year, Israeli ultra-Orthodox charities raise almost $1 billion abroad. That money is used to support soup kitchens, food pantries, organizations like ZAKA, and the ultra-Orthodox school system, including yeshivas and kollels. Kollels are yeshivas for married men. And herein lies the problem.
70% of ultra-Orthodox married men choose not to work. Instead, they study in kollel. They are each given a stipend from the kollel that amounts to about $300 per month. Their families subsist on government welfare benefits, aid from various ultra-Orthodox charities, and whatever else the mothers of seven (or more) children are able to earn in their “spare” time.
This planned unemployment – which often lasts well into a man’s forties – is a tremendous drain on government resources. It is also a tremendous drain on charities which, one way or another, are compelled to support it.
Dirt Poor: in the city of goldExcept for those few lucky kollel students with rich parents or in-laws, these families live in real poverty, packed together in small, aging apartments, worried about their childrens' next meal.
Why would anyone voluntarily do this? Because their rabbis told them to.
For a generation, ultra-Orthodox rabbis have ordered their followers to study at all costs. From the rabbis’ perspective, it is easy to see why.
Kollel students are exempt from army service, which not only keeps them off the battlefield – it keeps them out of the army, where they would surely mix with and befriend non-ultra-Orthodox Jews. This could, in the rabbis’ view, lead to a weakening of faith.
In the same way, because kollel students do not leave their ultra-Orthodox enclaves for work, they do not mix with non-ultra-Orthodox coworkers.
On top of that, at the rabbis’ direction the ultra-Orthodox do not study in universities. This keeps them blissfully ignorant of modern science, philosophy, and history – all things that could easily lead an ultra-Orthodox person to question his faith. It also keeps them away from secular members of the opposite sex.
In other words, kollel study combined with an enforced lack of secular knowledge serves as a buffer from modernity, the mortal enemy of ultra-Orthodoxy.
Of course, that's not how the rabbis sell kollel study to their followers. Instead, it's presented as a religious obligation: it is holy, work is not. Work is a last resort, something to be done only if there is no other option left, and then only if the rabbis agree.
For years this system survived because the government partially supported the kollels, supported the kollel families through child allowances and other welfare benefits, and because American Jews donated money.
But the government cut back on those child allowances. And then, the worst happened – the US dollar went into a tailspin.
Dollars are worth about 20% less today than they were a year ago. That means, all things being equal, these charities have 20% less to spend for the needy.
But all things are not equal.
Because of worldwide economic uncertainty, the amount of dollars coming in has also dropped – how much, no one is yet sure – but Israeli ultra-Orthodox charities report their net incomes are down about 30%.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox non-profits were already stretched to the breaking point before this economic downturn. Now many are cutting back on services. Soup kitchens are serving smaller portions and even skipping meals. The newly needy are not finding help.
Despite all of this, the rabbis have not changed their call: ultra-Orthodox men are still expected to study full time.
Even if ultra-Orthodox rabbis would tell their followers to go find jobs, few would be employable. These men have spent their lives in a school system that did not teach them science, history, civics, English, modern Hebrew, or even math. They lack the skills necessary for all but the most menial jobs.
And, because so few ultra-Orthodox men now work, that means few create jobs that could be filled by other ultra-Orthodox.
Welfare payments are a major issue fought over by ultra-Orthodox politicians and the beleaguered public servants who try to keep Israel’s budget on an even keel. Entire governments have been held hostage by small ultra-Orthodox political parties demanding increases in these welfare payments. Those small parties’ threats to leave the governing coalition would force new elections.
When Israelis think of welfare, they tend to think of "welfare cheats." In their minds, these are the ultra-Orthodox, who do not serve in the army, who often do not pay taxes, and who take from the country in so many ways without giving back.
None of this is meant to excuse Israel’s attitude toward its poor who are not poor-by-choice – or, more accurately, poor-by-their-rabbis’-choice. These unfortunate people are expected to subsist on welfare payments so low, many go hungry. It is not at all uncommon to see elderly begging for food on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Israel also has its homeless, many of whom are not mentally ill or substance abusers – they’re just poor. The country could go a long way to rectifying this situation by outlawing welfare payments to able-bodied men above the age of twenty-one who choose to study in kollel rather than work or serve in the army. That would free resources that could be used to help the truly needy, and could also be used to ease the ultra-Orthodox transition to work by providing job training and internship programs.
None of these changes would stop ultra-Orthodoxy from itself supporting its true scholars and allowing them to study in kollel for many years – perhaps for their entire lives.
Ultra-Orthodoxy treats its rabbis like popes, infallible and exceedingly wise, with a direct line to the Divine Will. But, like every cataclysmic event to befall the Jewish people in recent memory – the Russian pogroms of the 1880s; the upheavals and slaughters of World War One; and, of course, the Holocaust – the rabbis did not see it coming. They did not prepare their followers for the day after Wall Street’s collapse any more than they did for the collapse of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire or the Nazi Holocaust.
After each of those earlier tragedies, large numbers of ultra-Orthodox left the fold. Chances are, some of them were your ancestors.
Will that happen now?
It would, I think, if ultra-Orthodox defectors were given the necessary support to transition from their closed communities to secular society, where a strong back and a willingness to work hard is no longer enough to get by. But without that support, these potential defectors will remain trapped in ultra-Orthodoxy, dependent on ultra-Orthodox charities for subsistence.
That is why you can expect ultra-Orthodox rabbis to fight any attempt to provide widespread job training or secular education for their followers.
It is also why the problem of Israel’s poor-by-choice will not go away any time soon.
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RW
It's hard to play devil's advocate when you don't believe in the devil, but ...
For centuries now, Chassidim have regarded Torah study as the highest calling a man can aspire to. This call to Torah was just as strong when it was inconvenient (and occasionally downright dangerous) in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, et al as it is now when it IS actually convenient in a modern Jewish state. Full time Torah study is not some sort of modern notion sinister Hasidic rabbis have stumbled across in a brilliant scheme to defraud their fellow Israelis - it's a large part of how many Chassidim view as living a Jewish life.
And this is the hard part for many of us in the Jewcy crowd to understand: Jewishness as an entire lifestyle - indeed, as part of a continuous way of life spanning the millennia. And this is where the difference between Israel, a Jewish state, and any other country comes into play: it's the only place in the world where Jews can completely pursue a Jewish way of life, even when that "way of life" goes beyond the Hasidic way of life, it simultaneously encompasses it.
Shmarya Rosenberg
First of all, most of these people are Litvaks, not hasidim.
Secondly, at no previous time in history did Jews study all day long. Only a select few did – the rich and the exceptionally talented.
And then, we have this:
>>>For centuries now, Chassidim have regarded Torah study as the highest calling a man can aspire to. <<<
That is perhaps the most flagrant misrepresentation of hasidic history I've ever read.
Anonymous
I guess the sight of poor people makes you happy and important
Anonymous
I bet the person raising the money for the "soup kitchen" makes a nice living feeding the "hungry". Too many people make a nice living raising money just to give a paltry share to the poor.
a reader
to echo shmarya's sentiments, RW's comments demonstrate his/her ignorance of the groups within israel's ultra-orthodox community (chassidim/misnagdim) and their respective philosophies. many, many more chassidic men in israel do work (although perhaps hindered by their lack of secular education).
secondly, RW's attempt at justifiation falls short as well. certainly ultra-orthodox (and indeed most jewish denominations) holds torah study to be a virtue, perhaps the most supreme of virtues. however, pursuing any one virtue to the absolute exclusion of all others ends up being self-defeating. while most people agree that excersizing, eating right, and generally tending to one's health is an imporant virtue, a person who spends all of his time at the gym, never works, etc., will not be able to maintain his health for very long.
many, many of the great rabbis of the mishna, talmud, rishonim, etc. (even as recently as 50 years ago) had jobs or businesses to allow them to support themselves and to study torah without worry about thier children starving. the notion that one may not work and must only study is an anathema to torah ideals and this practice is explicitly condemned in many sources.
Shootingsparks
the conversations you advance seem to reflect the vigorous debates common in the Israeli media, that is never reflected in the American press...
Yossi Ginzberg
For all the excellent reporting work done by The Heretic on so many other issues, this piece is one that calls for rebuttal because of it’s disingenuous presentation of allegations as facts.
70% of ultra-Orthodox men don’t work? Their families subsist on government subsidies? Where do these statistics come from?
And, even more important, by mixing together all the ills of this world, the article makes it appear that this is a simple easily-controllable issue that is caused by their rabbis.
Fact: The origins of Israeli “kolel life into their 40’s” is an outgrowth of the Israeli government’s insistence that men serve in the army before they can work. Working legally makes them subject to the draft, and their religious beliefs prohibit service, forcing them to be “in kolel”. (I put it into quotation marks because many, perhaps most, are “in kolel” the way American Jewish boys were in Yeshiva during the Vietnam era- i.e., in name only. They work in cash businesses of all types or work in their wives names, actually a moral issue of another stripe.)
Fact: You claim they are “separated from modernity”, and I disagree strongly. Take a stroll in Har Nof, or Ramat Bet Shemesh, or Bayit V’gan. All charedi neighborhoods, they also have a very high percentage of homes with computers, cars, and the accoutrements of “modernity”, less only those they feel are immoral, like TV’s.
Re the assertion that the Charedi rabbinic leadership feels all males need to study until they are 40: When was the last time you can document ANY charedi rabbi saying such a thing? Rabbi Aaron Kotler said it, but that was in the early 1950’s when no one was doing it, so he said it as hyperbole. Anyone familiar with the yeshiva world today will agree that had he even dreamed the situation would become the way it is now, he’d never have said it.
Re receiving government benefits: Do you make the claim that the Israeli government provides welfare payments to kolel members? I cannot believe any government providing incentives to able-bodied people to not work.
Re the ultra-Orthodox being against working and secular education: This is patently false. In Israel, they cannot get the education due to the military issue above mentioned. In this country, Williamsburg, Boro Park, and Crown Heights all have vocational training programs available at subsidized tuitions so as to get the Charedim into the work force. These programs are well-attended, and not only unopposed but actually endorsed by the rabbinic leadership.
If the Israeli government would allow the men to do “sherut leumi” (secular volunteer work) as they allow women to do to exempt them from actual army service, the men would flock to it as a way out of the problem without risking their religious values. Sadly, the stench of politics there prevents this, so the status quo remains. The problem is as much the creation of a rigid government as it is of the rigid rabbinate.
Thank you for the excellent work you've done in other areas that need sunlight.
Shmarya Rosenberg
I'll be brief:
1. >>>70% of ultra-Orthodox men don’t work? Their families subsist on government subsidies? Where do these statistics come from?<<<
Try following the link. That's what it's there for.
If you do you'll see the stats come from the Van Leer Institute. If you do a little more work, you'll see the government's data is very similar.
2. >>>Fact: The origins of Israeli “kolel life into their 40’s” is an outgrowth of the Israeli government’s insistence that men serve in the army before they can work. Working legally makes them subject to the draft, and their religious beliefs prohibit service, forcing them to be “in kolel”.<<<
Really? Maybe jail would be a better place for them. But, again, let me help you: Israel has all haredi Army units. There is no problem with serving.
3. >>Fact: You claim they are “separated from modernity”, and I disagree strongly. Take a stroll in Har Nof, or Ramat Bet Shemesh, or Bayit V’gan. All charedi neighborhoods, they also have a very high percentage of homes with computers, cars, and the accoutrements of “modernity”, less only those they feel are immoral, like TV’s.<<<
Sigh.
All of these neighborhoods have a high percentage of Anglo haredim. The first two have many ba'alei teshuva, as well.
Plus, they are largely non-hasidic.
In other words, your choices are not representative.
Past all that, you surely must know that Rabbis Elyashiv, Shteinman and the Gerrer Rebbe came out against computers in the home, home internet, etc? Did this just slip your mind?
4. >>>Re the assertion that the Charedi rabbinic leadership feels all males need to study until they are 40: When was the last time you can document ANY charedi rabbi saying such a thing? <<<
Rabbi Steinman and Rabbi Elyashiv both forbid work training, and have given strict orders to keep men in kollel as long as financially possible.
5. >>>Re receiving government benefits: Do you make the claim that the Israeli government provides welfare payments to kolel members? I cannot believe any government providing incentives to able-bodied people to not work.<<<
They're called child allowances. And then there is regular welfare, as well.
6. >>>Re the ultra-Orthodox being against working and secular education: This is patently false. In Israel, they cannot get the education due to the military issue above mentioned. In this country, Williamsburg, Boro Park, and Crown Heights all have vocational training programs available at subsidized tuitions so as to get the Charedim into the work force. These programs are well-attended, and not only unopposed but actually endorsed by the rabbinic leadership<<<
Rabbis Elyashiv and Steinman both oppose job training and college. Oh, and those American neighborhoods you list? All hasidim. American hasidm work.
7. >>>If the Israeli government would allow the men to do “sherut leumi” (secular volunteer work) as they allow women to do to exempt them from actual army service, the men would flock to it as a way out of the problem without risking their religious values. <<<
Haredi rabbis opposed this option. Past that, as noted above, haredi rabbis oppose anything that takes men out of kollel.
Yossi Ginzberg
Shmarya, I respect your work in other areas, but I cannot help feeling that you are being very disingenuous with this post.
You present the haredim as a monolithic bloc when it suits your goal of making them out to be parasitic schnorrers, but when you attack my comments you parse them out into their smaller groupings.
We know- you certainly do- that there are chassidim and Meah-Shearim Chassidim, there are Litvaks and Anglo-Litvaks, and another dozen or so sub-sects, all with differences that matter greatly to them, if not to us. Each has a different approach to working, in some senses.
You are also well aware that what you call haredi army units are far closer to Modern Orthodox than to haredi. Settler-Frum, maybe, but yeshiva frum? C’mon, you know better than that. One of the core beliefs of the Haredi world is that prolonged exposure to the secular world is a bad thing, and because of that even those groups that are pro-Zionist cannot serve without violating their belief system.
Having them do civic service instead has never been implemented because of Israeli political opposition by those who dislike the exemption, not because of Haredi opposition. Check out the facts on this: The Haredim have been asking for this for decades, and it is the secularists that refuse to allow it. After the huge immigration from the FSU, when the army couldn’t even absorb the many draftees ans was turning people away, it came up again and was again refused because the secular felt it was unfair to them.
Likewise, you talk about child allowances: These are paid to everyone, this isn’t a sinecure just to the Haredim. And welfare is not given to those who refuse to work, even if they are in kolel.
I do agree with you that the situation in untenable, and should have been changed long ago. I also agree that there are many in kolels that shouldn’t be there, either because they are causing too much suffering to their families or because they aren’t accomplishing enough to make the suffering worthwhile.
Still and all, the way out of the situation isn’t to create more hostility, it is to try and change things in a positive way. Many Haredim now lose patience at some point in their mid-20’s and voluntarily enlist, just to get the army service issue out of the way so they can proceed to try for the good life they see outside the yeshiva walls. Let’s try to encourage that, let’s try to encourage the army to be more haredi-friendly, let’s try to get the sherut leumi/ civil service issue passed, and things might change.
Throwing dirt at the issue rarely helps.
Shmarya Rosenberg
>>>Having them do civic service instead has never been implemented because of Israeli political opposition by those who dislike the exemption, not because of Haredi opposition. Check out the facts on this: The Haredim have been asking for this for decades, and it is the secularists that refuse to allow it. After the huge immigration from the FSU, when the army couldn’t even absorb the many draftees ans was turning people away, it came up again and was again refused because the secular felt it was unfair to them.<<<
Sigh. Do better homework. Haredim opposed any form of civic service that takes haredim out of strictly haredi communities.
>>>Likewise, you talk about child allowances: These are paid to everyone, this isn’t a sinecure just to the Haredim. And welfare is not given to those who refuse to work, even if they are in kolel.<<<
Again, two groups of Israelis have lots of children: haredim and Arabs. The child allowances benefit primarily these two groups.
You can see this clearly now (if you want to see it clearly, that is) by reading this:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017599061&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
In the current coalition talks, Shas and Agudath Israel are demanding restored child allowances. Degel HaTorah wants more money for yeshivot.
But the Litvish yeshiva system has for years been riddled with fraud. Some of the funded institutions don't really exist. The money given to those fake yeshivot by the government makes it way to kollel families.
Erik Kolácek
I have a acquaintance from New York who tells me that a large chunk of federal money is inadvertantly allocated to subsidize housing for this same demographic. Having never spent more than an airport-bound hour or two in NY, I've long taken him at his word.
Can someone clarify that for me?
Also, just to play devil's advocate: I'm half-Jewish and I do have a few unpleasant Christian relatives. I've long suspected one of having far less than altruistic motives when it comes to his calling. When I say "calling" I am referring to the diploma-mill that gave him his theology degree, his non-profit federal and state tax-exempt status and his innate ability to drop the Jesus-card whenever he needs an excuse for not doing real work.
I am confident most readers will agree that it's much easier to sleep knowing that one puts money into the tzedakah box instead of living the other way around.
With that said, I feel a need to defend the ultra-Orthodox and Hasidim (as portrayed here) because, believe me...while I do not suffer fundamentalists from any religion easily, the hat-and-beard crowd does not have a exclusive lock on freeloading.
Erik Kolácek
Folks.
If you feel that your point of view is important enough to be heard in this forum, it would be really nice if we could put an actual name on said opinion.
What are we going to do...draw a subway moustache on your face? Call you a meanie?
I would rather sit down and debate Zionism with a jailhouse Nazi any day of the week as long as I know his real name. I cannot, however, abide "anonymous" comment bombs.
As they say in Zombieland, "Nut up or shut up."
.