Israel’s Haredi education system needs major reform
I agree with the Haredi point of view. I think that Torah study is an extremely important value and Israel as a Jewish state ought to promote it. And yes, Torah study ought to free young men from military service and the government should even subsidize their livelihood.
My problem is not the Haredi ideology. My problem is that the Haredim do not take it seriously enough. My tax shekels enable young scholars to learn Torah. I pay them willingly, but they are not learning—not seriously, not systematically, not the way it should be in exchange for public funds. I am peeved because I am not getting the proper return on my investment.
Walk into any major yeshiva, such as the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which purportedly has 4,000 students. There is a complete lack of organization and supervision. Students come and go as they please. Sometimes they come in for an hour or two and sometimes not at all.
Walk into any Haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak or even Beit Shemesh, and what you see is young men who theoretically should be in the Beit Midrash going to and fro, some taking care of their children, others doing business deals or working surreptitiously.
Some estimates put the rate of actual engagement in Torah study as low as 50% of the population for whom “Torah study is their calling.”
Like any other activity, one can divide Torah study into input and output. The input—young men actually studying—is highly problematic, and so is the output. We have almost no idea what Haredi Torah students actually know after years and years of supposed devotion to study.
Undoubtedly, there are outstanding, talented students who have a great command of the Torah tradition, but the average achievement is unknown. It is unknown because no one has implemented methods or instruments of evaluation.
Haredim say they value Torah study and Torah knowledge above everything else, but they don’t act like it. The yeshiva system doesn’t seem to care whether anybody knows anything or not.
The universities, in contrast, care about whether their students know math, English or science. Talk to any student studying infi (calculus) at an Israeli university and he or she will tell you how tough and tricky the tests are, how much time and effort—many are up past 2 am solving problems—is needed just to pass, much less get a good grade. The universities really value math and science. The Haredim just say they value Torah.
This is reflected is another aspect of output: product. The yeshivot and kollels don’t seem to be able to produce any new works in Talmud or halacha that are innovative and of genuine interest. The last such works—the commentaries of the Hazon Ish, the Kehillat Yaakov by Rabbi Yaakov Kanievsky or Yabia Omer by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef—were written 50 or 60 years ago. One would imagine that with so many scholars devoting so many hours to Talmud study and research that the output would be greater.
The parties forming the new government have announced that they intend to double the stipend given to kollel students. I suggest that this is an opportunity to make the Torah study these stipends support into a much more serious and effective undertaking.
First, these funds should be distributed on an hourly rather than a monthly basis. Students should receive additional funds on the basis of how many hours they actually spend in the Beit Midrash. Like government workers, they should punch a clock.
Stipends should also be contingent upon actual scholarly achievement as measured by tests and term papers. Achieving a passing grade in these activities, in addition to Beit Midrash attendance, should qualify students for an enhanced stipend and the ability to extend their state-supported years of study.
Students who spend the maximum number of years of study and submit serious research papers should be given respectable teaching and research positions. Those students who do not meet the ever-increasing standards should be encouraged to join national service (or military) programs.
The current Haredi system does not really honor the Torah. As it is currently structured, it seems to be more of a racket for milking funds out of government budgets than advancing Torah study and knowledge. If greater supervision and achievement metrics were imposed, it would restore the Torah and its study to what the prophet Isaiah called the “great and glorious.”
Shlomo Fischer is a sociologist and senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).
9 comments:
Dr. Fischer, a big wheel at Hebrew U, starts off making a valid point but quickly deviates to pumping out lies.
There are many yeshivos that have control over the seder hayom, sometimes too much so. Yishuv Hechodosh keeps the dorm locked all day and does not excuse seder unless you are completely incapacitated, unable to walk a short distance. Their end of zman farhers are dreaded. Yes some yeshivos are technically "unorganized" but the roshei yeshiva have a formidable sense of ESP & those not producing are asked to shape up or ship out.
Fischer lacks any credibility when he tries using using the Chazon Ish & Steipler as the last bastion of productiveness. No one has produced in the last 50 years he claims? Well "yes", if he considers the following just in Eretz Yisroel with their masterpieces as nobodies: R' Shlomo Zalman, R' Dovid Povarsky, Rav Schach, R' Chaim Kanievsky, Rav Shteinman, R' Meir Soloveitchik, R' Avrohom Erlanger, and many more.
Who are JPPI by the way? They are currently Chaired by Kapo Dennis Ross who was special advisor to anti-Semitic anarchist Barack Hussein Obama. JPPI's Board runs the gamut from Open Schmorthodox to Conservative to Reform to Atheist. JPPI was founded by the Jewish Agency, home of such "pro-Torah" & "G-d believing" figures as David Ben Gurion.
Dennis Ross grew up in a household of his Meshumedes mother & Catholic father.
Remember that the Misyavnim were much worse than the conquering goyim who initially would not have been bent on wiping out Torah on their own.
One of the Atheists on the JPPI Board is menuvol Michael Steinhardt who remains there when other orgs have given him the boot. An avid collector of avoidah zara getchkas, the grubbah ganiv was banned for life from the antiquities industry after the Manhattan DA came after him with a Grand Jury for dealing in 180 stolen items. DA Cy Vance: "For decades, Michael Steinhardt displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across the globe."
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/03/women-who-worked-with-billionaire-philanthropist-michael-steinhardt-say-he-asked-for-sex/
Sheila Katz was a young executive at Hillel International, the Jewish college outreach org, when she visited billionaire philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, a major donor, to persuade him to increase his support. In their 1st encounter, he asked her repeatedly if she wants sex with him, she said.
Deborah Mohile Goldberg worked for Birthright Israel, founded by Steinhardt, when he asked her if she & a female colleague would like to join him in a threesome, she said.
Natalie Goldfein, an officer at a nonprofit that Steinhardt established, said he suggested in a meeting that they have babies together.
Six women said in interviews with The NY Times & ProPublica, and one in a lawsuit, that Steinhardt asked them to have sex with him, or made sexual requests of them, while they relied on or sought his support. He also regularly made comments to women about their bodies & fertility, according to 7 women & 16 others present when Steinhardt made such comments.
“Institutions in the Jewish world long knew of his behavior & looked the other way,” said Katz, Hillel Int VP. “No one was surprised when I shared this.”
Witnesses to the behavior said nothing or laughed along.
Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi said Steinhardt suggested she become his concubine while he funded her first rabbinical position.
Rabbi Irv Greenberg, Steinhardt Foundation president for a decade, repeatedly rebuked Steinhardt for belittling both men & women. It factored in his deciding to leave the job in 2007.
Katz hoped Steinhardt would fund Hillel when she met him in his 5th Ave office in 2015 for a video Hillel commissioned about Jewish entrepreneurs. As filming got underway, he repeatedly asked if she'd have sex with the “King of Israel,” which he told her is his preferred title for the video. He then asked her directly for sex with him, she said.
Two women who worked at a Jewish nonprofit recall Steinhardt using similar language. They both said that during meeting at his office to pitch for funds, Steinhardt suggested they all take a bath together, what he called “ménage à trois.” One of the women, executive director of the org, asked her identity be withheld as she fears her board will pull donations if she speaks publicly.
Two women who worked at the gallery allege Steinhardt often made sexual comments to them, which they were expected to endure as he's an important client. Steinhardt is a prominent collector of antiquities.
Karen Simons, an employee, said in her 2013 lawsuit that Steinhardt asked if her husband satisfied her & asked her for sex with him.
Deposed in Simons’ case, Steinhardt said he didn't remember sexual remarks to the women.
Cozen O’Connor, the firm investigating, met Katz to tell her they found her complaint vs Steinhardt justified, said Katz’s lawyer.
The investigators also say a 2nd Hillel employee came forward that Steinhardt made an inappropriate comment to her
What part of Fisher's rant is accurate?
Accurate that there are loafers in some yeshivos, especially Mir EY. The loafers especially long took advantage of Mir EY, (knowing that shitas R' Beinish ztl was he didn't have the heart to deny losers a place in a prestigious yeshiva,) as a stepping stone in their hopes of continuing to loaf in Lakewood for reputation & shidduchim purposes. Lakewood started scrutinizing yotzei Mir EY more carefully & Mir EY itself with input from R' Archie Chodosh started giving the loafers the runaround with umpteen interviews & farhers at intake, trying to wear out as many as possible to give up & try elsewhere.
Stipends should also be contingent upon actual scholarly achievement as measured by tests and term papers. Achieving a passing grade in these activities, in addition to Beit Midrash attendance, should qualify students for an enhanced stipend and the ability to extend their state-supported years of study.
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Do you agree with the above?
I mostly do not agree.
Term papers are lav davka beneficial, and certainly not for some talmidim. These secular Tzionim are trying to force a rounded Torah peg into a square hole of what they're familiar with. And more ominously, they would like the government control where it doesn't belong. Despite a few platitudes from Dr. Fischer, these people do not really want thriving yeshivos on a scale larger than when Ben Gurion's status quo was enacted for a tiny few.
Tests are not beneficial for those still horeving until they one day blossom.
I agree with attendance taking even if not in the control of the yeshivos. When the loafers see they will have to produce or even show their lazy faces, they will enter the workforce themselves. Here is where the crazy kanoyim fight to protect the loafers & will not budge an inch.
BT- :-)
Some estimates put the rate of actual engagement in Torah study as low as 50% of the population for whom “Torah study is their calling.”
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What percent would you say are leidekgeirs?
I don't know what data they used to quantify the fuftzik pratzent. Could there be completely fraudulent Pinter style paper tiger operations? Are there a sach unorganized yechidim who sign up only to never be seen? Are these Chilonim including non-Charedim? When Fischer sees alleged batlonim milling around in the gass, how many of them are foreign tourists or officially in the workforce?
As far as the leydegeyers who occasionally pop in to beis medrash, it's nowhere near half the population.
So many things wrong here.
Colleges serious. In this era of grade inflation? Professors know no one gets less than a B. College is known as a time to party not study. Most term papers are writtenthe night before they are handed in. Students cram for tests and forget everything the next day.
In terms of new works . Pneini Halacha by Rav Melamed comes to mind. Rav Kanievesky's commentaryon the Talmud Yerushalmi is a masterpiece. Metivta Talmud and Steinsaltz Talmud are more examples. Shemirat Shabbat cHilatacha is in almost every home.
The writer has some points but his mistakes are telling.
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