A Tefilla for the Yeshivas in Israel

I wonder who if anyone is actually saying this.

Cults in the Charedi world?

To my great surprise Mishpacha magazine (Hebrew) had a long article about cults in the Charedi world. They describe how charismatic individuals who seemt o know kabbala suck people in and take charge of their lives. They detailed how a Rosh Kollel got sucked in by a charismatic leader who spouted kabbala and seemed to know things about the Rosh Kollel. The leader then proceeded to take command of the Rosh Kollel's life in terms of decision making, all decisions had to be run by the leader etc. and of course the leader found ways to extract money until his family extricated him.

The writer of the article asked the obvious question, how is this different then Chasidim (or today even non-Chasidim) who ask the Rebbe before making any decision and of course contribute financially to the Rebbe? The answer given was not very satisfying to me and leaves the question very much open to me.

Take a look at the picture below of the Satmar Rebbes vacation villa in Miami Beach Florida. Keep in mind that Kiryas Yoel is the poorest town in the United States. 

Also take a look at my post The richest Rabbis in Israel. When you combine the money with the societal pressure to conform and stay in the fold (e.g. משמרת הצניעות), it is hard to see the difference.

The success of Charedi Kiruv

Jonathan Rosenblum wrote about the success of Charedi kiruv in this past weeks Mishpacha magazine. However, his description of how they are successful is very troubling:

I would agree that neither ignorance nor poverty are major selling points for Torah. 
...
involves frequent lectures from Orthodox Jews who have achieved prominence in fields to which the students might aspire. The subliminal message is: Becoming shomer Torah u'mitzvos does not require eschewing the career to which you previously aspired.

The problem is that it is a big lie. All of the examples that they bring are either Baalei Teshiva or people who were brought up in a more Modern home. Using these people as examples of how well religious Jews can fit into society is very misleading when the institutions/mekarvim themselves don't believe in that hashkafa. According to Charedi hashkafa, University study is prohibited and any secular study is very much discouraged, yet those are the examples they site when trying to be mekarev people. If a Baal Teshuva raises his children in a Charedi environment it means that his children cannot follow in his career path or any secular career path because they won't learn any secular studies in school.

Aish Hatorah published a similar article, Women at Work,  a few years ago which claimed that Orthodox women can work at any job that they want.

Let's get something perfectly clear: Jewish women work. One of my neighbors is a nuclear physicist. I'm a zoo veterinarian.
...
And nowadays, like women all over the Western world, they work in every field. Some run their own businesses or are part of a larger corporation. Here in Israel one of my neighbors is a nuclear physicist. Another is a school principal. Several good friends are lawyers. One's a pediatrician. Two are successful artists. I'm a zoo veterinarian.
...
My point is, little is forbidden to us. We work in the fields we want. We have open choices. We can choose to work part-time or full-time. 

Again we see the big lie. Aish Hatorah is a Charedi institution and it's goal for it's students is that they join Israeli Charedi society. The fact is that if Elizabeth had been born to a Charedi family she would not have had a choice to be a veterinarian, a nuclear physicist or anything other then a school teacher. University study is strictly prohibited. In Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak even getting a high school diploma is prohibited.  As I mentioned above, all the women that she brings as examples fall into one of 2 categories:

1. Baalei teshuva
2. They grew up in modern homes

None of the women cited grew up in a Charedi home in Israel, because if they had they would not be where they are today.

Charedi kiruv may be successful in attracting the initial generation, however, it is not at all clear that it is successful with the next generation.

Yated published an ad for women's clothes which included women's pants

How embarrassing

How would you like to be called the "בדיעבד Ideal"?

The Mishpacha newspaper (Hebrew) had a long article about the American Aguda Yarchei Kalla in Yerushalayim. They interviewed one of the organizers who called himself a simple baal habayis. The newspaper described him as the ideal b'dieved, that if chas v'shalom you have to work (בדיעבד) and not sit in Kollel then he is the ideal as someone who works but learns seriously.

This is so typical of the Israeli Charedi hashkafa that anyone who is not sitting in kollel is בדיעבד.

The newspaper went on to quote Harav Asher Weiss who said that Israel needs more Baal Habatim like these from America, who work but also learn seriously. IMHO this will not happen if you call them בדיעבד. Once you give someone a negative connotation it is then very difficult to then ask them to try to grow spiritually as they feel that they are בדיעבד so there is no point.

R' Ovadya's oldest daughter might run for President of Israel

Adina Bar Shalom, R' Ovadya's oldest daughter is well known for pushing the boundaries. Twenty-five years ago, a philanthropist handed Rav Ovadiah a blank check to create an avenue for haredi women to receive the secular education they needed to earn enough to take their families out of poverty. At the time R' Ovadya did not agree. Bar-Shalom kept pushing her father to approve the idea until finally in 2000 she got the green light from her father to create such an institution. Today, there are about one thousand students in the Haredi College in Yerushalayim under her auspices.

Now she wants to run for President as the Shas candidate when Peres's term ends. This will create a big conundrum in Shas and the other Charedi parties. They have no women MKs and have no plans to have women MKs. They claim that women don't want to be in the public spotlight. A Charedi woman President would cause them a lot of problems and embarrassment. On the other hand, how can Shas not support the daughter of R' Ovadya?

It will be fascinating to see how this plays out over the next few months.

Source: Kikar Shabbat

The richest Rabbis in Israel

The net worth of the richest rabbis in Israel according to Channel 2 in Israel

Rav Pinchas Abuchatzeira 1.3 billion shekel
Rav David Abuchatzeira 750 million shekel
The Gerrer Rebbe 350 million shekel
The Belzer Rebbe 180 million shekel
Rav Nir Ben Artzi 100 million shekel
Rav Yaakov Ifergen 90 million shekel
Rav Yeshaya Pinto 75 million shekel
...
Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman 1200 shekel

Whatever anyone says about the Litvish world, the Litvish Gedolim truly have little or no money and live very simple life styles.

10% of the Charedi teenagers in Bnei Brak are OTD

So says Mishpacha in an interview with people who work for the city of Bnei Brak in this area. What is sad is that they say that many times the kids not only go OTD but become criminals, addicts, etc. and that their efforts are not to bring back the kids to religion but to turn them into functioning members of society. Yonasan Rosenblum has written a number of times recently that kids do better in an "out of town" type community where the majority is not religious (or less religious) then in a place like Bnei Brak where everyone is religious etc. These numbers seem to bear this out.

Hilchos Prison???

Believe it or not this is not a joke. This is actually a real sefer that came out not long ago dealing with people who are in prison.

As the cover above states it deals with the halachos that relate to someone in jail/prison as well mussar/chizuk, stories, and inspiration for the reader/prisoner.

How far have we fallen that someone would write such a sefer? How embarrassing is this to the Torah world?

Hat Tip: the Seforim Blog

What was the original status quo agreement in Israel regarding Charedi education?

Hamodia (English) is doing a series of explanatory articles about the Charedi world in Israel to explain to the US readers the background to the current situation and why it is so bad. This week they published a long article about the "status quo" agreement in 1947, that the new government would not change the status quo regarding religion. The very obvious implication being that the government today is trying to change the status quo. Here is an English translation of the letter sent to the Aguda:

What is absolutely fascinating is that the section of the letter dealing with education is exactly in tune with what the government is trying to do today. The letter states:

Full autonomy of each educational system. ... The state of course will determine the minimum obligatory courses, Hebrew language, history, science, etc. and will supervise compliance with this minimum ...

So in fact, even in 1947, the agreement was that the Charedi schools while having full autonomy, would teach the core curriculum and be supervised by the government. In other words, what the government is trying to do today is not against the original status quo but rather is trying to enforce it.

The Satmar Rebbe (R' Yoel) on Segulos for Parnassa

This past Tuesday was a big day for Segulos for parnassa, there were ads everywhere about reciting Parshas Haman as a segula for parnassa. 

Here is the Satmar Rebbe's (R' Yoel) take. One time a chossid came in to the Rebbe with complaints about parnassa. He offered the explanation that maybe he wasn't doing all the segulos for parnassa. The Rebbe answered as follows:

"אלע סגילת איז גוט אובער נאך אכט אזיגער שוין צי די ארבעט"

Segulos are good but only until 8 in the morning, after 8 go to work

Belzer Rebbe: Avreichim should learn a profession while in kollel

Belz recently had a conference about economic issues. The Belzer Rebbe sent a message to the conference that while Torah is the first priority, most Avreichim will not sit and learn their whole life but will at some point leave to make a living. The problem is that when they decide to leave kollel after x years they already have kids etc. and have no time to learn a profession. Therefore the Belzer Rebbe said that 1 or 2 afternoons a week the Avreichim should go and learn a profession and that they will not have any money deducted from their kollel stipend so that when they do leave kollel after x years they will have a profession and be able to work right away.

IMHO this is a great step forward both in the official recognition that not everyone is going to stay in kollel their whole life and the practical application of learning a profession while still in kollel.

The fact is that the Chasidic world has never really embraced the kollel only philosophy and has never looked down on people who work and therefore this is not such a big deal. It will be a big deal when the Yeshiva world comes to a similar conclusion.

Source: "אברך מחוץ לשעות הכולל - שילמד מקצוע"

R' Ovadya's Shas is going to be auctioned off

They expect to get $40-50 thousand dollars for the set. See בשונה מהרכב: הגמרא של הגר"ע זצ"ל תוצע למכירה. As the article points out the family were very upset when the car that had been leased for him was sold for a lot of money, they complained that people were using R' Ovadya's name/legacy for profit, yet they seem to be have no problem making money selling his Shas.

Are the budget cuts for Charedi schools in Israel really that egregious?

The Ashkenazi Charedi leadership has rejected the idea that the government have any control over what is learned in Haredi schools (the Sefardi schools seem to have accepted full government supervision in exchange for funding). Any government intervention/control is a gezeras shmad. Let us compare the Haredi schools in NY and those in Israel to see whether government mandates are really shmad.

The following table describes the current situation:

	NY Haredi Schools	Israel Charedi Schools
Budget from the Government	No	Yes 55% of public schools
Elementary School standardized tests	Yes	No
High School Standardized tests	Yes (Regents)	No (Bagrut)
State Curriculum	Yes Instruction given to a minor elsewhere than a public school must be substantially equivalent to the instruction given at the local public school	No
Option to opt out	No	Yes

As we can see in NY State the government provides no funding and yet, mandates a standardized curriculum and standardized achievement tests. In Israel, on the other hand, the government provides partial funding but mandates no requirements.

What is fascinating is that there is much more government control/intervention in the US then what is being proposed in Israel let alone what exists now. Yet no one is calling the US government evil and shmad.

I understand that in NY many of these rules/laws go unenforced and many Charedi schools actually teach very little secular studies. However, the fact that the laws are on the books is very important and at some point in the near future there is a good chance that they will be enforced.

Source for NY State Data: http://www2.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/regprivschl/regprivschl.pdf

What is telling is that this is not limited to Israel or the US. The government in Belgium recently passed a law that just went into effect that all schools without exception must teach the mandated secular studies curriculum (irrespective of whether they take government or not) and refusal to comply will be met with stiff fines and maybe even the removal of the children from the parents homes. The reason is very simple,  25 percent of Haredim are living below the poverty line, compared to less than 10 percent of the general population. The poverty caused mostly by the poor/non-existent secular education. 

The Rebbes are not coming!!!

The trip has been cancelled for a whole host of reasons among them

1. The Belzer Rebbe dxecided not to particpate personally
2. Winter weather in NY
3. They couldn't come to agreement with the American Rebbes to participate
4. R' Shteinman never really backed the whole idea

The truth is I never understood what they hoped to accomplish with this and it is probably better that it was cancelled.

Poverty in Israel, why does no one care?

Israel has very high poverty rates for an OECD country, 23.5 percent, and yet the average middle class (and up) Israeli doesn't seem to care. The question is why not? Are middle class Israelis simply cruel and unfeeling? The answer according to the NY Times article,  Israel's Undeserving Poor, is actually much more complex.

Two segments of Israel’s population stand out as the poorest of the poor: “ultra-Orthodox Jews” and “Muslim-Arabs.” Unemployment rates for ultra-Orthodox Jews (mostly ultra-Orthodox men) and Arabs (mostly Arab women) are very high. So are birth rates. The result: 59 percent of the ultra-Orthodox (also known as Haredim) are poor. Similarly, 58 percent of Arab Israelis are poor. 
...
to be blunt, Israelis know that Haredis and Arabs are disproportionately represented in the underground economy (namely, by evading taxes). Finally, to a large extent they are poor because of choices they make — preferring their traditions over participating in the modern Israeli economy. Simply put: For Haredi Jewish men, the choice is generally to study the Torah and have many children (while the women have to provide for the families). For Muslim Arabs, it is to keep women at home and have many children (while the men go to work).
...
For the comparatively well-to-do to care more about Israel’s poverty, they first have to be convinced that the necessary measures have been taken to eliminate poverty-by-choice.
...
Only when unemployed Haredi men and Arab women go to work and black-market tax evaders are forced to pay taxes will the middle and upper classes be more open to thinking about a redistribution of wealth. Right now, the majority of Israelis have good reason — or good excuse — to object to any redistributive attempts to take from them and give to others.
...
For middle-class Israelis to care, the message from the state should be quite different — one that could be called compassionate cruelty. The state should be telling its citizens: We don’t much care if the poor-by-choice get even poorer and get even less from the state. We don’t much care about poverty rates that take everybody into account without much consideration of personal and communal decisions and their consequences. But we will ensure that those willing to work and pay their dues are properly assisted, and the government will make sure that they are the only ones to be raised above poverty level on the government’s dime.

There is no question in my mind that the article is correct. I see this attitude every day at work (hi tech). The people at work are upper middle class and are concerned citizens, but have no interest in transferring their hard earned money to people who they believe are poor by choice and are expecting to be supported by the government.

As I posted a while back (The cash machine that is the Israeli government) the Charedi population looks at the government as a cash machine, give us money and leave us alone. The budget is a zero sum game, whatever we can save and get for us great whatever doesn't go to us is basically lost. The Charedi population views itself as hardly using any government services no, schools, university, roads, police, jails, etc. (which is of course not true, they use the roads, health care, the army protects them etc). In addition, the Charedi population pays less in direct taxes because many people don't work, they are poor, and those who do work get a lot of money under the table and therefore when they get money from the government they don't look upon it as their tax money coming back to them. Because of this, the Charedi MKs are seemingly always trying to get more money for their constituents.

Until there is a fundamental shift (as the article states) attitudes are not going to change and poverty is not going to move people to action.

Regulation of גמחי"ם in Israel is coming, why are the Charedim so afraid?

Today, גמחי"ם are completely unregulated and can basically do what they want. The Israeli government is working on legislation to change this, the proposed legislation will put the גמחי"ם under the supervision of the Bank of Israel (as banks and money changers are today). The main element of the law is that all customers, depositors and lenders must be identified and the sums of money reported. According to the Charedi press this will cause most of the גמחי"ם to simply close. The question is why? Additionally, the question is why is the government doing this? Is it just another anti-Charedi law or is there some real reason for this?

The answer to the second question will answer the first question as well. The main reason that the government is proposing the new law is to crack down on money laundering. גמחי"ם today are a very easy way to launder money. Let's say you have 100,000 shekel that you don't want the government to know about it and you want to launder. The solution is simple, you go to a גמ"ח and give them the 100,000, you then immediately take a loan of 100,000 from the same גמ"ח and kick back a small percentage to the גמ"ח owner. You now have a legitimate 100,000 "loan" which is tax free which you simply never pay back. If the government comes knocking asking about where you got the 100,000, you show them the loan papers from the גמ"ח. Since there is no regulation, there is no way for the government to know if you paid/are paying back the loan. Everyone wins, you have laundered your money and the גמ"ח owner makes an easy profit. How much of this is going on is pure speculation, in any case this is what the government wants to prevent.

The Charedi opposition to this is for 2 reasons:

1. A lot of money made in the Charedi world is "off the books" and not reported to the government. There is no question that the גמחי"ם are laundering some of it. If the גמחי"ם will now need to report every transaction it will be much harder to hide this money.
2. Charedim have an inherent mistrust of the government. Therefore, even if they are doing nothing wrong they don't want the government knowing how much money they have. 

What is clear is that this bill will pass in the near future and that this will be another blow to the average Charedi Avreich who depends on גמחי"ם to survive. With fewer גמחי"ם it will be much tougher to borrow the money they desperately need. 

Why are the Rebbes coming? משהו שמיימי

That seems to be the best that anyone can come up with (see for example למה צריך בכלל את מסע המועצת?) which is pretty sad. The Charedi world in Israel is collapsing under financial strain and this big event is going to cost millions of dollars, wouldn't that money be better used to actually support the poor?

It seems that Satmar will be participating and as I wrote earlier they have some very strict conditions including no speeches in English (except for 1). That won't play very well in NY and the US where except for the Chasidim the rest of the Charedi world doesn't really speak Yiddish any more. What they hope to accomplish is a mystery. This is the reason that R' Shteinman has not really supported this, he understands the situation and doesn't see the justification for the event.

The Rebbes are coming, the Rebbes are coming

As of now, the Chasidic Rebbes from Israel are planning on coming to NY the week of January 6th for a major rally/protest against the Israeli government on Tuesday January 7th. They are still looking for a venue as an outdoor stadium is out of the question in the winter and places like MSG are too small.

The big question is what is the purpose of the visit and what do they hope to accomplish? There has been talk of the Rebbes meeting high ranking officials/politicians to discuss the "persecution" of Charedim by the Israeli government.

IMHO, this is silly for a number of reasons. As the Satmar Rebbe said, the average American will not understand the Charedi position at all. The call by the Israeli government for sharing the burden seems very reasonable as do the budget cuts for schools that don't learn secular studies. It is very difficult to explain on one hand how you participate in the government and  take money while on the other hand you won't share the burden. In addition, Americans are not particularly fond of "welfare queens" which in truth, is what the Charedi population looks like. They want to not work and be supported by the government. In fact, this may actually affect the Charedi population in the US negatively because it may cause people to look more carefully and critically at the Charedi lifestyle (Section 8, welfare, medicare, shools, that don't teach secular studies, etc.) in the US.

The other reason given is to explain the situation to the Charedim in the US and get their support. Here also, I believe that this is not going to work. On one hand, the true believers, already believe and support the cause. On the other hand, the moderate Charedi who works may not be persuaded, if his kids can learn secular studies in high school why not in Israel? If he can work for a living why not in Israel? If anything this may cause a crisis of faith among these people as they start to question the wisdom of their leaders.

The other big question still unanswered is whether Satmar will participate. On one hand Satmar brings a lot of people, on the other hand they also have a lot of demands for their participation including:
1. All speeches in Yiddish
2. No Israeli politicians (Charedim) can speak
3. The freedom to attack "moderates" like R' Shteinman

It will be fascinating to watch how this plays out over the next few weeks.

At least the Satmar Rebbe is honest about the draft for Charedim in Israel

In response to the upcoming visit to the US by prominent Chasidic rebbes to protest against the Israeli government the Satmar Rebbe said the following at a dinner last Saturday night.

There is a very big question. How can they make a demonstration [against the Israeli government] in front of the non-Jews when they themselves are part of the government and taking money from the government? Why should the non-Jew understand? The Charedi is benefiting from government budgets, is part of the government and has MKs in the government, why should he be any different then a chiloni? This is exactly what the government is asking from the Charedim, to share the burden. The non-Jew can understand that those God fearing Jews who don't participate and have nothing to do with the government and get no government money have a right to not be drafted as well and therefore a demonstration is worthwhile.

Now, you can disagree with his point regarding those who don't take government money, but his point regarding those who do take money is very hard to refute. If you participate in the government and take money then you also need to contribute, the government is not simply a cash machine.