Maybe it's best to start from the end: The ultra-Orthodox will enlist in the military and join the workforce. That is what is going to happen in Israeli society in coming years. And no, this isnt going to happen because of the new law being drafted, but because that's what the ultra-Orthodox community wants -- not the leaders but the public.
What will ultimately tip the scales is the extreme poverty in which many of them live, and the difficulty and even opposition among the younger generation to live and raise children in such scarcity. And this is the growing feeling among many young men -- cooperation with Israeli society. If up until very recently, the main ethos among the ultra-Orthodox was that they were not a part of society, then we are currently witnessing a change, a new sense of partnership.
Many in the ultra-Orthodox community are proud of "their" soldiers -- those who do serve in the army. Notice how they are suddenly drawn out to explain why the law is not necessary. "We also have soldiers, haredim do enlist, even without the law." In other words, even the haredi leadership no longer dares to come out against haredi soldiers. The other day, I visited a haredi yeshiva high school called Hakhmei Lev -- an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva in all senses -- where students prepare for national matriculation exams, and whose graduates will eventually enlist in the army and go on to college. This is a new yeshiva -- established only this year -- but it instantly filled up. This yeshiva is a revolution, no less.
We are all angry, for many good reasons -- that the ultra-Orthodox do not work, that they do not earn a living, that they do not study core subjects in school, and for other reasons, as well. But what has been revealed is that if an ultra-Orthodox man wants his children to study core-curriculum subjects or, even more, wants his children to do the matriculation exams and go to college and get a profession -- he has no way of doing that. Why? Because there are no ultra-Orthodox schools where students focus on the national matriculation exams. The state funds haredi yeshivas but not haredi yeshiva high schools, which actually prepare students for these tests.
There are four such yeshivas in the country, but they cost 30,000 shekels ($8,600) a year. Who has that kind of money-
When Bezalel Cohen, the principal of Hakhmei Lev, told me about this matter, it was crystal clear that a yeshiva like this needed to be opened, which would prepare for exams within an ultra-Orthodox framework. From the start, I had the privilege of helping Cohen to turn this idea into a reality. The yeshiva reflects the changes currently underway in the ultra-Orthodox community. They pre-dated the draft law and will continue after it. It is already here.
And what about us? We need to help these natural processes to continue and accept that they are occurring. And our politicians? I suggest they humble themselves and assist the ultra-Orthodox in every way possible, especially to stop portraying this as our battle against them. We must work together to ensure a more unified, caring and better Israeli society.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו