Rabbis Steinman And Kanievsky To Haredi Schools: Don’t Teach Secular Studies, Pull Out Of Government Funding Program, Don't Pollute Children's Minds

"We must stand as a bulwark not change an inch…God forbid, do not be tempted…there's no instruction to permit [joining the state’s haredi educational framework which requires teaching secular studies] at all, and those who have joined already must break away from it, and with God's help we can continue the tradition of our ancestors and our upbringing [and] of our rabbis with no change until the coming of the righteous redeemer,” the two top haredi leaders wrote.

Above: Rabbis Aharon Leib Steinman, left, and Chaim Kanievsky, right

Rabbis Steinman And Kanievsky To Haredi Schools: Don’t Teach Secular Studies, Pull Out Of Government Funding Program, Don't Pollute Children's Minds
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The two top non-hasidic haredi leaders, Rabbis Aharon Leib Steinman and Chaim Kanievsky, told haredi schools late Thursday night in a letter to pull out of the Israeli government's haredi education program and stop teaching secular studies, Behadrei Haredim reported.

In their letter, Steinman and Kanievsky warned haredi schools not to join state’s haredi education framework. Do “not change even a hair's breadth" of traditional haredi education – which contains no secular studies at all – and continue educatiing   “without any mixture of things that mar soul of the child,” the two rabbis wrote.

"We must stand as a bulwark not change an inch…God forbid, do not be tempted…there's no instruction to permit [joining the state’s haredi educational framework which requires teaching secular studies] at all, and those who have joined already must break away from it, and with God's help we can continue the tradition of our ancestors and our upbringing [and] of our rabbis with no change until the coming of the righteous redeemer,” the two top haredi leaders wrote.

Haredi students reach adulthood with little or no ability to function in the modern job market. They often are nearly illiterate in modern Hebrew language and lack math, English, science, computers and other skills. But because of secular politicians’ need to use haredi political parties to form ruling coalitions, a series of Israeli governments have turned blind eyes to this problem.

The current government has tried somewhat to force haredi schools to comply with the law, but last week it backed down and decided not to strictly enforce it during this academic year.

The rabbis’ letter seems meant in part to exploit that.

As late as December 2005, Steinman did not know what a credit card was or that it could be used to make a donation over the phone.

Comments

[RWisler]

They are following the paths of the ultra-orthodox Muslims in Pakistan and the Middle East. I guarantee that within five years it'll be "kill the chilonim for the sake of Torah". These guys are NO better than the Ayatollah Khomeini or others who urge on impressionable young people to commit atrocities in the name of Islam.

[dh]

How many of these allegedly Jewish illiterates, thieves, goofballs, pedophiles, wife abusers, con men of all kinds including government giveaways, illegal masterminds, felons, misdemeanants and their wives and followers would you estimate there are in the world?

[jancsibacsi]

Chas veshalom someone should think for himself no you got to think like he does or else the whole world will collapse unto itself.

[Josh]

"Continue the tradition" my arse. These ignorant and wicked charlatans dont even know the basics of their own heritage or religion. Fucking idiots. I sometimes wish there was a hell so these shits could burn.

[jancsibacsi]

No wander he talk like this,he talks like someone who is tottaly detached from reality,he live in a fantasy world where everything for everyone will be given for just existing and like he was given everything in his life without ever having to struggle for a living .

[Rocky]

dh: Over 1 million and growing rapidly. In a few decades, they will be the public face of Jews in the US and far more powerful politically in Israel.

[Michael-Meir]

The Islamic extremist group in Nigeria calls itself Boko Haram, "Western Education Is Forbidden." Hmm, where have I heard that before?

Haredim, Boko Haram - hard to tell them apart just from their hashkafot. The main difference between Haredim and Boko Haram: the latter kidnaps schoolgirls.

[SucceededMesiah]

@RWisler,

Do the ayatollahs tell their followers not to get an education? It may be even worse than you are saying. As awful as they are, the ayatollahs seem more connected to the world than the hareidim. Also, the ayatollahs believe in science and weaponry, while the hareidim condemn science and a defensive army.

[SucceededMesiah]

@Rocky,

They have hardly penetrated the intelligentsia at all. They will be powerful in the sense that Al Sharpton is powerful. Hopefully their parasitic practices will not make a rotting corpse out of the rest of society.

[Reese]

It is clear these two did not write this letter. Handlers have already taken full control of these two very elderly rabbonim. Does anyone think they could come up with the word bulwark?

[bewhiskered]

It used to be that men and women each had their own קללות. For the men the קללה was:

בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם

And, for the women it was:

בעצב תלדי בנים

But, in today's דור תהפוכות, the poor women seem to have both קללות.

[Allan]

“Rabbis Steinman And Kanievsky “

That reminds me! I was going to check out the new “Dumb and Dumber” opening this weekend.

[jktz122]

i think they are already doing that at least here in new york .. bleh its totally the wrong way in my opinion

[S M L]

"...they will be the public face of Jews in the US..."

No, just in New York, because so many 'normal' Jews have left the city for the burbs and because the Hasidim are so visually distinctive. The Feds are at least starting to get onto them; that's a good thing though not likely to do much for the reputation of jews generally.

[Bruce J Cooke]

Talmudic Attitude Towards Work
The first thing to note is that the sages of the Talmud had a great deal of respect for labor' The Talmud abhoffed idleness
and felt that it leads to mental illness and sexual immoraliry (Babylonian Talmud, Kethubos sqb)' Rabbi Yosi felt that a
peNon does not die exceptthrough idleness (Babylonian Talmud, Avot D'Rabbi Noson lr:l)' RabbiYehuda and Rabbi
shimon (Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 49b) stated: "Great is labor for it honors the workman"' Both sages would purposely
carry burdens on their shoulders because they wanted their students to see that manual labor should be respected' Rabbi
yehuda b. Bathyra said: "If a person has no r,r'orkt o do, what should he do? If he has a dilapidated yard or field' he should
go and occupy himself with it" (Babylonian Talmud,, Avot D'Rabbi Noson rt:l)' The 'Ialmud (Babylonian Talmud' Avot
D,Rabbi Noson rr:r) also believedthat,A person should love work and not hate it; for just as the Torah was given with a
covenant, so too was work given with a covenant'"
Occupations of the Sages of the Talmud
The sages of the Talmudworked at many diverse occupations. For instance, Hillel was a woodchopperbefore he became
the Nasi (president of the sanhedrin) and Shammai the Elder was a builder. Abba chilkiyah u'as a field laborer; Rabbi
yochanan b. Zakkai was a businessmanf or forty years;A bba Shaul was a gravedigger; Abba chilkiyah was a field worker;
Abba oshiya was a launderer; Rabbi shimon P'kuli was a cotto' dealer; Rabbi shmuel b' shilas was a school teacher' Rabbi
Meir and Rabi chananel were scribes; Rabbi yosi b. chalafta was a tanner; Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar was a shoemaker;
Rabbiyehoshuab. chananiah was abracksmith; Rabbi safra and Rabbi Dimi of Nehardeawere merchants; RabbiAbbab'
Zavina was a tailor; Rabbi Yosef b. chiya and Rabbi Yannai owned vineyarcls; Rabbi Huna was a farmer and raised cattle;
Rabbi chisda and Rabbi papa were beer brewers; Karna was a wine smeller (he determined r'r'hich wine could be stored and
which had to be sold immediately); Rabbi chiya b. yosef was in the salt business; Abba BarAbba, (father of Mar shmuel)
was a silk merchant; and (Mar) Shmuel was a doctor'.

[Bruce J Cooke]

Check out

http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/idealoccupa.html

[Thierry]

Bruce,

This is just not true.

Everybody knows that all those rabbis were kept by the fathers-in-law while they learned in kollel.

[dapper danny]

The fact that "Am Horetz" is used as an insult rather than a complement shows how much such labor is valued.

[Miggo Wagga]

As a person of South African origin who opposed apartheid, one of the things we fought was 'Bantu education' whereby whites got the very best education possible, Indians and Coloureds got a mediocre education, and blacks got crap education that they could do nothing with.
How is the Haredi education in Israel any different from Bantu education? Why are Haredi children being so discriminated against and their futures compromised. Don't tell me its because the parents want it. The parents don't know what they want. They've been told by religious authorities what to 'want'.

[R Nash]

This is not a case of Bantu education. The Haredi leaders themselves are fighting it, and the government is pushing it, the exact opposite of Bantu.

The more education the constituents have, the more that leaders who are inadequate, corrupt, dictatorial and / or incompetent lose power. That is why Haredi leadership opposes education. It is why race baiters in the US oppose better education and more exposure to facts. It is why the church of the middle ages opposed education. It is why Boku Haram opposes education.

[state of disgust]

Rabbis Steinman And Kanievsky should take their logic to the next obvious step and refuse to take any welfare from the Jewish State because it might taint their followers. Not one grush!!!
Of course the next step in their logic would be to encourage their followers to leave the country. After all, their followers are being polluted by their daily contact with the apikorsim, the secular, socialist scum that had the temerity to found a Jewish State in the first place before Mashiach has come. Quick, don't let the door hit you in the ass as leave Ben Gurion airport and board a plane headed .... anywhere else.

[Bas Melech]

If they don't agree with the government, they should not take money from it. The government can spend the saved money where it will be appreciated.

[Rocky]

Miggo Wagga: The Haredi in Israel have the right to vote, which the Bantu did not have in South Africa. Israel's proportional representation system in the Knesset and its multiplicity of political parties has enabled the Haredi to play off the secular parties against each other. It is only a question of time until a Haredi becomes the country's Prime Minister. As I have said before, Israel is facing a demographic catastrophe.

[raf]

Haredi rabbis complain about too much secularism in the National Religious schools. But an editorial in Haaretz that appeared yesterday complains about too much religion in secular schools. What Israeli students need, says the editorial, is less instruction about religion and more about racism

[Miggo Wagga]

R Nash: That is precisely my point. The Haredi leadership is a tiny cadre of people who have total control over the personal autonomy of their followers and have forced them to accept Bantu education for Haredi children. The secular government of Israel goes along with it and is complacent in robbing these children of their futures and their rights to be educated. So how is any of this different from Bantu education? Keep in mind, there were also black leaders in power in South Africa who went along with apartheid rules because it buttressed their power.

Rocky: I hear what you're saying, but as one who was involved in the Haredi world and then left it, I can tell you that the Haredim don't have anywhere near the kind of skill or autonomy you say they do because individuality is stripped away from them by a tiny cadre of leaders who say, "Obey us without question or suffer kareis or loss of olam haba." The Haredi may be allowed to vote, but can he really vote his mind and his conscience? And the Bantu education that has been imposed on Haredi children keeps this status quo in place. Dammit, don't Haredi children deserve better?

[David]

What a perversion of Judaism.

Jews were always educated and always worked and top priority was given to teaching your children.

There was never a tradition of full time Torah "learning" to the exclusion of actual work. Torah learning was done on your own time after fulfilling your other obligations.

They are destroying the Jewish people and this matter must be taken very seriously.