Volunteers man the [ex-haredi help organization] Hillel hotline, where
they receive their fair share of hang-ups and whispering voices, callers
likely ringing from home and terrified of being found out. Questions range from “Can you get
me a girl?” to “If I stop keeping Shabbat, will I die?” “It’s
important that we don’t create another rabbi figure for them, what we do
is to make sure they’re mature enough to make this choice,. It’s not our role to tell them if there’s a God
or not. It’s our role to ask them if they have food to eat the next day,
since many are finding themselves on the street.”
Shira Rubin writes in Tablet Magazine:
…These boys represent a rising trend of Haredi youth abandoning their communities. According to estimates by Hillel [the ex-haredi help organization], about 400 Haredim, mostly youth, leave their homes every year. With the surprising success last month of Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, which promised to end the army exemption for the ultra-Orthodox, that number is expected to grow. But until government legislation materializes, volunteers man the Hillel hotline, where they receive their fair share of hang-ups and whispering voices, callers likely ringing from home and terrified of being found out. According to Yair Hass, who manages the hotline, questions range from “Can you get me a girl?” to “If I stop keeping Shabbat, will I die?”
“It’s important that we don’t create another rabbi figure for them, what we do is to make sure they’re mature enough to make this choice,” said Hass, himself an ex-Haredi. “It’s not our role to tell them if there’s a God or not. It’s our role to ask them if they have food to eat the next day, since many are finding themselves on the street.”…
The ex-Haredim drafted into the army are, for all intents and purposes, foreigners in Israel. Along with soldiers from abroad or from broken homes, they are eligible for “Lone Soldier” status and financial and social support during their service and into their studies. Lacking a background in math and English—yeshivas don’t typically teach either subject—most ex-Haredi face enormous challenges in passing the army exams, thus narrowing their choices for placement,…
Though those with skills can join Nachal Haredi, a 1,000-man unit catering to Haredi soldiers by enforcing strict kashrut laws and forbidding women from entering the premises, “Most don’t join combat units,” said Aud. “And the fact that the best units don’t take them is, in my opinion, a big mistake, because they really know how to survive.”…