The rabbinic leadership of the Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi party’s
conservative, haredi-leaning Tekuma faction has now issued a letter to
the party’s political leaders ordering them not to force haredi schools
to teach the country’s mandatory core curriculum. The letter, signed by Rabbis Dov Lior, Haim Steiner, Iser
Kalonski, and David Hai HaCohen also ordered the party’s political
leadership not to widen the electoral committee for selecting the chief
rabbis.
Rabbi Dov Lior
Right Wing Rabbis Order Zionist Orthodox Party Leaders To Block Moves To Force Haredi Schools To Teach Math, Civics
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The rabbinic leadership of the Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi party’s conservative, haredi-leaning Tekuma faction has now issued a letter to the party’s political leaders ordering them not to force haredi schools to teach the country’s mandatory core curriculum, the Jerusalem Post reported. The letter, signed by Rabbis Dov Lior, Haim Steiner, Iser Kalonski, and David Hai HaCohen also ordered the party’s political leadership not to widen the electoral committee for selecting the chief rabbis.
The vast majority of haredi schools teach little or none of the country’s core curriculum or any other secular subjects.
Israel’s High Court of Justice has already ruled that haredi schools that receive government funding must follow the law and teach the country’s core curriculum. But the previous government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not enforce the law in deference to its haredi coalition partners.
“[The study of Torah is a] source of life and oxygen for the existence of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.…It is unthinkable that we would be partners to the demands to harm the budgets of these Torah institutions, whether they are Zionist or haredi elementary schools, high schools or yeshivot.
“The independent [haredi] school system and haredi elementary schools should not be harmed, and the content of the education programs should be left alone to be according to what has been accepted for generations in the hands of those who guide this educational framework,” the four Tekuma rabbis reportedly wrote.
They also ordered HaBayit HaYehudi’s political leadership to block the expansion of the committee that elects Israel’s chief rabbis, claiming that “alien considerations” should not be allowed to influence the elections process. The expansion has been proposed as tool to dilute the impact of the committee’s haredi members, who wield disproportionate power because of backroom deals made during the previous government. The Tekuma rabbis wrote that expanding the committee to dilute the haredi vote would damage the standing and validity of the chief rabbinate.