The head of the Ashkenazi haredi school system in Israel
Rabbi Avraham Lazerson is reportedly upset that haredi rabbinic leaders
have focused their attention almost exclusively on the haredi draft
issue and not on the government’s attempt to force haredi schools to
follow the law and teach secular core subjects. Schools that do not
comply with the law will have their state funding reduced.
Rabbi Avraham Lazerson
Head Of Israeli Haredi School System Warns Of “Catastrophe” Caused By Gov’t Secular Core Studies Plan
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The head of the Ashkenazi haredi school system in Israel Rabbi Avraham Lazerson is reportedly upset that haredi rabbinic leaders have focused their attention almost exclusively on the haredi draft issue and not on the government’s attempt to force haredi schools to follow the law and teach secular core subjects. Schools that do not comply with the law will have their state funding reduced.
“I have been involved in haredi education for 34 years and I do not know what it means to rest. I see the serenity of the leadership which has concerned itself only with the drafting of yeshiva students. The education issues and what [Minister of Education Rabbi Shai] Piron has planned for us should be of no less of a concern than the drafting of yeshiva students.…
“I sat with one of the Gedolei Yisrael [leading haredi rabbis] and said if the yeshiva students will have to go to Massiyahu Prison they will do so with Gemaras in hand, and they will return home two weeks later [intact]. But our young, our sheep, [the government is] trying to harm their tender souls as [it] seeks to instill into them different ambitions…distancing them from the correct lifestyle. And what will occur when they reach induction age? They will want to serve [in the IDF] on their own without any need for coercion,” Lazerson reportedly told the haredi Hebrew language news website Ladaat.info.
Lazerson also called the government’s plan a “catastrophe” and added, “but all I hear is silence” [from haredi rabbinic leaders].
[Hat Tip: Seymour.]