Unnamed sources from the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) are reportedly lashing out at Israel’s president Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin after Rivlin told a conference on education and the economy Wednesday that the new coalition deal between UTJ and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party is deeply flawed because it allows haredi schools to get full government funding without teaching any secular subjects. This Rivlin said, works against the interests of the state, of society – and of haredim themselves, who cannot get jobs with knowing math, Modern Hebrew and other subjects.
Above: Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin
Haredim Lash Out At Israel’s President Over Call For Haredim To Study Secular Subjects, Serve The Country And Work
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Unnamed sources from the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) are reportedly lashing out at Israel’s president Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin after Rivlin told a conference on education and the economy Wednesday that the new coalition deal between UTJ and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party is deeply flawed because it allows haredi schools to get full government funding without teaching any secular subjects. This Rivlin said, works against the interests of the state, of society – and of haredim themselves, who cannot get jobs with knowing math, Modern Hebrew and other subjects.
Rivlin also said that the haredi need to study Torah cannot be used as an excuse for haredim to remove themselves from the wider society and its needs. They can do national civilian service in place of full military service, but they must serve just the way other Jewish Israelis serve.
The unnamed UTJ sources reportedly questioned the timing of Rivlin’s statements – even though they were made only minutes after the deal between UTJ and Likud was announced.
But the UTJ sources say the haredi community is under attack and Rivlin should have remained silent. Further, they reportedly accuse Rivlin of “incitement” against the haredi community and of “joining the anti-haredi choir.”
Sefardi haredi Shas Party sources, also unnamed, also lashed out at Rivlin, accusing him of fueling opposition to the haredi community.
There are now calls from both Shas and UTJ for the meeting planned for Monday between Rivlin and haredi mayors to be boycotted by the mayors.
Rivlin has always been seen as a friend of the haredi community, and his remarks Wednesday were accurate and not extreme in any way. Instead, they closely follow the findings made by economists and academics, many of who have warned that the high rates of unemployment and low rates of education in both the haredi and Arab-Israeli communities pose a direct and looming danger to Israel’s security.
Nevertheless, in response to haredi threats, officials in Rivlin’s office now reportedly deny Rivlin made those remarks.
Haredi rabbinic leaders insist that the Torah study done by haredim protects Israel from harm, and they insist any diminution of the Torah study by forcing haredim to study math and Modern Hebrew, or serve in the IDF or national civilian service, or get jobs puts Israel in grave danger – positions that have no basis in halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) and which are unprecedented in the history of rabbinic Judaism which, until very recently, used to cherish work and require military defense.
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