Avigdor Lieberman, is planning measures to coax the Haredim into the workforce. If he fails, Israel is headed for poverty
There are certainly a lot of reasons to celebrate the end of the Netanyahu government and the rise of the Bennett-Lapid coalition. The unrestrained attacks on the justice system are over and the nastiest political name-calling is now confined to the opposition. As the passage of a budget and a host of other legislation shows, the government is finally running the country.
But in terms of Israel’s future, the biggest reason to celebrate is the fact that the Haredi parties have been consigned to the opposition. The government is finally free to tackle what is nothing less than an existential threat to the economy from Israel’s rapidly growing ultra-Orthodox population.
Less than 30 years from now, the Haredim could account for close to a quarter of the country’s population, nearly double their share today, according to a recent projection by the National Economic Council. If nothing else changes and ultra-Orthodox remain as impoverished, under-employed and undereducated as they are today – they will become an impossible burden on the economy.
The standard of living will fall as a smaller share of the adult population holds a job; many of those who do have such low levels of education and skills that the only jobs they can fill pay poorly. Startup Nation will have become a distant memory because there won’t be/aren’t enough engineers. The tax base will shrink, harming everything from schools to hospitals to defense.
Thirty years seems like a long time, but solving the problem is akin to steering the Titanic. The challenge is enormous, and societal the solutions take a long time to work their effect. – Changes in school curriculum, for instance, won’t impact on the workforce for many years, – and meanwhile the ship is getting closer and closer to the iceberg. Action needs to happen now in order to avert this entirely foreseeable disaster in the future.
The threat has been universally acknowledged by everyone but the Haredim themselves (whose leaders at least somehow think that the Torah-centered Haredi life that has emerged over the last four decades can somehow survive) and by Netanyahu (who cynically catered to their demands to ensure he had their Knesset votes).
It seems that at least some parts of the Bennett government still dream of bringing the ultra-Othodox parties into the coalition, and prefer to avoid any changes that will offend them. Fortunately, Avigdor Lieberman, the finance minister, is ready to offend.
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Offense taken
Or, at least the Haredim are ready to be offended. After Lieberman unveiled to the socioeconomic cabinet on Tuesday a four-point plan to get Haredi men into the workforce, Shas lawmaker Moshe Abutbul called the finance minister’s measures “antisemitic” and motivated by “hatred, incitement and revenge.”
Real antisemites must be scratching their heads. Most of the program’s particulars have yet to be unveiled, but according to a report by Channel 13 News, they will comprise a stew of carrots and sticks.
On the one hand, discounts on municipal taxes and subsidies for day and afternoon care will be ended. On the other hand, adult men engaged in religious studies (avreichim) will need to spend just 20 hours a week at yeshiva instead of 40 to qualify for a government allowance and will be exempt from army service from age 21 instead of age 24.
Also, Haredi schools will get extra money to teach math, English and computers. But those that don’t won’t be penalized.
Treasury officials hope that if it lets avreichim spend less time in learning without losing their allowance, they’ll use the free time to get a job. Likewise, if the threat of army service is lifted, they’ll be more inclined to quit the yeshiva studies that entitles them to the exemption and find a job. And, if Haredi schools start to really teach a core curriculum, these young men stand a better chance of acquiring the skills needed for a decently paid job.
As things stand today, full-time learning is often a better-paying proposition than holding down a job. A 2019 treasury study estimated that between government allowances and subsidies, the average avereich gets 5,441 shekels ($1,705) a month. That’s not a princely sum (the average gross wage in Israel in 2019 was 10,784 shekels). But it is a lot of money when you consider the employment options for a man who can do little more than basic arithmetic.
Will Haredim take the bait Lieberman plans to dangle? That’s what the rabbis are worried about and why they despise Lieberman’s plans. Despite the facade of triumphalism arising from demographic trends and their long lockhold over Israeli politics, they have every reason to be worried. Here’s why.
Learning a hard truth
Ironically, the demographics actually work against the perpetuation of the ultra-Orthodox “society of learners.” They face an impossible task of trying to squeeze more and more money out of the Israeli taxpayer as the number of Haredi mouths to feed grows year by year.
That goes a long way toward explaining why there are signs that the society of learners is fraying at the edges.
While the share of Haredi men in the labor force has stopped growing in recent years and may even be in retreat, the number of working women in the community has soared. Increasing numbers of Haredi families need a breadwinner, and it’s the women who are filling the role.
Meanwhile, more of the ultra-Orthodox, especially women, are getting a higher education to improve their job prospects. Even internet usage has soared over the objections of many rabbis – nearly two thirds of Haredim admit they use it – mainly for practical applications, they say. The number is probably far higher.
These are important developments because the economic pressures are coming hand in hand with greater exposure to the non-Haredi world. The exposure is mostly confined to technical knowhow, but give it time.
The rabbis are right to be worried. The young woman studying accounting or the teenager surfing the internet is naturally going to be tempted to look at other content outside what’s acceptable in the enclosed Haredi world.
The problem is that neither economic pressures nor the force of new ideas is going to work quickly enough to reverse the demographic threat, especially in the face of resistance from the ultra-Orthodox establishment.
The Bennett government has created a window of opportunity for the reforms to accelerate those changes, but that window could slam shut quickly. A coalition between the right and the ultra-Orthodox could easily return to power and doom the reforms. Even today, the polls show that’s the way an election would go. Lieberman must work quickly and decisively. It may be our last chance.
I have to add something about “sectoral” parties.
Imagine to yourself that instead of its basically Democrat/Republican party system the US had a Hispanic party, a Black party, a Caucasian party, a Jewish party, a Christian party, a Muslim party, an Oriental party, a Buddhist party, a Nazi party, etc.
What a divisive unworkable mess that would be!
@Ted, I think you comments are on point. We will see if the program works.
@Ted Belman
You re right about Lieberman.
I think we had this discussion several months ago and someone posted an article about his pogram.
I don’t see, though, why there should be a very large self-selected privileged group based on religious observance which, moreover, because of their privileged status is entitled to rule everybody else’s lives.
Wouldn’t it be better and more fair if every Jewish (male?) citizen of Israel got a subsidy if they chose to learn Torah every day?
It is commendable when men want to learn Torah full time but the whole large populations of these men, most of whom are not gifted Torah scholars, should not feel entitled to be fully supported by the state and be exempt from the duties of their citizenship.
Also, they do not have the same problem in the US but they do have a very similar problem with a lot of hareidi families on welfare or with the wife as a sole breadwinner.
While in the US, technically, there is no religious discrimination, in reality, it is very difficult to find and keep a job if you are Jewishly observant.
@Ted. The problem with the proposed legislation is that it does not provide strong incentives for haredi men to find jobs or study secular subjects. It leaves stipends for Torah study and child allowances in place. Haredi men can just take these benefits and study Torah half-time, while enjoying liesure for the rest of the day, or dealing drugs, or whatever. There is no penalty if they decide not to take advantage of the opportunities offered in the proposed legislation.
The proponants of this legislation only hope that haredi men will take advantage of government funding for work or study. As someone or other once said, “hope is not a policy.”
Recent events in the United States demonstrate that when people are offered enough money to live on by the government without working, they don’t work. The result is a “labor shortage” in the United States.
Liberman’s goal is worthy. I wish him success.
It is more important to get the men into the workforce then into the Army. In fact trying to integrate them into the army is a pain in the ass.
I am quite prepared to consider their studying as national service.
Something must be done to get them into the workforce.
They don’t have the same problem in the US where Haredi Jews already work or own businesses. The Haredi in Israel must be cajoled into doing the same.
Liberman should not be smeared for attempting this task but supported.
A right wing government will continue with what he starts. The religious parties have no where else to go. If they choose to remain in opposition when the next government forms They will be even worse off. So they may want more than Liberman delivers but will have to settle for less in a right wing government..
If they try to play hardball, then the right should replace them with Lapid, not Ganz. I want the right to provide the Min of Defence. Area C must be defended.
I think the problem is not their population growth but the fact that they seem to consider themselves an elite class entitled to very special treatment at everybody else’s expense (the rest of the population is supposed to admire and subsidize their lifestyle).
The Hareidi parties are in the Knesset to make sure their “sector” gets “its share” of the pie.
I think that “sectoral” parties should not exist.
Politicians should serve the country and not their specific sector.
If you don’t serve in the military or perform national service (if you are disabled, a family member will do it for you), you don’t get welfare.
There are hareidim who don’t think the state is legitimate since Moshiach hasn’t come yet but they are consistent and don’t take anything from the government as a matter of principle.
As holy as Hareidi lifestyle may be, it is simply unsustainable for the rest of the Jews who have to live regular lives – working, supporting their families, etc., at least not until all the work is automated and done by robots.
I suspect that God would prefer that all the Jews in the world keep kosher, observe Shabbat and study some Torah every day rather than have only 10-20% of the population observing “everything” and 80-90% having almost nothing to do with Judaism.
There is a tradition that Moshiach would come right away if every Jew observes Shabbat twice in a row, not just a few very religious ones.
Considering the Israeli projections of population growth, by 2050 the haredim will constitute the majority of the Israeli Jewish population.
They are a bigger threat for Israel’s security and survival than Hamas and Hezbollah.
Furthermore, on my reading of the Basic Law governing general elections and membership in the Knesset, the haredim are not eligible to be an MK.
You know why?
Because there are not that many men who have the talent/abilities to learn full time.
You cannot have whole populations of men learning Torah full time just because they were born into a certain very religious lifestyle plus the community alone cannot supply these men with jobs to sustain their families, thus for many it is welfare or mothers of large families being forced to work full time.
There was an article published a couple of decades ago in a very Orthodox newspaper that suggested teaching many boys in the community various trades because they could not be expected to be full-time Torah scholars.
In the old Eastern European yeshivas the number of students was just several hundred in each yeshiva, and that was when Europe had a very large Jewish population and that population was very young due to the very high birth rate.
I think it is grossly unfair to ask women to both “bring home the gefilte fish”, so to speak, and take care of the home and large numbers of children at the same time.
BTW, there were many cases in the “old country” where families would send their sons to a yeshiva and their daughters to a university which contributed to the women leaving the Orthodox way of life.
As far as the “perks”, I think they should be conditional on the army or national service.
@Bear. I agree that you cannot force haredim or anyone else to do military service, unless you are willing to impose long prison terms for draft-dodgers. But I don’t think anyone in Israel wants this.
However, haredim as well as others who refuse military service can be denied any further stipends for Torah study, or even for any other schooling. I think that would be sufficient to increase haredi enlistments in the iDF.
By all means, encouraging haredi men to enroll for secular schooling and/or obtaing gainful emplyment is an excellent idea. is a good idea. But discouraging women from working or studying secular subjects by making day-care unaffordible for them will certainly not promote the integration of the haredim into Israeli society.
Forcing haredi women to quit their jobs, where they are learning all sorts of useful skills and sometimes even qualifying as professionals, and/or attending schools and haredi-oriented colleges where they are learning skills, in order to stay at home with their large number of children, will end their progress towards emancipation and full integration into Israeli life. It will impoverish the haredi community, which will not be helpful towrds integrating them into Israeli society. On the other hand it will reinforce the patriarchal character of haredi society by making men the sole source of family income. And patriarchy is associated with social backwardness and isolation from social and economic progress.
The idea that if they are exempted from military service, and allowed to spend less time studying Torah, while still receiving their financial allowance, haredi men will get jobs or enroll in secular studies courses is unlikely. As long as they are able to obtain enough money from public funds, they have little incentive to do this. In addition to thie stipends for torah studies, the men will continue to receive Israel’s generous child allowances for each child in a family. As far as I know, Leiberman has not made eliminating these a part of his haredi “package.” Why work if you can obtain enough to live on from welfare?
Most likely, these idle young men will “hang out” on the streets, using and/or selling drugs, getting in fights and joining gangs. Young men of this kind are already a serious social problem in haredi neighborhoods. Giving young men more time off from their Torah studies, without in any way reducing their welfare payments or requiring them to work and engage in secular studies, will only produce more young men in their twenties who are up to no good. This is what happens in other countries where young men can obtain generous welfare benefits without being required to work.
The only possible explanation for why Leiberman is doing this is that he has been given a huge bribe by some wealthy haredim who want to keep young haredi men from serving in the army and reinforce patriarchal authority by forcing women to quit their jobs, close their businesses, and drop out of schools with secular studies. This is all the more likely, since this program is directly in conflict with all of Leiberman’s previous positions about haredim. After all, it is Leiberman who has been demanding that haredi men be drafted for years. He even used this as a rationale for breaking up several coalitions.
Another possibility is that Leiberman is responding to pressure from his new-found Arab allies. The Arab party in the coalition has been courting the haredim for some time. They would like the haredim to join the coalition and have Smotrich and his religious-Zionist group dropped from it. They consider the haredim to be non-Zionists, and hence less hostile to Arab interests than the religious Zionists. And they do not want the IDF to recruit more soldiers.
@Adam you can not force them to go into the military. So opening education or work opportunities is a step in the right direction. Encourage them to go into the military or national service.
This proposal by Leiberman will not encourage the integration of the haredim into Israeli society, but instead will encourage them to continue isolate themselves and ive off of state subsidies.
By granting haredi men near total exemption from military service, it will deprive them of one of the main avenues to integrate themselves into Israeli society and learn employable skills. By denying haredi families subsidies for childcare, it will force haredi women to quit their jobs and close their businesses in order to be full-time Moms at home.
More later. Have to run now.