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Feb 2, 2012
"Former Haredim" Sue State For Lack Of Education
The most interesting news item of the day, I think, is a lawsuit filed against the State of Israel. A group of individuals who are mostly former haredim are suing the State for not having enforced, when they were in school, the law that required schools to teach core curriculum.
the law was eventually changed in 2008, and schools in the haredi system were given the status of being exempt from teaching the core curriculum. Prior to that, the law requiring that basic education was simply ignored and the State preferred to not enforce it.
These plaintiffs, all of whom went to school when by law they should have been taught the basic subjects and are now adults trying to make a living, claim that because they were not taught what they should have been taught they have been caused tremendous damage. They had to go to special programs to learn the basics, costing them tends of thousands of shekels. Even after that, they say, while they were able to learn the basics they have still been harmed by not having learned those subjects as children as they are more limited as adults in their abilities. This has caused them difficulties in earning a living.
The court is not allowing this to be filed as a class-action suit, but each individual joining the suit must detail his personal financial losses caused by the ignoring of the law. (source: The Pulse)
Bechadrei adds that even among the members of the MAAVAR group, an organization that assists formerly religious people, there is a debate whether such a lawsuit is productive. One supporter, someone who claims to be Haredi, says the real problem is not necessarily the money, but to raise awareness to the real problem. The real problem, as he sees it, is that the askanim have created a situation in which parents in the haredi community cannot send their kids to obtain such an education even if they wanted to. The askanim tell, pressure, the State to leave the haredi system alone and not intervene, but the people who pay the price for that are the kids who grow up and eventually try to find a job.
I wonder what the next step is. Could they sue the schools for not following the law and thereby causing damage to the students? Would it be possible for them to sue their parents for having chosen schools that do not teach core curriculum rather than schools that do? This would apply even to kids after 2008. Can a person sue his or her parents for "damages" based on any parenting decision that the kid eventually blames his failures on?
the law was eventually changed in 2008, and schools in the haredi system were given the status of being exempt from teaching the core curriculum. Prior to that, the law requiring that basic education was simply ignored and the State preferred to not enforce it.
These plaintiffs, all of whom went to school when by law they should have been taught the basic subjects and are now adults trying to make a living, claim that because they were not taught what they should have been taught they have been caused tremendous damage. They had to go to special programs to learn the basics, costing them tends of thousands of shekels. Even after that, they say, while they were able to learn the basics they have still been harmed by not having learned those subjects as children as they are more limited as adults in their abilities. This has caused them difficulties in earning a living.
The court is not allowing this to be filed as a class-action suit, but each individual joining the suit must detail his personal financial losses caused by the ignoring of the law. (source: The Pulse)
Bechadrei adds that even among the members of the MAAVAR group, an organization that assists formerly religious people, there is a debate whether such a lawsuit is productive. One supporter, someone who claims to be Haredi, says the real problem is not necessarily the money, but to raise awareness to the real problem. The real problem, as he sees it, is that the askanim have created a situation in which parents in the haredi community cannot send their kids to obtain such an education even if they wanted to. The askanim tell, pressure, the State to leave the haredi system alone and not intervene, but the people who pay the price for that are the kids who grow up and eventually try to find a job.
I wonder what the next step is. Could they sue the schools for not following the law and thereby causing damage to the students? Would it be possible for them to sue their parents for having chosen schools that do not teach core curriculum rather than schools that do? This would apply even to kids after 2008. Can a person sue his or her parents for "damages" based on any parenting decision that the kid eventually blames his failures on?
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If the law was still in affect, this would have been great. Since its no longer in effect, I don't see what good can come out of the lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteWill the people who were affected get an education? Will they be given a pension for life? What?
Really curious about the outcome of this one...
ReplyDeleteanon - right now they are suing for damages. i guess that people who sue also want to get a point across.
ReplyDeletein addition, according to one of the articles, they are working in the legal system to get the law reversed.
they should also sue the schools.
ReplyDeleteBoth the state and the schools have/had a legal obligation to these kids to give them a basic education.
The Israeli school system is deficient and does not prepare its citizens for the future. The army and those able to attend college are prepared. I read that the Army is the best system of education given to youngsters.
ReplyDeleteWho says that pre-army education is what the bringers of the lawsuit needed? I think their aim is to get the law reinstated and then put into force. However, before that, it needs to be revamped and excelerated.
The Chareidi system prepared its children for a life in chareidi society. Same thing for the secular system. If someone who leaves the chareidi system can sue for it not preparing them for the secular society it follows that a Baal Tshuva should be able to sue because the secular system did not prepare him for a life of Talmud study.
ReplyDeleteThis is clearly nonsense.
charedi,
ReplyDeleteexcept that the charedi lifestyle is well outside the accepted norms for western democracies and more to the point, there was a law requiring that schools teach a core curriculum. The state chose not to enforce that law. Why should the child suffer because the state and the schools did not uphold the law?
The sheer hutzpah of these people astounds and disgusts me. It's not enough that the Israeli taxpayer is robbed once to pay for the Haredim, but now, he has to be robbed a second time to compensate them! An innocent Israeli, just trying to live his life honestly, has to sacrifice his hard-earned wages once to pay Haredim to do nothing all day, and then a second time to compensate them for their losses incurred by doing nothing all day.
ReplyDeleteGary North puts the matter well in his book, Puritan Economic Experiments, p. 37: "Today, we also hear suggestions to impose a system of restitution for crime victims, but with this grim variation: the victims are to be reimbursed by the taxpayers, not the criminals."
So now the taxpayers get to pay because a bunch of crap-assed politicians decided to bankroll the Haredim and enable their unsustainable lifestyle. I hope that God creates hell just so these ex-haredim can burn in it. Naturally, the politicians will provide them company.
Neshama - The Israeli school system is deficient and does not prepare its citizens for the future.
ReplyDeleteReally? So how did Israel have one of the fastest rates of average income growth in the entire world?
And why is it that I studied algebra when I attended 6'th grade in a typical MMD school in Israel, and then took the same algebra in 9'th grade in the USA?