Since the "cheiders" in Modiin Ilit do not teach secular studies, he is referring to private classes taken after school hours, chugim, that are meant to give the children some basic tools for the future and possible future work skills. Rav Kessler wrote very harshly against it and encourages parents to only raise interest and encouragement for more Torah studies in their children, and not secular studies, so that in the future they will grow to be God-fearing Torah scholars.
This letter from Rav Kessler caused a bit of a stir. Many are criticizing him for opposing secular studies and concerned parents giving the kids a chance in the future, and even MK Yair Lapid (Kachol Lavan) commented on what Rav Kessler said.
In my opinion, Rav Kessler has done nothing wrong beyond stating his opinion. He is a rabbi in the extreme mainstream Litvishe community, and he is a rabbi of an extreme Litvish city. What do people expect him to say or his opinion to be? The mainstream Litvishe (and maybe others as well) believes children should only be learning Torah with no secular studies, so Rav Kessler has not said or supported anything he, along with hundreds of other rabbis, does not already support. I am not sure what people expected his opinion to be that this shocked and upset them
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Perhaps the problem is not that he has an opinion, but that his publishing it in this fashion was designed to intimidate parents who want this for their children and don't have the means to hire private tutors. Instead, they tried to do it in groups and thereby share the cost.
ReplyDeleteSo, it's not just an opinion, but will effectively deny those parents the option of giving their children these basic skills.
BTW, I think Rav Kessler is correct, in the sense that the children who attend these chugim will be more likely to see themselves as potential ba'alei battim than (like their fathers) lifetime kollelnikim. The fathers know this as well -- and that is exactly what they want for their children, as they don't want them to be just as trapped as they themselves are.
Given that the fathers live in the kollel world of Kiryat Sefer and depend upon it for their livelihood and status, this letter will surely intimidate them to not send their boys to these chugim.
So, it's not just an opinion, but, within a tightly-controlled place like Modi'in Illit, a threat with very real consequences.
we should not do anything to interrupt the system of hundreds of collectors coming to the States to make a living
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