The news announced that Belz is in the final stages of moving its chain of schools to the Bnei Yosef umbrella organization. The Belz schools, starting with a pilot of 2, will learn full core curriculum studies and in exchange will qualify for full government funding.

This is an unparalleled chutzpa. There is still no study anywhere in the world that shows that someone who studies core curriculum subjects ends up being a better earner..

Back in January it became known to the public that Belz was negotiating with the Ministry of Education to establish its internal school systems as Haredi public schools, in which their students would study core curriculum subjects, and they worked out a deal regarding supervision and inspections along with full financial support. Belz was upset that Degel Hatorah was not allowing them to join the Chinuch Atzmai system, and they needed a solution to their deep financial crisis, and could no longer go it independently. Belz came under heavy criticism from other Haredi factions, but Degel persisted int heir refusal to allow new members into Chinuch Atzmai.

The news is reporting that the Belz people (educational committee, representatives of the Admor and whoever else is important there) have been negotiating with the government to convert the Belz educational system and all, or most of, its schools, into joining the public school system. They would become what has become known as "MaMaCh" - Mamlachti Haredi schools. That is the public school system for the Haredi community.

The State Comptroller released is annual report today. In it Ombudsman Engelman had some comments on the Haredi educational system.

The report says that only 3% of students in the Haredi educational system do the Bagrut matriculation exams. Even taking into account the Haredi schools that teach core curriculum studies, the level of the teachers hired for teaching subjects like Mathematics and English is very low. 95% of Mathematics teachers in the Haredi system are people who themselves never learned math in any significant way. 40% of the text books used in the Haredi system have not been updated in years and are not fit for use. The vast majority of English teachers in the Haredi system have no professional training. Only 10% of the teachers in the Haredi school systems have academic training to teach. There is absolutely no oversight in the system.

The Ombudsman's conclusion is that basic educational norms are not being implemented in the Haredi educational system.
source: ynet and others

Hello, Captain Obvious!

In Hebrew there is a phrase, that can be used seriously or rhetorically, "You just discovered America!"

In a recent parlor meeting with the "Working Haredim", MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) told them that he would never agree to the opening of Haredi schools under the State public school system (rather than in the Chinuch Atzmai private system), and he would do whatever possible to thwart attempts to open such schools, even if it means toppling the government.

These schools, known as "MaMaCh" (abbreviation for Mamlachti Charedi), have become a goal of the more "modern", working, haredim. Many of those in this category want their children to get a fuller education, well beyond what the classic haredi boys schools offer. Until now, attempts to open such schools have been met with strong opposition, and more often than not have gotten stopped early int he process. Only a small number were successfully opened despite the opposition to them.

It is a funny thing to say when trying to get people's votes - the one thing that is most important to you is something we will never agree to and will do everything to prevent. But at least Gafni is honest and does not [always] just make campaign promises he has no intention of keeping - you have to respect him for that.

Strangely enough, today Gafni announced a new initiative in an attempt to make the MaMaCh somewhat superfluous - or at least to be able to claim we can offer you an alternative.

According to Kikar, Gafni revealed that Chinuch Atzmai is going to, with the permission of the gedolim, open new schools for Haredi boys that will offer secular studies, in places that it is in demand. Gafni said the gedolim have already given them the green light to open such schools.

This is very interesting news. It is astounding news. Until now Gafni and his peers have always fought against secular studies claiming it as being against the mesora, the tradition, of generations of God fearing Jews who follow the gedolim, בדרך ישראל סבא , and only educated the young in torah. Suddenly it is ok to open schools, and send your children to them, that teach a full secular curriculum - but only if the same people can control it.

Whether he will actually do it or not is another question. The fact that he is saying he is willing to and the gedolim have approved it in theory is both shocking and astounding.

Behadrei reported yesterday about Rav Meir Kessler, Chief Rabbi of Modiin Ilit, stating his opinion, published in a letter to city residents, that opposes courses in secular studies for children int he Haredi school system.

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

very interesting..

I am not quite sure what to think of this, and I have no understanding of what the demand for 7 hours of secular studies is - 7 hours a day? a week? a month? 7 per day would be ridiculous - my kids dont even go to school for 7 hours a day! 7 a week, and definitely a month, doesn't sound like a problem.

Rabbi Reisman on the threat to our community from Agudath Israel on Vimeo.

Campus Strauss, a Haredi college campus in Jerusalem working with Hadassah Academic College, celebrated its first male graduating class, with 45 Haredi men achieving college degrees in the fields of biotechnology, politics, communications, and management.

Campus Strauss has been around for a while and already has many graduating classes of frum women in various fields of study, but in the men's program this is the first.

The graduation ceremony was met with a group of protesters. The Haredi extremist protesters were screaming epithets such as "Nazi", "Sheigetz" and "Maskil", among other things, at the graduates and their families.
source: Kikar

Considering that they were not protesting any possible bittul torah involved, as perhaps they feel the graduates should be learning Torah instead, which would be ironic on its own that they stop learning in order to protest other people not learning, it makes me wonder what is going on. They were screaming "maskil" and things like that. They are upset about the academic education entering the Haredi community.

That being the case, why do they not protest the women graduating from Campus Strauss?

Anyways, the extremists will continue doing their thing, as they've done for a long time. To their misfortune, the train has left the station. The horses have left the barn. They are a day late and a dollar short.

The people have spoken. More and more want to be able to support their families respectably and not just live off welfare and sit in yeshivas they are not fit for (not including people who do have the ability and desire to sit and learn all day). These people can protest all they want, but it is too late.

the first portion is about the $1000 pastrami sandwich offered up by a NY restaurant recently. After that he discusses the need, or no need, for a basic high school education.

debate between educator Menachem Bombach and lawyer Moshe Lippel

for the first time in 30 years, a non-religious student of the public school system, Sagiv Lugasi, has won the International Bible Quiz yesterday on Yom Haatzmaut.


Mazel tov!

Lugasi must be a prodigy, especially considering how poorly Tanakh is supposedly taught (or so we are told) in the Israeli public school system. Or maybe it is just impressive to see a secular 13 year old student so interested in Tanakh, and to have teachers that encourage him, to be able to accomplish this.

Ignoring everything else Rav Shteinman and others at the anti-academic-education-for-women rally said, as this topic has been discussed ad nauseum already... isn't the phrase Rav Shteinman coined - a pig in a shtreimel - just totally awesome?

I don't know how he came up with that, but I think that "pig in a shtreimel" must be the best expression I have heard from any rabbi in a very long time...

and funnily enough, a brief search on Google actually had a few images for this expression (which means it isn't really new, though I never heard it before)

I didn't remember anything about most of these either...

a new yeshiva is opening, with a new model - at least it is new for Israel.

The yeshiva is going to operate on a model that is fairly common in the USA - it will integrate both learning Torah as a yeshiva gedola, along with academics and vocational training. The academic program works through the Open University.  do not know what they do about army service - I see no mention of it on the website FAQ. Also, they are designed specifically for kids from the Haredi school system that do not have bagrut exams.

The concept is so foreign in Israel that the haredi website Bechadrei describes it as the "yeshiva university" of Israel, and, of course, the Yated decries its opening. While it is unheard of here, in the USA it is not relegated to the Modern Orthodox (the implication by comparing it to YU rather than Ner Yisroel and any of many other similar programs) or the less religious, but even many prestigious "haredi" yeshivas have such programs.

The new yeshiva is called "Darkei Chaim", aka Campus Ein Chemed, and it is founded by Rav Yisrael Cohen-Rozovski. Cohen-Rozovski has taught in the haredi educational system for many years and more recently has been involved in opening vocational training centers. The other rabbonim involved in the project are graduates of Haredi yeshivas such as Chevron Yeshiva, Tifrach, Mir, among other institutions they were involved in.

According to Bechadrei, Cohen-Rozovski came up with the solution after coming into contact with many young haredi men who had left the classic yeshivas in deference to acquiring vocational training. Coehn-Rozovski says that these boys look and act Haredi, they dress Haredi, but they do not open seforim and learn. He says it is better that they should learn a trade, as they already want to and are doing, in an institution that is torani and Haredi, with the right atmosphere, and with Torah learning. He also says this is advancing the cure to the illness. Instead of waiting to deal with young men who are tomorrow going to be considered dropouts and will already be far from Torah and already at odds with their communities, better to solve the problem early..

At a recent educational conference, he announced his program:


So, is the calling of such a program "Yeshiva University" meant to be a "swipe" at the program, as if saying it is not really for a haredi boy? Or maybe it is just ignorance of the fact that abroad such programs work even in the Ultra-Orthodox world.

The Yated Neeman attacks the program in an editorial in today's newspaper. They consider such a program to be shaatnez. Despite the fact that they also oppose academic studies on their own, independent from yeshiva, when connected to a yeshiva they consider it shaatnez and oppose it as being possibly even worse, and it shouldn't be called by the title "yeshiva", as doing so is an attempt to entrap yeshiva boys..and it is meant to "cool the bathwaters" and open things up for compromise and breach the walls of isolation of the god-fearing community.