Stop creeping extremism in Israeli religious schools

Published 02:21 09.10.11
Latest update 02:21 09.10.11

Moderate religious public suffers years of ultra-Orthodox nationalist coercion, called 'weak,' accused of a lack of modesty.

Haaretz Editorial

The teachers from the state religious school system who protested recently against the increasing extremism of the ultra-Orthodox nationalists in the system (as reported in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz on Friday ), is an expression of concern over a process that has been underway for more than a decade - the move of the state religious school system away from the mainstream and its being swept into ultra-Orthodox nationalism with roots in the settlements and the spiritual surroundings of rabbis from the settlements.

The moderate religious public has been suffering for years from ultra-Orthodox nationalist coercion. The latter defines the moderates as "weak," accuses them of a lack of modesty, enforces separation between girls and boys in school and in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, but mainly conducts an aggressive campaign against feminist ideas and undermines every achievement in the area of the status of women.

Part of this coercion was revealed a few years ago when the Israel Defense Forces gave in and allowed students of the hesder yeshivas where military service and yeshiva studies are combined, to wear their ritual fringes outside their uniform, and more recently, allowed Orthodox cadets to leave an event where women were singing. These are only some of the manifestations of the deep and dangerous change going on in the national religious community.

The ultra-Orthodox nationalists know no compromise. It binds fanatic ultra-Orthodoxy to no less fanatic nationalist, denigrates any other lifestyle and negates any authority other than that of the rabbi, in a manner that the most extreme ultra-Orthodox communities would be ashamed of. And due to the fairly small size of the communities and neighborhoods in which national religious people are concentrated, the ultra-Orthodox nationalist pressure on them is particularly heavy.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/stop-creeping-extremism-in-israeli-religious-schools-1.388869

Are the ultra-Orthodox nationalists a subset of the ultra-Orthodox? Any idea of the sizes of these groups in Israel?

There are the ultra-Orthodox who are fierce anti-zionists and the ultra-Orthodox who are zionists and who wish to see Israel become an ultra-Orthodox Jewish state as opposed to remaining as a Jewish state. The latter group of ultras are commonly referred to as Chardalim.

The Chardalim are a minority in Israel (secular Jews represent the vast majority of the population) but the state uses a proportional representation system unlike in the US where we use a single-member-district plurality system so the Chardalim are represented in the Knesset. Therefore, minority groups can be powerful allies to political groups who wish to form a majority coalition and the Chardalim can get its way by forming a coalition with the right-wing.

Also the pupils at the most religious schools are often undereducated in secular subjects. They end up knowing the Torah from beginning to end, but can't do maths.