http://www.theage.com.au/world/israels-ultraorthodox-a-growing-burden-on-the-state-20100813-1236a.html
Israel's ultra-Orthodox a growing burden on the state Jason Koutsoukis, Jerusalem. August 14, 2010 THE ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is in his last year of high school. He knows a great deal about the Torah, but when it comes to mathematics, science, geography and economics, he knows about as much as a child finishing primary school. As for languages, he knows only Yiddish and colloquial Hebrew. All of which makes his job prospects in Israel's flourishing high-tech economy less than dazzling. Lucky for him, he won't have to worry. The state will support him for life. The bleak reality facing policymakers is that without urgent structural reform, by 2040 this will be the profile of a majority of Israeli high school graduates. "This is a very scary situation," says Dan Ben-David, executive director of the Taub Centre for Social Policy Research and professor of economics at Tel Aviv University. "It is an existential threat facing the state of Israel. Our backs are to the wall, and unless we change then it becomes questionable as to whether Israel can survive in this region," he told The Age this week. The author of a recent study on the demographic challenges facing Israel, Ben-David's research has sent a shudder through the political establishment. As things stand, around 10 per cent of Israel's 7.6 million people are classified as ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, meaning they adhere to a strictly traditional form of Jewish law and reject modern secular life. Men dress in 18th-century-style robes meant for freezing east European winters. Women wear ankle-length dresses and cover their hair. When Israel was established in 1948, prime minister David Ben-Gurion made a pact with the tiny Haredi population. In return for supporting a secular state, he agreed that Haredi men who wanted to devote their lives to religious study would be exempt from military service. At the time, this applied to only 400 adults. Today, around 105,000 Haredi men are enrolled in religious colleges until the age of 42 and are exempt from military service. Haredi schools are only required to teach core subjects such as maths, science and economics up to primary school level. "When they finally finish their studies at the yeshiva [religious school], most men are simply not equipped with the tools to work in a modern First World economy," says Ben-David. "This is unparalleled in Western society." About 65 per cent of Haredi men do not enter the workforce, putting a massive burden on the economy. "What we actually need is for them to become the next generation of doctors, physicists, computer scientists, engineers - the sort of people that can help Israel to keep growing as a First World economy," he says. His message is getting through to the top. Speaking at an economic forum several weeks ago, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz was unequivocal about the challenges. "Without a change now, within 10 years the situation will be a catastrophe," Steinitz warned. Equally pessimistic is the governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer. "This is not sustainable," he said last month. "We can't have an ever-increasing proportion of the population continuing to not go to work." Not only does Israel's GDP suffer from a loss of production, but generous welfare payments to Haredis put an added drain on the economy. With birth rates among Haredi women three times the Israeli average, Fischer argues that the problems will increase exponentially. "If this goes on, Israel will become a Third World country," says Shahar Ilan, vice-president of research at Hiddush, a non-government organisation dedicated to achieving separation between religion and state. The author of the bestselling book Haredim Ltd: Budgets, Draft Dodging and Trampling the Law, and a senior columnist with the liberal daily newspaper Haaretz, Ilan says Israel's education system must change. "We are the only state in the world that finances an education system that does not make it compulsory for everyone to learn a core curriculum of subjects and does not provide every student with the basic tools to live in a modern world," he said. A key impediment to reform, says Ilan, is that since the 1970s Haredi politicians have held the balance of power in Israel's parliament. "Almost every government since then has been dependent on the support of Haredi parties, making it extremely difficult to change the status quo," says Ilan. "They have little interest in the issues that affect other Israelis, such as security and the peace process. All they are interested in is preserving their system of education and way of life.'' Change, he says, can only come from a wholly secular government that does not depend on the votes of religious parties to keep the coalition together. ''The future of the country depends on it."
