Dennis Prager

December 1, 2010

Ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas and secular universities

By Dennis Prager

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The Wall Street Journal recently published a column about ultra-Orthodox (Charedi) Jews in Israel who do not work for a living. Sixty-five percent of ultra-Orthodox men ages 35-54 do not go to work. Instead, they study Torah while demanding increasing amounts of money from the taxes paid by Israelis who work for a living.

The author of the column, Evan R. Goldstein, wrote: “Voluntary unemployment has become the dominant lifestyle choice for [Charedi] men. And even if there was a desire to work, [Charedi] schools leave students unprepared to function in a modern economy.”

If these data are correct, this is not only a problem for Israel, it is a problem for Judaism.

It is a problem for Israel for the same reason that able-bodied citizens receiving welfare has been a problem for America. It is economically unfeasible to support large numbers of nonworking citizens, and it is morally wrong for citizens who work and pay taxes to have their money forcibly taken from them (i.e., taxes) to pay to people who could work but who choose not to.

The reason for this problem in Israel is that in 1948 Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion excused 400 yeshiva students from serving in the army, arguing that after the Holocaust it was critical for the Jewish state to support some of its citizens to concentrate on Torah study.

Few Jews, inside or outside of Israel, would oppose continuing this policy for a handful of scholars. But for hundreds of thousands of able-bodied Jews to demand to be supported — and protected — by other Jews (and, for that matter, the non-Jewish citizens of Israel as well) is entirely different.

It is also a problem for Judaism. It presents religious Jews, Torah and Judaism in a terrible light. Of course, most Orthodox Jews in Israel work as hard for a living as other Israeli citizens. But the largest group of Israelis that chooses not to work while demanding public funds to sustain them is the ultra-Orthodox, who also constitute an increasingly large percentage of the Israeli population.

As Goldstein notes in his article, the Shulchan Aruch, the Orthodox compendium of Jewish law, declares that “a respected and impoverished scholar should have a trade, even a lowly trade, rather than being in need of his fellow man.”

Goldstein quotes Israeli Orthodox scholars who claim that there is no precedent in pre-1948 Jewish history for an entire community devoting itself to Torah scholarship, let alone getting paid to do so:

“ ‘Torah study has always been for spiritual, not material, sustenance,’ Zvi Zohar, a professor of law at [the Orthodox] Bar-Ilan University, tells me. Moreover, the notion that a man’s primary obligation is studying, and not providing for his family, is ‘diametrically opposed’ to Jewish tradition, Mr. Zohar says.”

Goldstein cites an additional problem for Judaism in state-supported Torah study for vast numbers of men: He quotes professor Shlomo Naeh of the Jewish Studies Department of the Hebrew University, who says that it has harmed the quality of Jewish thought. Writes Goldstein: “Ultra-Orthodox self-segregation has cut ‘learning off from life,’ he wrote in a recent essay. As a result, the current generation of Torah scholars ‘is far from being one of the greatest ... despite the existence of tens of thousands of learners.’ ”

This “self-segregation” — these ultra-Orthodox men rarely interact with non-Orthodox Jews, let alone with non-Jews — has another negative consequence: These men gain and therefore impart little wisdom. One might say that insularity and wisdom are mutually exclusive.

The irony here is that a similar problem exists at Western universities. There, too, many individuals who teach in the liberal arts or “social sciences” live off public funds (they get paid to teach a few hours a week, but otherwise the parallel is apt), and spend nearly their whole life in a cocoon (a secular left one), interacting almost only with people who live and think as they do, just as the Charedim do.

Most secular left professors and most ultra-Orthodox yeshiva scholars are mirror images of one another: A life devoted to the study of increasingly irrelevant matters, with the result that both groups usually lack wisdom and therefore too often produce nonsense, sometimes harmful nonsense.

Both groups venerate brainpower and knowledge over wisdom and common sense. The fact that Jews are drawn to each of these lifestyles — that of the yeshiva scholar and secular professor — reflects a real problem in Jewish life, whether ultra-Orthodox or ultra-secular, namely, worship of the intellect.

I saw this at an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva I attended and at the Ivy League university I attended. Men with fine brains and immense knowledge about narrow areas of life taught me little about real life.

The intellect cut off from the real world, whether in a Charedi yeshiva in Israel or at almost any modern Western university, is not good for society. The issue is not Charedim or professors per se. The issue is Charedim and professors who leave the world to live in yeshivas or academia their whole lives. Thus, ultra-Orthodox like Chabad and others who do not want their followers to spend their lives only studying, and professors in junior colleges, who often come from outside of academia or who combine outside work with teaching, are not the problem.

The lesson is that far more important in life than intellect are common sense, goodness and the wisdom produced by a life that comes into regular contact with the Other. The Other in the Charedi yeshiva world is the non-Orthodox Jew and the non-Jew; the Other at the university is a conservative Christian or a conservative, period.

There is, however, one important difference between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and universities. Yeshivas are honest about their primary goal: to produce an Orthodox Jew. Universities never acknowledge their primary goal: to produce a secular leftist.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host, columnist, author and public speaker. He can be heard in Los Angeles on KRLA (AM 870) weekdays 9 a.m. to noon. His Web site is dennisprager.com.

A version of this article appeared in print.

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Outstanding article with a rather intersting angle.

Comment by Avi on 12/01/10 at 4:07 pm

Dennis Praeger has it right.I agree with him and with Albert Einstein. I hold a Harvard PhD, have taught at three major universities as a professor and have substantial military credentials. Unfortunately, there are very few who should be supported for a lifetime of study and research. These few should’ve earned that position through their contributions to science, education, and society. Israel must solve this problem if it is to survive. The US must recognize this problem if it is to prosper.

Comment by LT COL HOWARD on 12/02/10 at 4:38 pm

Cheap shot against Shaas and the ultra-orthodox.  You could never get away with this kind of article if directed against Catholic or Buddist nuns, monks and priests or unrpoductive ministers and pastors.  However;
1/5 or 20%+ of the entire US population is in an educational institution at any one time including adult education. 
1% are in the armed forces, for which the ultra-orthodox are exempt.
12 - 16% of America is UNEMPLOYED probably watching TV not studying Torah.  Many more are underemployed.
Almost 1% are in prison!!

Comment by Dean Blake on 12/07/10 at 3:03 pm

All totaled, that’s about 37%+ of the general USA population is doing something OTHER THAN WORK!
Allegedly 65% of the entire male ultra-orthodox population are studying Torah, not just working age adults as listed.
The error in statistics is that the Torah study purpose today is to develope observant parents to who will replace those murdered in the Holocaust.  It takes an Orthodox Jew and Jewess to raise an observant child.

Comment by Dean Blake on 12/07/10 at 3:04 pm

The process of winnowing out the scholars has just begun who will replace those murdered by the Germans.  The ultra-orthodox community is in redevelopment and transition stage.  The secular Jews in Israel they watch TV and immigraate out of the country to Los Angeles. 
Torah study is good investment in Israeli’s Jewish future like the IDF and other cultural institutions in the secular areas hence your criticism is overly critical and unwarranted. 
The sense of unfairness is what? Prejudice agasint work or Torah?  How is being a museum currator, librarian, music teacher, artist, tour guide, civil servant or police officer any different?  Commerce? No!

Comment by Dean Blake on 12/07/10 at 3:06 pm

Dean Blake Raises a point worthy of a lot of additional discussion. There is a concept called the production opportunity curve. We as a society reduce our productivity and total well-being by discriminating it against and not fully utilizing the potential contributions of: women; blacks; those over a certain age who were forced to retire; etc. The unemployed and underemployed man-hours once gone cannot be retrieved or utilized. This is similar to an airline flying an empty seat. in short form, what Dean Blake raises is a crucial societal issue.

Comment by LT COL HOWARD on 12/07/10 at 3:16 pm

Maybe politically incorrect, I inadvertently omitted housewifery.  Granted this is a dying occupation in the USA, but raising children and keeping house takes many women out of the USA work force.  A Jewish mother makes a Jewish home and a Jewish future for her children, yet no mention is made of the fact taht many Orthodox Jewish women ARE IN FACT THE PRIMARY BREADWINNER and this is also a tradition.  Have the statistics taken this into account.
The repeated attacks against the ultra-orthodox by Evan Goldberg in the WSJ and by the President of the Shamrock coropration (Jewish), and now this author is part of a concerted effort to undermine the Orthodox both here in the USA and in Israel.

Comment by Dean Blake on 12/08/10 at 10:08 am

E.g. when Rosenthal died in Iowa, the protector of the Jewish community in Iowa and the Postville kosher meat plant operation came under fire with the aid of Catholics who wrongly blamed Jews for the attacks on the Church re priestly pedastery.
The fact is Judiasm DOES HAVE A TRADITION of dedicating its adult males to Torah study.
Having said that, I personally am concerned that observant Jews need to be IN the World not just of the world to influence others.

Comment by Dean Blake on 12/08/10 at 10:16 am

A Torah education is valuable when applied to no-religous activity.  Its as good as if not better than a BA in philosophy, liberal arts or general studies.  Torah study is law, logic, rhetoric, sociology, philosophy, humanities, multi-linqualism, intensive learning technique acquisition, math, 3-D conceptualization, self-discipline, literature, semantics, etc.  Better than most BA degrees.

Comment by Dean Blake on 12/08/10 at 10:17 am

Mr. Blake, screaming louder will not make you hear you better. The fact remains that the Haredi community in Israel is growing in intolerance, ignorance, leeching, and freeloading. This is the simple truth and it has noting to do with the Torah. It has everything to do with rabbis who are bent on keeping this community secluded, dependent,and impoverished.

Comment by Avi on 12/08/10 at 1:12 pm

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