The Core Program of the Ministry of Education is nothing more
than a raw exercise of the power of the majority to coerce
the chareidim to agree to their cultural destruction.
There are no concrete demands and no substantive complaints.
It is nothing more than an assertion that if the Ministry of
Education gives money, it can determine what is taught.
No substantive complaints have been lodged against chareidi
education because there are none. While there is certainly
room for improvement, the system is still remarkably
effective. The graduates absorb the teachings and the values
that the educators and rabbonim wish to impart, and they come
out prepared to take their places in society as responsible
parents and citizens.
Even on standardized tests that measure educational
development as the Ministry of Education defines it, chareidi
educational systems consistently perform as well as or better
than all the other Israeli systems. On the qualitative
measures — such as self-image of the students, student
satisfaction, relationship with teachers — the chareidi
systems show much better scores than the other Israeli
systems. This hardly needs verification from the testing. It
is evident to anyone who visits the various institutions.
The autonomy of chareidi education is anchored in custom and
contract. The right of the chareidi community — through
its rabbonim — to determine what is taught in chareidi
schools has been accepted in fact since before the founding
of the State. It was an explicit part of the original
agreement between Agudas Yisroel and the Jewish Agency and
constitutes the fourth paragraph of a famous letter sent by
Ben Gurion, then head of the Jewish Agency, on 1 Tammuz, 5707
(June 19, 1947) — almost a year before the State was
founded. Under the heading "Education," the letter said
clearly: "Full autonomy will be promised every educational
stream and the government will in no way impugn the religious
awareness or consciousness of any sector of the nation."
When we use the legislative processes, the most democratic
part of the Israeli government, to preserve a modicum of the
Jewish character of life in Israel, we are accused of
"religious coercion."
The imposition of the Core Curriculum is being attempted
through a partnership between the Executive and the Judicial
branches of the Israeli government, the least representative
and most undemocratic parts. There was no agreement in any
form to the moves. The issues relate specifically to
educating our youth, and try to impose the values of secular
Israel — it is not even clear that this is the majority
— onto us against our will. This is undemocratic and
grossly unjust.
The court speaks of the responsibility of the State for
spending public funds. However, this is our money as well.
Several chareidi politicians have proposed recently that, if
the State does not fund our institutions, we be allowed to
direct our tax dollars to support our education. Perhaps the
time has come for an arrangement like that.
One man who has been travelling around the world for several
decades collecting for charity told us that one thing he
learned from the experience is, "The Ribono Shel Olom
has a tremendous amount of money." He can surely find ways to
finance our education, if the State of the Jews will not meet
its responsibilities.
One thing is sure: we will not bargain about the education of
our children. For the past two hundred years, the
"progressives" have been trying to corrupt our schools. We
have kept them out so far, and we will not let them in
now.
There is nothing broken about our educational system, and we
will not let them "fix" it.
