Israeli chareidi schools have struggled in recent years to resist the efforts of the Israeli government to gain control over their educational programming. There was a particularly serious effort made under the previous education minister, Shai Peron of the Yesh Atid party. This article provides background about that effort and the response of the chareidi institutions.
Rabbi Yaakov Rosenstein, head of the Darkei Yosher network of talmudei Torah is familiar with the intervention of the Education Ministry from the recent past, while he was principal of the Meir Girls Seminary of Modi'in Illit. We wanted to know what has happened recently to cause the raising of eyebrows in the government's recent interference in the educational program and curriculum of our pure, unadulterated education.
"I shall try to be the spokesman for many of the teachers and principals from all over the country who appealed to me and my colleagues of the Iggud of Cheder Principals.
"For the past half year, the Education Ministry has attempted to channel chareidi education towards professional training, which totally negates the genuine interest and outlook of all Torah institutions, of which we are determined to be the source of education to Torah and yiras Shomayim. They wish to create a model of [non-religious] professionalism [as opposed to Torah study] to prepare the students for integration into the work force. Thus, for example, what I look for in a candidate for melamed is a man who is a proficient educator replete with yiras Shomayim, and is a role model in the way he davens, makes a brocho and conducts himself. Granted he should also have teaching skills and know how to instill values and convey the necessary scholastic material. Of primary importance, however, is that he be a model Torah figure for the students to emulate.
"In contrast, in recent years the Education Ministry, and especially during the tenure of the previous Minister Peron, imbued with the political spirit of "Yesh Atid", viewed us with eyes of a professional. His ministry established a chareidi department which doubled the number of supervisors, all of whom tout the approach of professionalism. The first thing they ask the melamdim is where they were trained and how expert they are in the field vis-a-vis their academic specifications. In addition, they also voice their views regarding the content of the curricula themselves.
"Of late, there has been a noticeable increase in their particular demands due to their general fear of the swelling ranks of the chareidi sector, as admitted to by the regional director who stated that their weltanshauung is diametrically opposed to that of our Torah world."
And what is your reply in view of the lack of professionalism, as it were, of your teachers?
I tell them openly: "Our teachers do not lag in any sense of professionalism, and so has it always been even in the past. Our best mechanchim throughout the generations just trained by studying gemora all the time and when they taught, they succeeded in establishing generations of great Jews, devoted to Hashem and His Torah. These teachers conveyed solid, genuine values perfectly suited to children coming from Torah-true homes. The finished product proves that they truly succeed in forming the future talmidei chachomim which we seek.
"The so-called professionalism of the Education Ministry is part of their intervention in the method of conveying educational material and in the pace of study by which they determine alleged professionalism. They consider Chumash as a subject while by us, it is our very life, our guide, with the same applying to the `study' of gemara."
How do you intend to fight against those who seek to tamper with pure Torah chinuch?
"We need our Torah leadership to direct us. We want the supervision of gedolei Yisrael. This need not necessarily be a contradiction to operable scholastic norms. Our chadorim suitably conform to their general expectations and even beyond: when school children from nearby Modi'in go home at one, our children continue on, sometimes until 7 without a murmur but with actual satisfaction.
"As far as security measures, we have no problem with a supervisor determining the guidelines. We all agree that preservation of life is of uppermost importance, and when the children go on outings, we believe in conforming to all the safety measures. But under no circumstances are they to interfere with out actual chinuch which is the apple of our eye. I am not relating here to budgets and allocations but primarily to the actual education of our precious children, our pure cruse of oil, which we must protect above all."
What can you say to parents and principals who are sure to read your clear-cut message?
"The real problem is not in the large chadorim and their principals, who have established an operable relationship with the Ministry. I am concerned for the smaller, struggling chadorim like the one in Afula and other backwater places because they are not yet sufficiently established. They might feel intimidated by the supervisors and be entrapped and succumb to their many demands to change their methods etc. I thought that it might be worthwhile to extend a kind of hechsher to chadorim who answer to the requirements and keep to the guidelines [the takanon] of our gedolim. If the parents cooperate and refuse to send their children to a cheder without this formal endorsement, and demand this from the principal, this will be our guarantee to succeed against those who seek to change us. It will be a clear message to the authorities, but only if we have a solid, united front. There are some supervisors who truly do their best and personally assist the chadorim to increase Torah and augment it. Our problem is to combat the woes and the negative spirit imposed by the former Peron administration."
