In Israel a great struggle is going on. The government and educational authorities are working steadily to break down the chareidi social barriers and to "integrate" them into the general society. The milestones and the goal posts are defined in terms that are hostile to the current chareidi lifestyle and deeply conflict with Torah values and even explicit Torah laws.
This series of articles aims to expose the plan of the authorities and to warn the Israeli community against them.
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Within the framework of a lengthy curriculum, students are exposed to the world views of lecturers in every area: their approach to values (in studies for a degree in counselling, the professor downgraded self improvement through avodas hamiddos and called this: an expression of the self preservation mechanism. And "rabbonim who limit their physical pleasures are suffering from ethical ascendancy of their superego over their personality, according to Freud.) Faith (ch'v) is not a basis for life but simply `another' factor of life in the religious society... and then they continue to research the subject from a `religious aspect'... Their approach to the issue of marriage, the role of the woman being childbearing, is a far removed outlook, as distant as east and west... The distance between a secular lecturer and her students obfuscates (and how long does it take until one's natural sensitivity is dulled?). The basic fundamental values in the chareidi public and the Torah world - is all under a renewed assessment on the part of the professor...
Is full separation possible in a chareidi academic structure?
Up till now, yes, but in the upcoming five year plan, it has been determined that from now on, academic studies for an M.A. degree must take place within the halls of mixed studies in the universities. Similarly, an emphasis is placed upon the `integrated model' whose purpose is to erode the fences of separation. One of the explicit goals is: Encouraging programs and curricula with a subversive goal of integration, such as classes held within regular campuses, mixed of course. In face of these overt facts, every chareidi student should be devastated, but if it is disguised, an erosion of values is bound to take place.
The MaLag aims to promote equality to secular education and Torah values: "In studies for an M.A. degree, in separate classes in education or the area of therapy, there may likely be women lecturers for classes of men, for their aim is to expose the students to the top researchers... and simultaneously not to discriminate against such lecturers within the educational system."
The MaLag documents present a code of regulations which is diametrically opposed to modesty: "In order to guarantee that the separation expresses itself in the barest minimum... there will be no rules regarding attire or other rules of modesty. No student or teacher will be discriminated on the basis of sex... and enforcement thereof will be duly instituted."
The so called chareidi colleges which established a suitable standard according to the Halacha, determined this by themselves, opposed to the demands of their operators. This fact arouses questions regarding its application and enforcement (especially in the light of the MaLag's promise of reinforcing supervision this year). Can we expect that operators, whose salaries are paid by the MaLag are trustworthy in preserving values satisfactorily?
