One way, it seems, to garner criticism from American Jewish
newspapers and religious leaders is to try to assist poor
families in Israel -- at least if they include chareidim.
The first stage of a host of "family unfriendly" Israeli
budget cuts commenced on July 1, with the curtailment of the
one-time-per-child grant of 1354 shekels that has long been
provided to Israeli parents. The grant, which was cut to 406
shekels for each child after a couple's first, has both
served to signal the importance of population growth and
provided families with a modest sum to assist them as they
care for a newborn.
With the new reduction, not only has the baby-friendly
message been mitigated but the severe economic pressures
being felt by Israeli families, who are soon to be saddled
with severe reductions in their monthly per-child allowances,
has been compounded. In an effort to both maintain the vital
message and try to make up for the shortfall, Agudath Israel
of America recently created a special fund aimed at
continuing the "baby bonus" for as many Jewish families as
possible.
Agudath Israel also reached out to the United Jewish
Communities, the general American Jewish community's major
philanthropic arm, suggesting that it might want to help fill
the budget cut gap by following suit with a similar fund of
its own. While Agudath Israel's constituents are dedicated
and generous, their donations to its fund will not likely be
able to provide the "baby bonus" to more than a small
percentage of Israeli families with newborns.
The reaction, at least in some circles, was harsh --
essentially, it seems, because many Israeli babies are born
to chareidi families. While Agudath Israel wants to see all
Jewish parents encouraged to have children and assisted in
caring for them (a major reason we asked that the UJC
consider a fund of its own), the highest birthrate among
Israeli Jews is, to be sure, within the chareidi
community.
Reform and Conservative leaders objected to our outreach to
the UJC, on the grounds, in the words of one, that our
concern "does not represent the mainstream priorities of
American Jewry." He went on to call the fact that so many
chareidi men are involved in full-time Torah-study "a
distortion of Judaism."
Two Jewish newspapers denigrated our effort as well. One,
The Forward, averred that it makes no sense for
American Jewish communal organizations "to spend [their]
limited funds on campaigns to undermine Israeli government
policy."
Explaining itself further, the paper noted that "Chareidi
Jews are expanding exponentially as a share of the Israeli
population, thanks to a high birthrate that's practically
subsidized by government child allowances." Most of those
chareidim, it went on to claim, "don't work, don't pay taxes
and don't serve in the army."
Those words betray a disturbing bias, and are as misleading
as they are irate. Most chareidi families, in fact, include
an active breadwinner (often the woman of the house,
something that should hardly be offensive in our day and
age); chareidim pay income taxes like anyone else, not to
mention the Value Added Tax attached to many major purchases
in Israel; and, while there are indeed only limited numbers
of chareidim in the army, the top brass has repeatedly
insisted that it simply would not be able to handle an influx
of chareidi recruits, considering the special religious needs
they would necessarily bring along.
For their part, chareidim sincerely believe that Jews'
physical security is ultimately dependent on spiritual merit,
and thus that their dedication to Torah study and observance
is itself a vital factor in the protection of their fellow
Jews.
In any event, whether or not Israel's economic decisions are
in fact fueled, as The Forward assumes, by an attempt
at social engineering, it can be safely assumed that no
Israeli chareidim will choose to have smaller families
because of child-unfriendly cutbacks. And so, the only choice
facing the rest of us is simply whether to help them -- along
with all Israeli families -- feed and clothe their children,
or not.
There may be a small percentage of draft-dodgers or
freeloaders in Israel's chareidi world, but they are
overwhelmed by the vast majority of Torah-students who, along
with their wives and children, live their Jewish idealism to
the fullest -- and, in the process, enhance the Jewish
character of the Jewish state immeasurably. Whether the
average American Jew agrees or disagrees with their
lifestyle, certainly their hungry babies have a Jewish moral
claim on all Jews.
At a time when the Jewish world outside of Israel is, by all
accounts, shrinking, and Israel is threatened in an overt way
by those who would seek to make the Middle East Judenrein,
shouldn't all Jews, rather than nurturing their biases, be
cherishing Jewish babies, and seeking to help their
parents?
Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for
Agudath Israel of America.
