Pages

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Charedim Overboard?

A while ago, I think I predicted that the charedi world would run into a problem within a number of years, as their economic situation would collapse in upon itself. It seems as if they are trying to hasten this inevitability:
A committee of rabbis formulating the education policy in the ultra-Orthodox community has prohibited women's continuing education programs and severely restricted other study courses, thus blocking the advancement and development of haredi women's careers.
Krum has a hilarious yet sad take on the subject; Orthomom has her usual sharp analysis, even while she notes she has nothing to say:
The Charedi leadership seems to want to have it both ways. They want to encourage every young married man in the community to spend the rest of his life learning full time in Kollel, thus taking a pass on financially supporting their usually very large families, and yet they are putting up roadblocks that will prevent the wives of these men, usually the sole breadwinners in their households, from adequately supporting their families. How in the world are these women supposed to keep their heads above water when their earning capabilities are so severely curtailed?
Read both of their posts; they say it better than I possibly could. Moreover, Orthomom has an important side point at the end regarding the seriously disgusting attitude some have towards Sephardim and the secular community at large. Sick, really.

10 comments:

  1. It's never a good sign when religious leaders are afraid of education for women. I think one of the commenters there has it dead on -- they don't want the women to be more educated than the men.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't even articulate my thoughts because I'm so incredibly shocked that the supposed leadership would make such crippling decisions. Give me a few minutes, and I'm sure I'll have some choice remarks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Feh. Everyone's said what needs to be said already. I can't add anything more. The whole thing is ludicrous and insulting. Nuff sed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think we will see a trend in the orthodox world in which one generation will work and the next won't. The money will get sucked up this generation because of the number of kids in Kollel and their kids will need to earn money. Then their kids can go to kollel....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Doubt we will see that, Moshe, although one can hope for anything less than a complete economic collapse in certain sectors.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ummmm -- Ezzie -- while you're busy knocking the Chareidim -- have you noticed your ads? Anything that can be done about it?

    I'm just wondering what their thinking was behind it? And -will the women listen, or will they just go to other places to learn, and work outside the community, which will be "worse?"

    Elianna's adorable! She looks like you!

    My love to Serach!

    ReplyDelete
  7. DGEsq - Sadly, no.

    JA - I don't know the motives, but the outcome is ridiculous.

    Shoshana, RareFind - That's why I basically linked and didn't say much.

    Moshe - I doubt that that will happen as a whole, even though we're seeing more communities of "yeshivish working" in the US. Firstly, they're few and far between, and not the sons/daughters of kollel people. More importantly, the lack of most higher education in those sectors basically restricts most of them from getting high-end jobs needed to sustain a community.

    SL - Yep.

    Leah - I'm not "knocking Charedim", I'm criticizing policies that will lead to their collapse...

    The ads are officially ended, and I'm trying to figure out why they're still there myself, actually.

    The thinking behind it is explained in the piece, I believe; it's just a very short-sighted approach, in my opinion. I doubt that the women who listen to this will go elsewhere, or work outside the community. What may happen is that more and more charedim will start ignoring the advice and protocols that are being set.

    Thanks, and sure, though I don't know who you are...! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Is if I didn't read who this article was about, I would have thought that you were talking about the Taliban. Radicalization of religion is bad in whatever religion you practice, and you can't call this anything other than fundamentalism and the catholization of Judaism. What are these people practicing?
    -OC

    ReplyDelete
  9. I assume this means more chareidim on welfare? So much for being a light unto the nations...More like a tax dollar black hole. ;-)

    ReplyDelete