Thursday, May 01, 2014

The Charedi world in Israel is in financial collapse


So says the Mishpacha newspaper this week. Tens of Kollels have shut their doors leaving thousands of Avreichim nowhere to go. The heads of the Kollels claim that donations from abroad (mostly the US) have dropped due to the incitement against the Torah world in Israel. What they mean by this is that many American Charedim don't understand why everyone should sit and learn and no one should work. They don't understand why secular studies are prohibited in high schools when all of the Charedi high schools teach secular studies. They don't understand on the insistence that no one should be drafted. The fact is that American Charedim are a different breed then Israeli Charedim and given the financial problems in the US are no longer willing to provide unlimited funds to bankroll a system that they don't really believe in.

4 comments:

Harry Maryles said...

Does the article say this... or is this your own analysis? And how do you arrive at this analysis? I agree that this is what they might... or should think. But how do you know that this is what the DO think?

zdub said...

Simply put, the kollel system in the USA was never meant to be a lifelong situation. A few years max of full time learning after marriage.

bluke said...

Harry,

It is my analysis based on previous articles and reading between the lines.

MiMedinat HaYam said...

Reading between the lines approvingly, or not?

2. If they were dependent on foreign support, that indicates a prereference for short term fundraising over long term fundraising success. In other words, a (mis)calculated gamble.

Happy MayDay (or as it used to be called in israel in the socialist days, echad beMai)

MiMedinat HaYam