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The politicians, I get. Lying and prevaricating is their job. Labor Minister Yoav Bentzur of Shas already said the increase in Haredi employment is “the fruit of our efforts.” The truth is the opposite – their “efforts” actually decrease the desire to work.
The new data deserve more serious scrutiny. It turns out that most Haredim never even dreamed of getting a genuine, productive job in the private sector, with a demanding boss. They preferred to game the system in the Haredi sector, where you can do nothing and still get a salary: The billions allocated to the Haredim in the coalition agreements enabled ultra-Orthodox cabinet ministers and deputy ministers to increase the number of staff in their ministries and all the affiliated agencies.
For example, Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli greatly increased the number of Haredim in local religious councils. Meir Porush, the minister of Jerusalem affairs and Jewish heritage, created dozens of superfluous positions in his ministry and also hired dozens of people to handle the Lag Ba’omer celebrations at Mount Meron. Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf filled his agency with aides and advisers, and Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev established the Authority for Economic Development of the Haredi Sector in order to hand out unnecessary jobs to dozens more Haredim.
And that’s not all. Haredim were registered as employees in innumerable ultra-Orthodox charities and other organizations. And also in the mikvehs that are popping up like mushrooms after the rain, in the synagogues that were opened on every corner, in yeshivas of every kind, in Haredi gemahim, or loan societies, and the like. These are redundant positions; we managed perfectly well without them. They add nothing to the standard of living. All they do is increase the tax burden on secular Israelis, who will be forced to fund all this featherbedding. It’s also worth pointing out that only 35 percent of employed Haredi men work full-time. Two-thirds “work” only a few hours a week, but they are listed in the data as “working.”
And if that’s not enough, Shas party chair Arye Dery is doing all he can to establish a national authority for the eradication of poverty, which is nothing more than an authority to hand out jobs for the boys. As if no one has fought to end poverty before, not the Finance Ministry, not the Welfare Ministry, not the National Insurance Institute. His goal is to create dozens if not hundreds of make-work positions for Haredi men, which is obvious political bribery. They’ll be listed in the data as “workers,” and the journalists will again be in heaven. There is also a Shas bill that would increase the number of rabbis funded by the state from 500 to 1,600 (!), with two government-funded rabbis in each large city and one in every neighborhood. It won’t be long before every apartment building has its own rabbi, further bumping up the number of “employed” Haredi men.
The sad truth is that the Haredi politicians are making active efforts to reduce ultra-Orthodox employment. They want the married yeshiva students to be dependent on them in order to guarantee their votes. This is why Dery, Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni oppose the teaching of general studies in their school networks on one hand, and on the other they increase the benefits for the married yeshiva students who shirk their responsibilities: They double the stipends, increase their rent and public transportation subsidies, give them discounts on preschool and boarding school tuition, charge them only symbolic amounts for social security (National Insurance Institute) and health insurance, give them discounts of 90 percent on municipal taxes and hand out food vouchers.
In this twisted situation, where most of the rise in employment comes from superfluous jobs, it’s better for them to stay in the yeshiva. That’s where they will cause the least damage.
Israel's ultra-Orthodox Are All Play and No Work
Two-bit politicians and one-bit journalists went into raptures last week at the release of data showing a rise in employment numbers for Haredi men in the first half of 2023. What a huge accomplishment, what an occasion, they agreed to work! All the prophecies of doom about imminent economic collapse due to ultra-Orthodox evasion of participation in the workforce just went out the window.The politicians, I get. Lying and prevaricating is their job. Labor Minister Yoav Bentzur of Shas already said the increase in Haredi employment is “the fruit of our efforts.” The truth is the opposite – their “efforts” actually decrease the desire to work.
The new data deserve more serious scrutiny. It turns out that most Haredim never even dreamed of getting a genuine, productive job in the private sector, with a demanding boss. They preferred to game the system in the Haredi sector, where you can do nothing and still get a salary: The billions allocated to the Haredim in the coalition agreements enabled ultra-Orthodox cabinet ministers and deputy ministers to increase the number of staff in their ministries and all the affiliated agencies.
For example, Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli greatly increased the number of Haredim in local religious councils. Meir Porush, the minister of Jerusalem affairs and Jewish heritage, created dozens of superfluous positions in his ministry and also hired dozens of people to handle the Lag Ba’omer celebrations at Mount Meron. Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf filled his agency with aides and advisers, and Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev established the Authority for Economic Development of the Haredi Sector in order to hand out unnecessary jobs to dozens more Haredim.
And that’s not all. Haredim were registered as employees in innumerable ultra-Orthodox charities and other organizations. And also in the mikvehs that are popping up like mushrooms after the rain, in the synagogues that were opened on every corner, in yeshivas of every kind, in Haredi gemahim, or loan societies, and the like. These are redundant positions; we managed perfectly well without them. They add nothing to the standard of living. All they do is increase the tax burden on secular Israelis, who will be forced to fund all this featherbedding. It’s also worth pointing out that only 35 percent of employed Haredi men work full-time. Two-thirds “work” only a few hours a week, but they are listed in the data as “working.”
And if that’s not enough, Shas party chair Arye Dery is doing all he can to establish a national authority for the eradication of poverty, which is nothing more than an authority to hand out jobs for the boys. As if no one has fought to end poverty before, not the Finance Ministry, not the Welfare Ministry, not the National Insurance Institute. His goal is to create dozens if not hundreds of make-work positions for Haredi men, which is obvious political bribery. They’ll be listed in the data as “workers,” and the journalists will again be in heaven. There is also a Shas bill that would increase the number of rabbis funded by the state from 500 to 1,600 (!), with two government-funded rabbis in each large city and one in every neighborhood. It won’t be long before every apartment building has its own rabbi, further bumping up the number of “employed” Haredi men.
The sad truth is that the Haredi politicians are making active efforts to reduce ultra-Orthodox employment. They want the married yeshiva students to be dependent on them in order to guarantee their votes. This is why Dery, Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni oppose the teaching of general studies in their school networks on one hand, and on the other they increase the benefits for the married yeshiva students who shirk their responsibilities: They double the stipends, increase their rent and public transportation subsidies, give them discounts on preschool and boarding school tuition, charge them only symbolic amounts for social security (National Insurance Institute) and health insurance, give them discounts of 90 percent on municipal taxes and hand out food vouchers.
In this twisted situation, where most of the rise in employment comes from superfluous jobs, it’s better for them to stay in the yeshiva. That’s where they will cause the least damage.
