If there are groups who are not getting educated, as this article seems to imply, may I ask where are the school inspectors?? Is there no school curriculum that is in effect, even for religious schools, a standard of education that applies to all?? What kind of a place is this country called Israel, so progressive in so many fronts, but allows a poor education to select groups who have permission to opt out? Who shakes the dogs tail? Well...all one has to do is look at the madrassas as set up in certain other places for a closer look.

the similarities (or lack thereof) between the original intention of kashrut and current borderline-criminal results of Haredi "supervision". Perpetrators will tell you, unabashedly, that modern "tradition" (often based on misinformation and hafifnik-ing) trumps Torah, Talmud, what-have-you, and of course, the Rambam's teachings.

israel desperately needs a national education system, rather than the present patchwork of separate systems. all children should be taught a standard curriculum, rather than having independent religious, secular, or arab schools, teaching their children very different narratives, with government funding. it is a bad idea for secular schools not to teach about judaism, and religious schools not to teach about zionism, just as much as it is wrong for arab schools to teach about the "naqba". you cannot build a unified country by teaching divisiveness.

if you took the hareidi population as a whole and compare it to the non-hareidi public as a while you will find that the hareidi public as a whole is much more familiar with the bible, the moreh nevuchim, rav kook and the like. That being said, the article is fair in that within the hareidi world you have people that are supposedly devoted ONLY to learning torah and within this subsect you have many that are not only ignorant of the navi and moreh nevuchim but even the talmud and halacha. they say that the torah is their "melacha" bit if i did my job as poorly as some of them do theirs, id be asked to improve.

I actually had a fairly similar experience going to a prominent Modern Orthodox Jewish high school in New York Area. When the principal asked us how the curriculum could be improved? I said by focusing more on making sure we students know Nach well and dedicating less time to Talmud, which most still don't understand after 4 years and is unnecessary for knowing the final halachic rulings (which can be learned studying the Shulchan Aruch, a much simpler text). His response was very telling: "Only someone who is only intellectually interested in Judaism could say something like that" Ironically, at that point I was SK, SS Jew and in the most advanced Talmud class to boot. I just didn't go to shul on Saturday b/c my house was very far walking from the nearest shul and the people were too fanatical and right wing for me to feel welcome praying there. ...But he didn't know that, just like he didn't much of the Tanach (or Talmud for that matter) either. The religious ignorance of those who masquerade as pious people is rather shocking when you discover it. It is fanaticism even without basic knowledge of the dogma they advocate. It was actually one of many life experiences that cumulatively led me to become a secular Israeli.

It is important to point out that Haredi Judaism is not traditional or "fundamentalist" in the definition of either word. It is a relatively modern form of Judaism, albeit incredibly dogmatic, xenophobic and parasitic. No human society could function if every member adapted the values of the haredi community. It's current value system depends on the existence of secular Israelis (in Israel) or non-Jews in the Diaspora to provide the labor (and in Israel, the funds) to sustain haredi household. Name on place, where the entire economy subsists of haredi Jews, or at least haredi Jews are represented in most of the major professions (including sanitation workers, bus drivers as well as doctors and lawyers). It simply doesn't exist. Anywhere. Their modes of dress did not exist before the 16th century. Their traditions and some of their halachic rulings directly contradict the way most Jews lived in pre-shtetl Europe and ancient Babylonia and Israel. To call them traditional, like Deri does, would be to degrade the history of Judaism and Jewish culture to some caricature of an immature, aggressive and unemployed "Fiddler on the Roof."

It is a well known fact to anyone familiar with Yeshiva study that Tanach is almost not studied at all. Generally, the Ashkenazi Yeshivas tend to focus on Talmud and Mishna, almost to the exclusion of all else. They also have a tendency to deal with highly abstract and theoretical questions of Halacha through pilpul, which are extremely unlikely to ever arise in practice. The Sephardic Yeshivas tend to take a broader approach. The emphasis is on learning Halacha l'ma'aseh (practical halacha) for every day use, and the preferred method of learning is bkiut - that is, familiarity with a wide variety of poskim as well as Talmud, in order to make informed Halachic rulings/decisions. But both of these systems broadly tend to ignore Tanach.

you do wonder who is behind this newspaper - good articles in general, but then every week, like clockwork, a libel article on observant Jews. Really this one is of a rare irrelevance and untruth. No I am not a haredi by the way but conservadox/orthodox.

Efrat, Ever heard of AM ECHAD be LEV ECHAD? I am appalled and discusted by your artilce. It drips with hatred and I am ashamed that you as a Jew wrote it. When I read or hear views like yours I understand the other sides anger. Titbashi!

some professing religious Jews (and some Christians) don't read through Holy Scripture for themselves. I'd never want to sit and listen to, or read about, someone else's interpretation of the Bible without having read, and studied, it myself. Would it be considered bad, in some way, by certain Jewish streams for individual Jews to read through the Jewish Scriptures by themselves and interpret these Scriptures for themselves? Reason I ask is that at one time, for Christians, it was forbidden for 'plain ordinary' Christians to read the Bible in their own language and study the Bible on their own. Only priests and Bible scholars could read the Bible and then tell the ordinary Christians what was in the Bible and how it should be interpreted. Today many Christian denominations encourage the lay Christians to have a Bible reading plan for themselves and also attend a Bible study (discussion) once per week. Even non-Bible-Scholars are encouraged to read and study in the original languages. Some of the comments stated that at one time it was normal for Jews to read their Bible before tackling the various commentaries. I'm surprised that some Jews today don't encourage Bible reading and study to be an every day part of Jewish life -- I mean the Holy Scriptures alone, without someone else's commentary. The Jewish and Christian Scriptures were written by Jews, and many consider them one of the great gifts given to the world by the Jews. Doesn't make sense to ignore such gifts. Commentaries are fine, but read Holy Scripture by itself and read all the various books contained in Scripture. There are lots of good things contained in all the books.

The article was right on track. The haredim are completely ignorant of older and recent Jewish thinkers. They are woefully ignorant of Jewish culture. They seem to teach according to a madrassa mentality-Talmud and commentary. Wake upHaredim Jewish culture is not empty nothingness but your knowledge of Jewish culture is totally lacking.