Education is crucial for integration of haredim into society - opinion

• Published date: 07 October 2021
• Author: STUART HERSHKOWITZ
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Some argue for a "tough love" approach to the haredi community, including revoking government benefits such as child care subsidies and privileges like exemption from military service.

But there's a better way forward: using the vehicle of higher education to integrate haredim into society, offering them opportunities to enter the job market while also enabling them to continue their devotion to Torah.

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This is a realistic solution. At the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), we don't demand that haredim compromise their identity in order to achieve socioeconomic advancement.

By offering a dual curriculum featuring comprehensive higher education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects alongside Torah studies, JCT manages to accomplish two important objectives: bring haredim into the fold so they no longer need to rely on government subsidies in order to provide for their families, and narrow the educational gap between haredim and the rest of Israeli society.

Haredim are very much like other members of Israeli society. They love their families. They have dreams and aspirations. They want shalom bayit (domestic harmony) not only in their homes, but in their country. Removing state benefits assumes that haredim will only integrate into society in the face of punitive measures and that they will not respond to positive incentives.

Another common misconception is that haredi students largely do not study a core curriculum of secular subjects. JCT students not only study math and science, but they embrace it and all the opportunities that come along with such studies. Yes, they typically start without the prerequisite knowledge needed for higher education, but our college preparatory (mechina) course enables them to catch up.

Does the environment at JCT reflect the majority of Israel's haredi population? No. But our haredi enrollment...