Arnon Grunberg

Learners

Couples

Anshel Pfeffer in Ha'aretz on absurdism, religious communities in Israel and, of course, power:

"The tension between the Haredim and the rest of Israeli society over bridges and the draft is the least of the community’s worries. The ultra-Orthodox’s exponential growth over the last half century and demographers’ projections that by 2050 this community could top 20 percent of Israel’s population hide a crucial flaw.
There is no other example in the world of a community enjoying the benefits of modern medicine and social security and still encouraging all its members to marry as young as legally possible and have as many children as physically possible. It’s an unsustainable economic model, and the Haredi housing crisis is one of the most underreported social issues in Israel."

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"The result of a childhood in an education system (a state-funded one) where any learning beyond the most basic mathematical skills is forbidden has left an entire generation without the skills necessary in the modern workplace. There’s a limit to the number of young couples prepared to keep living in households where the father doesn’t have any income beyond a stipend and where the mother can at most work part-time in a low-income job, until she’ll simply have too many children at home to continue. And even if such couples are stuck in this predicament, many no longer wish it for their children.
The small number of Haredi high schools that offer limited programs of secular studies is growing. Private courses in English and computer programming are oversubscribed. The demographers may still project the Haredi community doubling in size over the next two decades, but more realistic trends are already emerging. The average marriage age is slowly snaking upwards and the average number of children is down.
It’s too early to predict how and when the next exodus from the Haredi world will take place. In the past these have been prompted by other upheavals – the Enlightenment in Europe, mass emigration to America, the communist revolution, the Holocaust and the foundation of Israel.
This time the cause will be internal – a growing community straining at the seams and incapable of sustaining itself as a “learners society.” Disillusioned Haredim are less likely, in the privacy of the voting booth, to follow their rabbis’ orders and vote accordingly."

Read the article here.

Less political power for rabbis, for religious leaders in general, is a small hopeful development. Unsustainable economic models do more for assimilation than zealous enlightenment-workers, who too often sound like Jehova's witnesses.

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