Look at the hostility to Haredim and the dishonesty in the portrayal of them in this Times of Israel article:
Study: Ultra-Orthodox only pay 4% of total national taxes, costing economy billions
Non-Haredi workers set to pay an additional average NIS 3,540 in taxes in 2025 due to low ultra-Orthodox employment, researcher finds
“Despite constituting 14 percent of the working-age population, the ultra-Orthodox community generated only four percent of Israeli tax revenues in 2023, costing the government billions and adding thousands of shekels to the average non-Haredi worker’s annual tax burden, a study by the Israel Democracy Institute has found.”
And what’s the reason for this?
“According to the study — which was based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, Tax Authority, Population Authority, and National Insurance Institute — the lack of secular studies in Haredi schools has led to ‘underperformance in the labor market and significantly lower household incomes relative to the general Jewish population, especially among men.’”
The article does not mention that historically Haredi men could not work for even a day without losing their draft exemption. That’s probably the main reason for unemployment.
Also, there’s job discrimination. I have a secular studies education with long work experience in the computer industry in the USA and cannot get a job in the Israeli high-tech sector because as soon as they see a beard and a white shirt the interview is over. There is substantial discrimination against hiring Haredim in Israel in part because of the venom against them that is demonstrated in articles like this one.
The article pretends to be objective and factual but is dishonest in its portrayal of facts. For example, “71% of nearly 200,000 Haredim registered in Torah institutions paid reduced National Insurance Institute contributions, leading to an annual loss of NIS 99.1 million ($26 million) in revenue for the social security agency.”
I had no idea that my contributions to National Insurance were reduced for being Haredi, but $26 million is the total loss in revenue. The army wastes that much every half-hour. The article doesn’t mention the billions of dollars that come in from overseas donations to yeshivas. Look at the yeshiva buildings. The donors are from Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Miami. And then there’s all the revenue to El Al, hotels, and the economy in general from all the American yeshiva students that study here. None of that is mentioned. Historically, 80% of yeshiva budgets have been funded by overseas donations, 15% by tuition. The government has never given much to yeshivas.
The article claims that Haredim receive discounts in transportation fees. That’s news to me. I have never seen an option on the Rav Kav machines for listing myself as Haredi so I can get a discount. But what Chiloni reading this article will question the statement? The writer just tacked in on to a list of phantom benefits.
The article also doesn’t mention that non-Haredim receive much better funding for schools. They go to school in actual buildings. We are in trailers to a large extent.
The article is saying what the Nazis said, Jews are parasites, but it pretends to sound like journalism.
While this article pretends to be all about taxes, it goes on with the usual insults about ‘Haredi draft dodging.’ That would seem to be a non-sequitur unless we admit to ourselves that the article is just about Haredi hatred. Then it fits.
My question to all the allegedly yeshivish rabbis who either push yeshiva men to move to Israel or fail to warn them how hostile this society is to Haredim, how could you? Next time a yeshiva man asks you about moving to Israel tell him to not even consider it.
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