Sheker Olam HaTorah

The Lies of Keren Olam HaTorah

I’m not sure whether I was acting on motivations that were journalistic or masochistic, but I subscribed to the WhatsApp announcement group of “Keren Olam HaTorah,” the organization headed by The Gedolim™ that raises funds to maintain the charedi freeloading lifestyle. Here’s a recent post from them, recapping a recent event:

On Thursday evening, June 11, more than 35,000 Yidden gathered in the heart of Lakewood, in the shadow of Beis Medrash Govoha to declare their allegiance to Torah v’lomdeha. At the center of the dais sat HaRav Dov Landau, the delegation of gedolim who joined him on this mission to America to save Torah, and the Beis Medrash Govoha’s roshei yeshiva. Their one resounding message: Tens of thousands of bnei yeshiva and kollel yungeleit in Eretz Yisroel, whose sole aspiration is to sit and learn, are facing crushing financial pressures and unprecedented gezeiros.

The lies embedded in this single paragaph are subtle, and yet simultaneously simply extraordinary in their depth.

First there is the description of their mission being as “to save Torah.” For the sake of argument, let’s even grant that what charedim do in yeshiva and kollel qualifies as learning Torah rather than being an utter perversion of what learning Torah is actually about. This needs to be “saved”? From what?! Pick your absolute “worst case” anti-charedi government scenario and its consequences, and there would still be more Torah being learned, full-time, than at any period in our history up until a generation ago!

Then we have the description of the plight of the poor bnei yeshiva and kollel yungeleit, “whose sole aspiration is to sit and learn.” Well, no, that’s actually not all they want. They also insist upon being financially supported by everyone else rather than supporting themselves and contributing to the economy and national financial needs. (And, of course, they also insist upon being militarily defended by everyone else rather than helping share the responsibility of national defense.)

You’ll hear extremist charedim declare namus v’lo negayes, “We will die rather than enlist!” Strangely, what they don’t offer is a much more straightforward option: “We will renounce financial aid rather than enlist!” And that’s an offer that would widely be accepted!

Everyone knows that nobody is going to actually force charedim into becoming soldiers - there’s no way to do that. All it means, as Bennett has explicitly stated when he talks about “mandatory service for everyone,” is that if you don’t enlist, you don’t get a shekel from the government. Which was, of course, the norm for most of history; no country ever paid Jews to sit and learn. But the modern welfare state of Israel, with charedi political power, has spoiled charedim into thinking that being financially supported by everyone else is a basic right.

And this leads us to Keren Olam HaTorah’s description of “unprecedented gezeiros (oppressive decrees).” These “gezeiros” are simply finally applying some of the same rules to charedim that apply to everyone else! There was a video circulating this week of a charedi father in his thirties bemoaning the oppression of the government no longer providing daycare subsidies merely because he’s a draft-dodger. But that’s not even the reason why! The reason is simply that the point of the country giving money for daycare subsidies is to ensure workforce participation and economic health. You don’t get daycare subsidies in order to not work!

The spoiled sense of entitlement of the charedi world is appalling.