We have been assailed recently by charge and counter-charge regarding the study of math and science by haredim, and the subsequent integration of such Jews into hi-tech. We have seen, on the one hand, Rabbi Yosef rejecting all secular subjects as “nonsense” in comparison to “the holy Torah above everything.” In response, we’ve seen articles bemoaning shortage of growth in hi-tech workers beyond 10% of the labor force, and the lack of haredi participation. We have seen continuing charges of parasitism, and calls to impose, apparently by force or by economic threat, the teaching of STEM subjects in haredi schools.
As is often the case, however, each side is in part correct and in part wrong. The truth is that our survival, let alone our prosperity, requires both Torah and hi-tech. There is no other way.
Israel exists today because the Jews survived 2,000 years of exile, and there is no possibility that would have happened without Torah. There are those who say, however, that now that we have Israel, we no longer need religion. They could not be more wrong. There is no group of people, no civilization, and no country, that can survive indefinitely without a reason for being, without a commitment to a vision beyond the people. “Without a vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). That which was true then is true now.
There are very large groups, such as “Christians” or “Muslims,” who might survive many years without commitment, because of their mass, but even they, in the end, would succumb to lack of belief. The curse and the blessing of the Jews is that we have always been a small people, hence always vulnerable, yet always alert and committed. Quantity we have never had, but quality has been our forte. To lose our belief would be to lose the quality, which for us would be the end.
Yet on the other hand, no people on earth has lived without bread and work. The rabbis, including Rabbi Yosef, understand that very well. They do not seek out doctors ignorant of science, and they do not truly believe that work is unimportant, rather that work without belief is not a life worth living. The haredim are clearly committed to work, but only if they are not compelled to it.
In a recent article, Zev Stub of this paper cited statistics that the haredim have grown as a percentage of the hi-tech labor force from only 0.7% in 2012 to 3.0% in 2021, an astounding increase, including a compounded annual growth rate of 17.6%, more than doubling every five years. If that rate continues, the haredim will help achieve the national goal of boosting our STEM workers from 10% to 15% of the workforce, and that will occur within the 2020’s.
But will the rate of haredi hi-tech growth continue? If the haredim are allowed to create their own workplaces, according to their custom of gender segregation, with time for study and prayer, based on ZOOM and other distance technologies, the answer is almost surely yes. They are not lazy, and they are not opposed to money for their families, but they will not agree to threaten their lifestyle. If, conversely, haredim are compelled to study STEM, compelled to serve in the army or forced into strategies of avoidance and compelled to work in secular environments – in short, confronted with force – all will be lost.
I believe deeply in Judaism and also in the State of Israel. One of our main tasks today is to marry religion with the state, and as a practical matter that means the integration of Judaism with hi-tech education and work. I do not believe that Rabbi Yosef rejected science and math, but only the primacy of those subjects over Torah. He was correct to do so, because we cannot live in this part of the world, we simply cannot survive, without faith.
On the other hand, I reject the claims of all those who say the haredim wish not to work, they want to avoid all obligations to the Jewish people, and their main desire is to rely on government handouts (to ride the “gravy train” in the words of one commentator). Utterly untrue, for if it were indeed true, how could a population that is perhaps 12% of the adults contribute 3% of the hi-tech workforce? 3% is not enough, but that percentage is far better than the analogous number a decade ago, and the percentage is increasing rapidly due to the efforts of hi-tech incubators, promoters such as Kamatech, savvy investors, and a desire of a younger haredi generation to contribute to the economic world without sacrificing a strictly Jewish lifestyle.
Let’s tone down the volume of charge and counter-charge. Let’s avoid compulsion, and instead rely on the infrastructure that already exists. Torah and STEM will not conflict, they will reinforce one another to the benefit of the state and people of Israel.
The writer is a commercial attorney in Israel, the author of a book on lawfare, and a frequent commentator on social affairs.