Monday, April 18, 2005

Next Year in Jerusalem?

Consider this, "Jerusalem has suffered a net loss of over 60,000 people in the last decade, the most commonly cited reason being the high cost of housing" - writes Gilly in If I forget thee......

While deportation of 8,000 Jews from Gaza is subject of a bitter political battle there is the other silent deportation on a larger scale, be it 60,000 from Jerusalem or Yordim leaving the country, or Jews in Diaspora leaving our people due to the lack and expense of the Jewish education. What we need is spotlight on social, economic and governmental notions that are threatening to undermine our national future on much larger scale than the deportation from Gaza. In many ways the Gaza deportation is just the consequence of the other developments that most do not like to talk about.

Binyomin writes:
The chareidi "system" of discouraging secular education is psychologically dysfunctional and economically unsound; it creates a welfare program society not unlike those of other visible minorities such as inner-city Latinos, Blacks, and Native American Indians with all the associated sociological and crime-related problems. We think we're somehow different and immune. We're not.
Because this is at its root a "values" problem, it will only be seriously addressed when people with courage and authority change the current chareidi value system from within. This will effectively democratize the decision-making process, thereby threatening the existing power structure. But it is essential. If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.
It takes two or five "fathers of three" who as Berl says "practice severe birth contort" to support one family of twelve. This does not sound right?