Comments on: Israel’s Growing Picture of Poverty Among the Children

By: iamfenster

iamfenster — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 18:23:07 +0000

Every year more than 400 impoverished haredim knock on my door in the US and ask for tzedaka. I have always given as much as I can. But clearly something has gone wrong with haredi society, that it produces so much poverty and misery.

I give them money, but most wouldn’t let their daughters marry my sons. Most wouldn’t want me to live in their neighborhood. Most wouldn’t approve of my education and career.

By: jew yorker

jew yorker — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:51:26 +0000

Professor Verizon49,
You are oversimplifying this grave situation. Even if you sent all the asifa/latest gathering money to israel, you’d still have a major problem bec it is an ongoing issue, not something that can be solved with a onetime payment no matter how large. If a huge sector of the population has ostensibly declared a vow of poverty by declaring men working to be assur or b’dieved you have an ongoing problem that can only be changed internally not from a few US donations.

By: verizon49

verizon49 — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:08:48 +0000

There was plenty of money to spent on the internet ASSIFA,there is plenty of money to spend on the up coming GATHERING against Israel in New york .Use ALL that wasted money on the children ,so that no child will go hungry.

By: akuperma

akuperma — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 14:47:19 +0000

If you compare the standard of living today to what it was 100 years ago (the last year of Muslim rule), or 50 years ago (during the first years of zionist rule when Israel was clearly a third world country whose devlopment was floundering in a sea of socialism), it is questionable if there are any serious poverty problems in Israel. Standards of poverty are relative within a society, and using a first world standard (reflecting the secular elite) misrepresents the situation. In fact most Israeli children are well fed, and well cared for, and increasingly in warm families of Bnei Torah (though this is considered abusive to those compiling the statistics).

By: Yira

Yira — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 14:10:25 +0000

Everything will be fine, the Admorim are coming.

By: Nahapochu

Nahapochu — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 13:28:47 +0000

The first thing we might be able to do is encourage their haredi parents to go out and get a job. That would cut the numbers down from 1/4 to 1/8, making this a much lesser issue.
Lets be consistent with our ideologies here, supporting that everyone be in kollel = supporting that their children live below the poverty line. This is what is concerning Dov Lipman shlit’a

By: morahmom

morahmom — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 11:56:22 +0000

OK, let’s forget all the finger-pointing about the blizzard debacle, and see a concerted effort to change these appaling statistics! And for acheinu bnei yisrael in chutz la’aretz, we can do a lot by davening for these children!