In a move that would shut out chareidim from serving in Magen David Adom, Ichud Hatzalah, Hatzalah, ZAKA and other organizations, Health Minister (Yesh Atid) Yael German wants to make a bagrut matriculation diploma mandatory for persons to enter into an EMT (emergency medical technician) program.
German’s office has just released new requirements for acceptance to an EMT course, including a new qualification, a state-recognized high school matriculation diploma.
MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Rav Yaakov Asher sent a letter to the minister explaining such a move would prevent hundreds of chareidim from becoming certified as EMTs and as a result, they will be prevented from this life-saving profession. The MK points out that to date, there is thousands of chareidim working and volunteering in the nation’s emergency response organizations and it is therefore clear that a matriculation diploma is not an essential component of being a qualified EMT.
Asher’s words were echoed by Ze’ev Kashash, COO of Ichud Hatzalah, which has over 2,000 nationwide volunteers, of which a large percentage is chareidim, many without a diploma. Kashash points out the effectiveness of his organization in their nationwide life-saving effort and he too cites that the diploma is not essential for one wishing to enter this profession.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
This would be terrible and cause of lots of life-saving instances as it has been proven that charedim, the biggest baalei chesed, are the quickest EMT members and arrive much much before Magen David. That’s because they “care” not because they do it for business like Magen David Adom. Secular and non-Jewish EMTs cannot compare with charedi Hatzalah anywhere in the world.
That is highly rational. Requiring a credential that isn’t job related is a traditional way of excluding hated minorities who happen to lack the credential but are otherwise qualified. It is interesting that in order to be a military medic one doesn’t need a high school diploma, and the Israeli matriculation is equivalent to a high SAT with multiple AP credits. The policy in Israel is to marginalize hareidim, and this is a rational way for the zionists to implement the policy. The frum leaders who are whining don’t understand that saving lives, especially in the hareidi community, is against government policy.
AThought I do not disagree with ur assertion that it would be bad to require matriculation diploma. I do however feel that ur statement that MDA is slower because they only care about money is wrong- the only reason hatzolah is faster is because of the way it’s setup. It wouldn’t be possible for MDA to setup their organization the same way hatzolah is setup but if it were possible and they implemented a setup like that MDA would be just as fast.
For EMT it really doesn’t make sense, the knowledge of math needed is so basic that anyone who finished primary school should be able to do it.
For Paramedics it’s already a demand, but there you need to do slightly more complicated math and learn in depth anatomy so it makes more sense.
@AThought:
Most people in MDA are volunteers to, and are there to save lives, they arrive slower because they are generally not on motor cycles (though MDA also operates a fleet of cycles, just spread more evenly over all of Israel), and because the Halachic precept of “חייך קודם” (safety) is enshrined in the operating protocol.
Of course you can choose to ignore all the Haredi and religious volunteers of MDA if that is easier on your hashkafa, but then your hashkafa would have nothing to do with reality.
There are good and bad EMTs from all sectors, *all* organizations sadly hold onto people who I would rather not see at the bedside of anyone I care about and all organizations have excellent volunteers whom I would entrust with my life.
#2- I know that you won’t let facts get in the way of your nonsensical hate-filled rants but, as some readers may not know this, I’ll note that the IDF requires a full bagrut from those wishing to apply to its medic course.
#2- The United States, which has a lot more experience at getting its soldiers blown to pieces, doesn’t require advanced academic training for medics. its fairly clear that the work of an EMT does not require academic skills (unlike a physician who needs to under signficicant amount of biology, chemistry and other subjects to do his/her job). Requiring an EMT to have a pre-college background serves no rational purpose, so one should ask what purpose it might have – and the only logical purpose is to exclude hareidim from being EMTs. This isn’t about how to get qualified EMTs – it’s about naked bigotry and prejudice.
#6: Well said. Took the words right out of my mouth.
#6, try to join the US Army without a HS diploma.
Just for your info mada has plenty of ultra orthodox volunteers I’m one of them the reason they come first is because there are only a couple of ambulances on a shift unlike them that have all their motorcycles on call
For the record we get along great on and off calls! !!
#4 In Israel there might be more Hatzalah members on motor cycles but this is certainly not the case in the US and Canada. You cannot deny that charedim are the quickest because of their inborn love of chessed and their caring about others.
In Israel the Chevra Kadisha have a saying “if doctors are on strike we have less work” which clearly shows what those chiloni “doctors with dipolomas” are like. Unlike Laniado who would never strike because it is run by charedim who have a heart of chessed.
Akuperma, most of my friends have been wondering why so few YWN posters are like you demonstrating uncompromising Jewish pride.