The Haredim are the most voluntary sector in the State of Israel!

How are they volunteering?

What an amazing kiddush Hashem the Hareim do for klal yisroel and anyone in need of help

Volunteering for charity is very important. As is otherwise mandatory social programming – like education and military service / national service.

If you do the math, between spending 2-3 years in the army / sheirut leumi and the 32% chessed for National Religious, this community may have even more total hours dedicated to the kahal.

It’s also important to remember that volunteering is one important way to contribute, but it isn’t the only way to contribute. I hope the tsibbur remembers that just as they should be thanked for the chessed they do within and beyond their community, they should be thankful to the other parts of society that physically protect them, subsidize their healthcare, education, etc.

This is a good start in reporting. In US/NYC context, a similar report on graduates of the yeshivos would help respond to NYT articles. But it got to be detailed and transparent – what kind of volunteering, how do you measure that, etc.

When you don’t have a full-time job, you’ve got lots more time on your hands to volunteer.
When you do have a full-time job, you do not.
And when both husband and wife are working full-time, as is common in Israel, you REALLY don’t have time for volunteering.
And the people with full-time jobs are the ones paying for the social benefits, health care, police protection, fire services, and army protection that goes to the people who “volunteer” a few hours a week.

“When you don’t have a full-time job, you’ve got lots more time on your hands to volunteer.
When you do have a full-time job, you do not.
And when both husband and wife are working full-time, as is common in Israel, you REALLY don’t have time for volunteering.
And the people with full-time jobs are the ones paying for the social benefits, health care, police protection, fire services, and army protection that goes to the people who “volunteer” a few hours a week.”

undoubtedly one of the most ignorant and misinformed posts in a while.
I guess when you want to insult a group of people why let reality interfere…..

“undoubtedly one of the most ignorant and misinformed posts in a while.
I guess when you want to insult a group of people why let reality interfere…..”

Ok, then, educate me as to the realities I am uninformed about.
(You ARE speaking to a present member of a haredi community in the US and prior to that longtime resident of Eretz Yisroel, including many years in one of its most haredi communities.
But go ahead, educate me. )

Rocky?
Not really, Metzuve ve’ose means by Torah. It is not related to the State of Israel decision, which is why Haredim who overwhelmingly do not serve in the IDF are not “Over” on anything..

have you actually witnessed these chareidim sitting around with extra time? Are the chareidim who volunteer, or as you prefer to put it ‘”volunteer” a few hours’ doing it because they are bored and idle? I am just trying to get some clarity on this opinion of yours that I assume from your references you have witnessed first hand on a consistent enough basis to know the players.

Regarding hours…most secular jews work on shabbos.

Also, do you know how many charedim want to work but can’t find jobs because the culture is biased and discriminates?

I tried to look up original report, and there is not much detail there. Seems like something done for some international volunteering day, which doubtless is a goyishe influence. It would be really interesting to understand what is exactly happening. I found an older 2004 Israeli research saying that being religious positively correlates with volunteering among Jews, but not among Arabs …

I am also not 100% sure whether we want to praise people for volunteering or not. On one hand, volunteering does show person’s middos, on the other hand, do we really think that a person who is doing bikur cholim after heart surgery is greater than a person who mamash did the heart surgery.
Do we have a general view about it? Does the one who is not paid better than the one who spend years – and 100Ks of his own money – studying for the job?

The Daf Nedarim 40 discusses something related about what counts as a mitzva or paid work, and also that saving person’s life from sickness is like finding a lost objects for that person.

This thread is so full of bias and ignorance, it’s really sad.
Very few Chareidi men and women have spare time and therefore have empty hours on their hands to volunteer. Many of the chareidi men who work, spend their “free time” after work learning – going to a shiur, learning with a chavrusa, etc. and those who are full-time learning and learning many more hours than your average working 9-5 working man – 3 sedarim a day. So if such a hard-working man volunteers once a week for Lev l’Achim, for example, he is being very generous with his time. Ditto for chareidi women, many of whom are juggling a demanding job with a large family plus giving some volunteer time to bake a cake for Ezer miTzion, prepare food for their local chessed organization to help a mother after birth, learn in person or on the phone with another less knowledgeable woman, do Bikur Cholim or other such volunteer work.
I have also heard (from a Reform Jew who has a fundraising consulting company) that the more religious the Jew, the more tzedaka s/he gives in proportion to his income.
The non-chareidi public doesn’t subsidize chareidi healthcare and education from their salaries and from VAT any more than the chareidi public subsidizes health, education, the theatre and the defense budget from their salaries and VAT although the salary/VAT ratio may be different.
In addition to more charity and volunteerism in the chareidi sector, I’ll just add that the largest chessed organizations – who serve the entire public – were founded and are run by chareidim.
But sure, if you’re looking to put down the chareidi public, you’ll add some more blah blah and carry on with your skewed views.
In Hashem’s view there are no such labels as chiloni, dati and chareidi.
After all is said and done, when the neshama leaves the body, the only thing that remains and what counts is what the combined efforts of body and soul during our lifetime accomplished in building a relationship with Hashem. That relationship is created by using our free choice to do His Will (i.e. Torah and mitzvos – both the law and the spirit of the law) – with no labels attached.

Shlomo2,

“When you don’t have a full-time job, you’ve got lots more time on your hands to volunteer.
When you do have a full-time job, you do not.
And when both husband and wife are working full-time, as is common in Israel, you REALLY don’t have time for volunteering.”

Nah, I know lots of couples married and both working full time who have tons of free time. They leave work and eat out, perform in orchestral groups, play sports, go to movies, etc. Certainly much more free time than parents at home with multiple young children.

“Only stating my opinion that the higher rate of volunteerism in the EY haredi community relative to the EY non-haredi community is not necessarily due to their moral superiority, but to their having more time on their hands.”

Nobody even claimed that it was moral superiority. The OP brought the statistics to counter those who call Chareidim parasites, Your response is to lecture us about how full time workers are the ones whose tax money pays for the social services the Chareidim use but presumably don’t pay for. Which is a more polite way of calling them parasites. If the Israeli government is hurting so bad for tax revenue, how about removing the barriers that prevent more Chareidim from getting better jobs?

ladler – exactly the point I was working on.

Ok I agree that my analogy of gadol hametzuveh is not perfect. However, I still thunk it can be used somewhat to demonstrate the hakaras hatov we all need to feel towards those that are serving their fellow Jews, so much so that they put their lives on the line for them.
Those who serve in the army are still doing a mitzvah of Hashem by helping protect other Jews . This is true whether they volunteered for the army or are doing it to avoid going to jail. The reason why chareidim don’t is a mixture of many different reason;the army became a toxic environment for ruchnius, dangers of shmad in early days of Zionism, the greatest of learning Torah and the role it plays in spiritual protection etc.

The point of the OP was to say how great chreidim are for all the volunteer chesed they do for the community and we should be makir tov. We should have no less hakaras hatov to those who serve in the army even though it is compulsory. Don’t let stupid politics mess up our middos.

ToShma- What is your point and the point of the OP? I assume it was that we should be makir tov to those who are involved in the chesed done by Chareirim. I agree. I am adding that we should also be makir tov to those who lay down their lives in other forms of chesed.
If the point is that everything chareidim do is great and all chareidim are great because of the 40% who do chesed, and all other sectors are bad because they do less chesed….. I have a problem with that shita.