For almost three generations, the Haredi community in the Land of Israel has been going through a process of gradual disengagement and isolation from general society. As part of this process, religious aggravation has also developed, one of the signs of which is a deepening desire for complete separation between men and women in public places. We are all familiar with the ridiculous images of the personal tent on the plane and the separate elevator that circulates on various WhatsApp messages. I, too, who have accumulated hundreds of hours of flying for my work, encountered Haredi men running - during the screening of the 'Security Film' - through the aisles in attempts to convince other passengers to change seats so that they would not be seated next to a woman, mercifully for the traveler.
In the Haredi street, or at least in part, an axiom prevails that more separation equals more religious rigor. This statement in itself might not be so terrible were it not for the fact that this ongoing process could make it difficult for the opposite processes taking place in Israeli society, such as the steady increase of Haredim in academia, in the workplace, and in the IDF.
Even when Haredi integration into the general world is achieved, the stricter discourse sets preconditions that do not always stand up to the realistic test. The cause of the strict restrictions seeks to serve an ideological agenda against the integration of Haredi people into general society, out of fear that the Haredi man or woman will suddenly be exposed to a world of immodesty and destructive Western influences.
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But the opinion leaders on the Haredi street must understand: With all the difficulty of the matter, it is impossible to compare the Beit Midrash hall to an academic lecture hall. The Havrach must recognize the difference and deal with it, and managing expectations is an important part of the process. Precautions must be taken before leaving for the new world, or as I once heard a rabbi advise students to buy a larger-than-usual kippah when leaving the Beit Midrash for college, and defense mechanisms for the sharp transition between the world of Torah and the world of academic studies are elementary, but at the same time, we must not forget that part of the ability to integrate later into the world of work depends on the ability to adapt to a new environment, while maintaining Haredi values.
What do the secularists say?
The integration process has two sides: Society in general is interested in the integration of Haredim into society and the economy, but the reasons for this are divided. Some are interested in this for reasons of equality in economic or security burdens, and see this integration as part of an ideological-ideological struggle, but there are others, and they are the majority, who make a cold analysis of the Haredi demographics and their future impact on Israeli society and understand that the current model cannot be continued in the long term.
The State of Israel of 2014 is not the State of Israel of 1948. This is true in many respects, but for the purposes of this discussion it is important to note that Israeli society and most of its leaders have moved from a melting pot social model to a mosaic model. The Gesher organization, of which I am the head, advocates this unique mosaic model, which means change and integration while respecting the religious and cultural will of all the different factions in society. This of course requires a respectful dialogue between the different groups that seek to find a way to bring hearts closer together without having to cancel out the uniqueness of each group.
The Haredim must integrate into the management of the Israeli space, and this in turn must allow them to do so with respect, without having to give up any of their primary principles.
A male lecturer or a female lecturer?
In some institutions of higher education, there is currently a heated debate about how to integrate Haredim into academic studies. Several ways have been proposed: You can study at an institution that was built specifically for the Haredi public, such as Rebbetzin Adina Bar-Shalom's Haredi College. You can study at the Open University, where most of the problem of gender segregation has been solved anyway, and you can also enroll in one of the regular universities, which in recent years have tried to promote unique tracks for Haredim - women and men.
There is a broad consensus among secular academic leaders that establishing separate tracks for women and men harms the precious value of equality in the academic world. Can they withstand this "harm"? In my opinion, this is where the secular world needs to give in. Nothing will happen if men and women study separately. On the other hand, as mentioned, the Haredi street must understand that it must also accept concessions. For example, it must positively consider the fact that among the experts in various fields of knowledge there are also women, and sometimes female academic intervention is required, such as a lecture by a female expert in the field. It is impossible to demand new norms that the academic world will never be able to accept.
The trauma of the Enlightenment period, 200 years after it brought down quite a few spiritual dead in the Jewish world, still exists, and it probably leaves the great rabbis deeply concerned about the potential negative impact of any exposure to the academic world. One must use accepted means to protect oneself from such an impact, but a path of complete disregard for the academic world will only lead to financial and leadership problems that could destroy any good part of the future Haredi world.
Daniel Goldman is a businessman from Beit Shemesh and chairman of the Gesher Association for Building Dialogue Between Parts of the People
