When Did Taking From Others Become a Mitzva?
As a kind of follow up to my recent post on orphaned halachos, here’s another example of - if not an explicit halacha - a clear Torah-rooted social value that’s now widely ignored.
The message is pretty clear:
“One who hates gifts will live” (Mishlei 15:27)
“A borrower is a slave to his lender” (Mishlei 22:7)
Protects us from “the gifts of flesh and blood and from their loans” (ברכת המזון)
“Treat your Shabbos as a weekday rather than accepting community support” (Pesachim 112a)
“Skin carcasses in the market to generate income rather than saying ‘I’m a kohen, I’m an important person’” (Pesachim 113a)
…and so on. You get the picture.
But the social norms in contemporary charedi and yeshivishe communities not only encourage the exact opposite, they often promote demanding support as the ideal halachic approach.
Like many “frum” trends, the normalization of entitlement is at least partly the product of shifting attitudes in the non-Jewish world. Where taking welfare was - in my parents’ generation - resisted at nearly all costs, modern welfare equivalents are now a regular part of even middle class life. Perhaps that’s not an evil development, but it’s definitely sad.
Of course, I’m primarily talking about the huge government support payments received monthly by “bnei Torah” in Israel which, even after recent cuts, are still significant. But accurately measuring whether or how much of a financial burden charedim are on Israeli society would require some more statistical context.
The most recently available data from the Israel Democracy Institute tells us that the average gross monthly household income for charedim is NIS 14,816, compared with NIS 24,466 for non-charedi Jews. Those numbers include government benefits.
The average gross monthly income from employment for all charedi men between 25-66 years is NIS 9,929, and NIS 8,617 for women. Other Jewish men and women earn NIS 20,464 and 13,057 respectively.
I’d imagine that the gap between charedi household income and their lower employment income numbers can be largely explained by benefit payments. Which would also seem to explain why the parallel gap is relatively smaller for male non-charedi Jews.
Predictably, charedim spend just NIS 3,653 per capita each month compared with NIS 6,284 for other Jews. Charedi contributions through income taxes, social security and health insurance is just 33 percent that of non-Orthodox household spending. In other words, because of their statistically lower consumption, charedim are contributing far less than their peers through VAT channels, and their smaller incomes means their direct tax contributions are also far lower.
So when you add up the significant financial contribution gap and then factor in the government Torah study benefits, what’s the net cost/benefit presented by the charedi population? Getting and clear and reliable number for that will obviously be difficult.
The journalist Amit Segal just quoted some figures from Dr. Gilad Cohen-Kovacs of the Israel Democracy Institute. I couldn’t find those exact numbers online for myself. But Segal is extremely well connected to both senior government and military officials in Israel, so it’s not at all unlikely that he’s seen some unpublished data that’s not available to the rest of us.
Apparently, Cohen-Kovacs found that the charedi community:
“costs the government roughly ₪32 billion [$8.8 billion] a year in direct subsidies and public services. That translates into an annual burden of about ₪13,000 [$3,600] per non-Haredi family.”
That would translate to a monthly per-household net loss to the state of NIS 10,318 ($2,830), which could climb to NIS 30,000 each month by the year 2050.
Those numbers don’t seem to contradict the significant spending and income disparities between communities. While, without seeing the data myself, I can’t confirm those projections, but I certainly see no reason to discount them.
What is obvious, however, is the enormous cultural distance the modern charedi and yeshivishe worlds have traveled from their ancestors of just a few generations ago.
And I don’t see that as a win.
Here’s some more to read:
Private Economies and the Public Tax Burden (repost)
I just came across some research on the tax burden in New Jersey published by the OU. The main argument is that, since the existence of Orthodox private schools saves public systems enormous amounts of money, some of those savings should be transferred to the private system. It seems that the research itself is no longe…
Torah Observance and Financial Stability
I recently reminded myself of something I’d read many years ago in the 19th Century sefer, Niflaos m'Toras HaShem - and it’s a perfect fit for this publication. The author was the Warsaw businessman (and former Volozhin student), Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Shloz. For those who track these things, R’ Yitzchak Elchonon Spektor of Ko…
Most people don’t realize is the enormous amount amounts of indirect cost. School buildings built by the local goverments or mifal
Hapyis. Shuls and schools and mens milkvas without water meters and with electricity covered by municipalities. Extra highly subsidized bus lines. Of course, the recent designation of many of their neighborhoods as 50% off zones for monthly rav kav passes. Busing for schools and events that are billed to the municipalities or the mot. Enormous programs of gift cards that are funded through various municipal or governmental program. Neighborhoods and infrastructure built just for them. Enormous black economies that are not investigated in these neighborhoods. And more.
I wrote a comment there https://newsletter.amitsegal.net/p/its-noon-in-israel-will-israel-be/comment/200644770
Specifically, I think:
(a) The extrapolation to the future is silly.
(b) The root cause of the Israeli/Palestinian crisis is demographic and the charedim are really the only ones doing anything about. I think (and it seems Ben Gurion thought) that's worth an army exemption, and probably a few billion dollars.
(c) That said, it's hard to convince people of that anyways, and government payments to kollelim make no sense anyways. I think they are mostly cut now, and that should be extended forever.
(d) Charedim must be integrated into the economy, but level-headed people (including many nonreligious) realize that the army issue is making this impossible. Whatever you may believe morally, the fact is that the vast majority of charedim won't serve. It's not happening. I understand the emotional aspect, unfortunately, but rationally this craziness must stop. We must get to work on integrating charedim into the economy and harping on the draft makes this impossible.