Written by Ehud Amir
(Hebrew version HERE)

Secular people have a smart mobile phone that has everything in it, and they have the responsibility of following their moral code while using it, both with time and content. Religious people in general – and ultra-Orthodox Jewish people (“Haredim”) in particular – do not trust the education they give their children and the values they teach them, to the extent that they must block their Internet access, and enforce on their community what is known as a “kosher phone” – a phone that limits, blocks, and leaves the person ignorant. It’s a phone that leaves the person outside of Wikipedia, outside of education, outside of hundreds of courses on YouTube and university websites. This phone leaves its owner in the state of a small child, helplessly wandering in front of the wonders of the world. Secular people educate their children well enough so that they become responsible and moral citizens, even in their use of the smartphone. They are not afraid of their children’s use of the smartphone, and when there is concern, they deal with it. They explain, they educate, and then they grant the appropriate responsibility to their children. The leaders of the “Haredi” community are so distrustful of the education they give their children, so they block the possibility of using a smartphone and do not leave the responsibility in the hands of their community members. Growing up is, first and foremost, taking responsibility for your life. In this sense, the Haredim do not grow up.

The rabbis of Haredi society work harder to set boundaries for adults. In doing so, they are saying, in effect, that the members of their community are undeveloped people, who are afraid to think for themselves, who want to ask a rabbi about everything, from picking their nose on the Sabbath to tearing toilet paper on the Sabbath. This indicates an educational failure, because when you teach a person to set boundaries during their childhood and youth, there is no need for higher authorities to do it for them in adulthood.

I don’t need a rabbi to tell me what the boundaries are regarding what I am allowed to eat, wear, and read. The Haredim do. I don’t need a rabbi to tell me the boundaries of what is allowed to do on the Sabbath. The Haredim do. Secular people don’t have a prohibition of “Yichud” – which prohibits seclusion in a private area of a man and a woman who are not married to each other. The Haredim do. Millions of secular men and women worldwide work in a closed room, each on his/her own computer, in absolute solitude that lasts for hours, and apart from a few exceptions, no man rapes any woman. Only among the Haredim it is forbidden for a man to be alone with a woman in a closed room. This proves that the rabbis who established this prohibition do not trust the education they gave the people from a young age, to determine the moral code for their flock. This is proof of educational failure.

Every law that needs to be taught to an adult – indicates that the person in question has not accepted this law during his years of education as a child and teenager. There are exceptionally more laws in Haredi society than in secular society, which indicates that Haredi environment and Haredi education are inferior to secular education, and have failed decisively.

It is reasonable to assume that most Haredi are wonderful people. They support others, they are good people, dedicated, honest, and loyal. The fact that their rabbis do not believe in them, to the point of enforcing such harsh laws on matters concerning personal privacy and other matters – is proof of the failure of Haredi education and its inferiority to secular education.