Enhancing “Torah vaAvoda” values within the Religious Zionist Educational System

Ne’emanai Tora vaAvoda has developed two main strategies to deal with the growing tendency towards extremism in religious frameworks in Israel where schools, youth movements and yeshivot have adopted a stricter approach to Halacha. The fear of the movement is that, unless checked, within a few years, all the religious educational frameworks will only present the views of the Haredi (nationalist ultra orthodox) community. As a result, higher academic education, army service, national service, mingling of the sexes etc. will not be encouraged.

A. Fostering and training educational personnel.

Neemanei Torah VeAvoda hopes to attract like-minded people into influential positions of the educational system. The following projects have been designed to serve this aim.

1. a) To set up a series of fully subsidized seminars for young teachers in which a wide range of educational matters will be discussed. The main objective is to form an educational framework with liberal educated views. An annual sum of $40,000 is needed to conduct four seminars per year in which hundreds of teachers will be able to participate.

b) To offer grants to yeshiva students who have similar views to those of the Ne'emanai Torah VeAvoda membership. Students will receive a stipend that will allow them to complete their studies for the rabbinate, in this way ensuring a future reservoir of rabbis with liberal, educated, modern views. This project aims to provide 10 students a year with the grants needed for their studies. The total annual cost of this project is $25,000.

2. To encourage young adults to work in educational frameworks. To this end, we need to employ a project manager whose responsibility it will be to encourage university and yeshiva students with a similar outlook to that of the movement to work in the educational field. Candidates will be sought through an interactive form on our website, through seminars and personal recruitment. To employ someone for this position, $10,000 annually will be required.

B. Public Relations and Strengthening National Religious Education. Ne’emanai Torah vaAvoda is concerned to examine the future of state religious schools in Israel following the opening of a number of ultra religious private schools where the enrolment has been sufficient to threaten the existence of some state religious schools. Neemanei Torah VeAvodah is trying to reverse this trend through advertisements, discussion with groups of parents and the initiation of a committee to examine the history and fate of religious schools in Israel. A project manager (part- time) is needed at a cost of $8,000 a year.