How do you help integrate a population into a society when, for decades, that population has sought isolation to protect and preserve its way of life? And how do you pursue this work when you’re an outsider to that community’s practices and belief systems?
Program Officer Naomi Feiner has confronted such questions in leading The Russell Berrie Foundation’s strategy to encourage the integration of the ultra-Orthodox Haredim into mainstream Israeli society. In this Q&A, Naomi addresses why eliminating barriers to Haredis’ economic and civic participation is so critical and how she, as a secular Jewish woman, navigates this work.
Haredi boys study with their instructors at a yeshiva within the Netzach Education Network.
What led to the Foundation’s focus on the Haredi community?
Our goal has always been to strengthen Israel’s social and economic resilience. We’ve seen major growth in the Haredi community. When Israel was established in 1948, the Haredim were a very small minority; they now make up 12% of the total population.
Alongside demographic growth, we’ve also seen changes in their attitudes and behaviors. In the past, a significant percentage of Haredim were part of the nation’s economy and society. Over the years, they intentionally separated themselves to safeguard their lifestyle and practice of Judaism. In the 1970s, around 70% of Haredi males were working; now it’s about 52% and, in recent decades, that rate was even lower.
As a result, most Haredi men don’t contribute to the Israeli economy, while simultaneously their education and welfare is subsidized by the Israeli government. Boys only pursue holy studies and are not taught core subjects like math or English. They’re not prepared to join the economy…even if they wanted to work, they lack the needed skills. Many families are stuck in a cycle of poverty as a result. It’s a major challenge for the Israeli economy and a huge social problem.
To address these issues, we developed a fuller strategy in 2017-18 to invest in work with the Haredim.
We’ll need to join hands – both the ultra-Orthodox community and broader society – and find ways for them to be a core part of the Israeli story.
What are the key pillars of that strategy?
Haredi women take an Android course offered by Kama-Tech.
We started by promoting quality pathways for the Haredim to join the workforce. We first prioritized the high-tech industry, as it was in short supply of programmers, and backed solutions on both sides of the equation, meaning we supported initiatives that taught coding skills to Haredi men and women and helped place them, while working with corporations to learn how to recruit and retain ultra-Orthodox employees.
Eventually, we realized we were overlooking the root problem – systemic gaps in the boys’ education, given its primary focus on religious studies. With their growing population, today roughly 25% of first graders in Israel are ultra-Orthodox. If we wait until a young man finishes his yeshiva education to intervene, it’s too late. He’s already in his mid-20s and may be married with kids. To start learning English or math at this point is borderline impossible, and he’s lacking all the soft skills needed to enter the workforce.
To bridge those gaps, we ramped up investment in teaching core subjects like math, English, science, and civics alongside Torah studies in ultra-Orthodox schools. We have backed educational networks that provide these alternatives, such as the Netzach Educational Network and Leshem.
We supported different tools, including a technological platform for students in high school yeshivas, where boys enter ninth grade with minimal to no English. We initiated and funded a program called Sprint that enabled teachers and students to bridge that learning gap within 18 months.
We also were founding funders of Eshkolot, an online school targeting males ages 16 and up. Launched during COVID, it now has 17,000 active learners, making it the largest Haredi school in Israel.
Two years ago, we exited the employment space to focus primarily on education. Overall, we’ve seen significant interest and rising growth in the number of people attending schools that teach core subjects and tremendous growth in the number of Haredi programmers, earning salaries on par with their non-Haredi peers.
How have you been able to establish trusted relationships with Haredi leaders as an outsider to this community?
To be honest, I never felt this was a major hurdle. It’s always been a matter of respecting their values, lifestyle, and community. Once the Haredim understand that you’re there for real and don’t want to change their ways of life, it lays the groundwork for a productive relationship. With that foundation of respect in place, you can ask tough questions and challenge them to see what kind of impact we can have as partners pursuing shared goals. With this approach, we’ve been able to reach agreements with conservative Haredi rabbis and move the work forward.
It’s key to be modest and ask sincere questions about their goals and needs…you can’t act
like you know everything. We must be able to learn from them and understand their boundaries. When I’ve come from that place of genuine interest, I’ve found Haredi people to be great partners.
Once the Haredim understand that you’re there for real and don’t want to change their ways of life, it lays the groundwork for a productive relationship. With that foundation of respect in place, you can ask tough questions and challenge them to see what kind of impact we can have as partners pursuing shared goals.
How has the community rallied in the wake of October 7th?
I think October 7th has increased the solidarity and connection that many Haredi communities feel toward Israeli society. Thousands of Haredim set up aid operations to help soldiers and embattled communities, close to 2,000 responded to a call by a coalition of foundations we are part of to fill critical manufacturing jobs vacated by Israelis called up for military duty, and hundreds were actually placed in those positions.
Then there were the thousands of ultra-Orthodox men who wanted to join the military, contrary to their custom, and those who joined could proudly wear their military fatigues without being called out. That would have been an outrage before. It’s amazing.
Students from the Netzach Yeshiva High School distribute donated groceries to families in which parents have been called up to serve in the IDF.
What are your hopes for this work in the future?
I hope we’ll see significant growth in a public Haredi education system that teaches Jewish religious texts and core subjects, while also promoting civic participation. Its graduates will emerge not only ready to join the workforce but will feel shared responsibility for all of Israeli society, not just their communities.
The Haredim are essential for the resiliency of the state. We can’t afford for them to live in seclusion. We have such a great opportunity now to build on these efforts in ambitious ways. We’ll need to join hands – both the ultra-Orthodox community and broader society – and find ways for them to be a core part of the Israeli story.