Regardless of whether the men in the piece are “rebels” (whatever that means to you), their description of their own elementary and high school education is confirmed by numerous other Hasidic men we interviewed (both within and outside the community), not to mention the literature. In fact, there is a very good book on the subject called “Teacha! Stories from a Yeshiva” by Gerry Albarelli, which chronicles a young, non-Jewish teacher’s experience teaching English in a Hasidic boys’ school in Brooklyn. The book describes a chaotic atmosphere where English is treated as a waste of time and non-Biblical history a dangerous subject at best.

As to whether or not students who come out of the kollel system contribute to society at large, that is somewhat beside the point. The issue here is whether the government should be funding religious education, which is clearly what the kollels provide. The point the young man in the piece was making about contributing to society was merely that, in his view, if taxpayer dollars are going to fund education, that education should be in the service of a the larger society, not a specific religious group or sect. Again, this was his point of view.

I am not sure what the amount of murders or incidents of arson coming out of the strictly Orthodox community has to do with any of this, although white collar crime in these communities, including tax evasion, fraud and money laundering, is well documented, as is the growing problem of child sexual abuse. There was also the tragic murder of a child this week.

Regarding your point about OJ Simpson, while you are correct that not knowing who he is certainly wouldn’t affect a person’s productivity; the point was obviously made merely to illustrate this young man’s lack of cultural knowledge.

First of all we do learn English & history, math and basic command of the English language ask around. And the assumption that our student’s do not contribute to society is absurd as it is offensive, look around how many Jewish businesses can you see around, on the web and on the streets who employ other non religious individuals?. How many kids are we contributing to society who end up paying tax to the government?

How many murders and arson do you hear coming out of the ultra religious communities in a century??

Now about knowing about OJ Simpson, I do know of OJ I even remember where i was at that day. Now if somebody does not know of OJ, does make them less productive as a person? does that hinder their future life in anyway shape or form? Notice that he didn’t complain about not knowing English, or any other major vital information just about OJ.

I am truly disappointed in the quality of this report.