Enough with the Dodgy Shortcuts
The Deadly Syndrome Plaguing the Haredi Community
Haredi Wake-Up Call: From persecuted minority to ruling power - why we still build deadly caravan "schools" like beggars. Time to grow up before the next disaster kills.
The collapse of yet another makeshift structure in Beit Shemesh, this time a school roof that injured four young girls, is only the latest disaster caused by a dangerous mindset that still grips large parts of the ultra-Orthodox public.
What was once a survival tactic for a persecuted minority has turned into a lethal habit for a community that is now large, powerful, and in control of vast resources.
Instead of demanding proper permits, allocating land, and building real schools the right way, the reflex is still: throw another caravan on top of the first one, stack them like a duplex, and call it a day. This isn’t just about safety or the Torah obligation of “ve’nishmartem me’od lenafshoteichem,” it’s a complete failure to internalize how radically our status has changed.
For decades after the founding of the state, we were a small, hunted minority facing a sometimes hostile secular majority. We had to “bend the rules,” work around the system, and find creative shortcuts just to survive and preserve our way of life.
That era is over. Today the Haredi public is a political powerhouse in the Knesset, dominates dozens of local councils (including Beit Shemesh itself), and has massive influence in business and every other sphere.
Yet too many of us still act like the persecuted few from 1950.We’ve become the beggar who won the lottery and became king, but still stands on the street corner in royal robes, holding out his hand for coins.
Or, as the old Jerusalem joke went: the broke Chalmisher who collected food from every charity in town was asked what he’d do if he won the lottery. “Easy,” he replied. “I’ll hire five workers to carry the potatoes and eggs for me.”
The Meron disaster on Lag Ba’Omer 2021 should have been the ultimate wake-up call. An event that in the general sector would have been planned down to the last detail became a patchwork of illegal additions, unsafe overcrowding, and zero accountability, costing 45 precious lives.
We are no longer the weak minority. We have real power, real budgets, and real responsibility. It’s time to finally act like it: build properly, demand permits openly, plan professionally, and stop the dangerous habit of cutting corners “because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
Before the next catastrophe strikes, the Haredi community must grow up, recognize its new stature, and leave the old ghetto mentality behind, once and for all.