There's been a lot written on the blogs and spoken about in the "real" world about the problems facing Klal. Yup, we have some. But where there doesn't seem to be agreement is in how to order those problems, how to place them in priority order. Individuals who face a particular problem believe that problem to be the worst one that Klal faces; others might not agree. Some problems seem to be equally important to other problems. There is also this: solve certain problems and other of the problems we face become less of a problem or just might disappear altogether; they're inter-related.
I've come to the conclusion that what is needed right now more than meetings and conferences dealing with any one problem alone is a conference that will set out ALL the problems we face. A conference that will attempt to prioritize what absolutely must be addressed immediately and what needs to be thought of after those problems. A conference that would group similar problems together because the solution to one could bring about the solution to the others, or at least a partial solution. A conference that might indicate who or which group might best deal with a particular problem or set of problems. In short, what is needed is some organization so that multiple groups are not running around like chickens without their heads (or not running around at all).
I've been keeping a list of some of the problems mentioned on the blogs or that have come up in conversation with others. In no particular order I am listing some of the problems that Klal faces.
1. Alcohol abuse
2. Substance abuse
3. Spousal abuse
4. Child abuse
5. Sexual predators
6. Religious children going off the derech
7. Intermarriage
8. Large families with limited financial means
9. Large families with non-coping parents
10. High cost of housing in the Metropolitan NY area and other metropolitan areas
11. High costs of yeshiva education
12. Rising divorce rate among the religious
13. Increase of medium to severe shalom bayis issues among married couples
14. Insufficient services for special needs children within the yeshiva system
15. Insufficient services for special needs children within the observant communities
16. Lack of transparency on the part of yeshivas
17. Services for families where both parents work
18. Inadequate secular education such that working and getting jobs is difficult
19. Attitude that work is a second-class or lower activity
20. Reliance on governmental programs, some of which are being cut or eliminated
21. Lack of financial planning knowledge
22. Credit card debt
23. Multiple tzedaka organizations, with multiple overheads, all dealing with the same issue/place
24. Poor business models resulting in waste by many organizations/schools
25. Sparse elder care facilities with a large, greying generation coming up
26. Outright sinas chinam among different groups in Klal
27. Simcha "rules" that are budget breakers for many/most in Klal
28. Institutionalized "Keeping up with the Shwartzs"
29. Attitudes on the part of many towards higher education
30. High expense of kosher provisions
31. Adequate day care provision for working mothers
32. High cost of summer sleep away camps
33. High cost of year(s) in Israel post high school
34. Increasing number of singles who are not finding shidduchim
35. Vaads with special interest conflicts
36. Rise in visible (and clandestine) incidents of an illegal nature, particularly involving financial malfeasance
37. Antipathy towards retirement as a legitimate occurrence
38. Heightened sense of gashmius as regards consumer purchases
39. Rise of larger families which cannot be financially maintained by the parents alone
40. Unnecessary duplication of some services with other services not being provided at all
41. Sometimes highly charged division between the MO/Right
42. Inability of some schools (not a new problem) to meet their payrolls in a timely fashion or at all
43. Entitlement living not backed up by real dollars
44. Leadership of various organizations who compete rather than cooperate with others
45. Lack of common sense when certain practices are ordered as "must do."
46. Lack of financial planning, by individuals and by community organizations/structures, that takes into consideration future needs
47. Inability of some leaders in Klal to focus on the bigger picture, instead focusing on only their desires of the moment
48. Gaivoh of some individuals/organizations/structures in having self-elected as more worthy of consideration and above all others
49. Lack of both short term and long term nuanced planning based on sound principles
50. Overly rapid growth of some institutions/structures to the detriment of others
51. Insufficient social service programs because Klal refuses to admit that these problems exist, and in large numbers
52. Sparsity of caring about and programs for the single members of Klal, whether never married, divorced or widowed
That was just the short list--there are other problems that need solving as well. No one wants to see in black and white just how much there is to work on to get Klal in order--and that, too, is a problem.
12 comments:
More than depressing to read this list and know it isn't even a complete list. Is there anything that isn't a problem in Klal?!
Wow. That was depressing. I think it's time we face the facts that "klal" or frum Jews aren't immune to the problems that broader society faces.
Personally, I care more about problems affecting me or that will affect me. Thus, as someone hoping to start a family in the near future, I care a LOT about yeshiva tuition. If tuition keeps rising at current rates (say 5%/year), the high school I went to (current cost $22,000) will cost about $43,000/year when my eldest child enters. That's insane. And we'd ideally like 4 kids.
wow. and i didn't even read the whole list.
you're definitely right about problems being interrelated! i only have direct knowledge about a few of the ones i read (duh) and i know they have been proven to be connected to each other in a lot of cases.
so, how do we make such a meeting happen?
Reading the list (and if this is only a partial list then Hashem Y'rachem) made me think of another problem we have. We insist on duplicating every possible type of help under frum direction and auspices. Sometimes this might make sense, and sometimes not.
There are already in existence in the secular world (which we inhabit by the way) some excellent programs to deal with things like spousal abuse or alcohol and substance abuse. Why not just go to AA or start a chapter of AA if alcohol is the problem? Why aren't we taking advantage of the knowledge these groups have after so many years of being in service? Why do we keep trying to reinvent the wheel just because we are Jews and have a particular problem?
Doesn't exactly make for a cheerful Tuesday to see all of these listed in one place. But I agree that a lot of them are related to each other and should be talked about and looked at as one item. You can't talk about tuition unless you talk about all the other school problems and some others on the list also, like large families, low paying jobs and such.
53. Honoring wealth above all else (even above Torah accomplishments).
This sometimes results in 27, 28, and especially 36.
Mark
What good comes out of giving a list like this? People look at how much there is to do and give up before they start. I always thought that the best way to solve one problem is to divide it into its smaller parts and tackle one part at a time. People need to feel they have accomplished something. Looking at your list makes me feel like it will never be possible to do anything about any of it.
Congrats on the relocation plans! Las Vegas seems wonderful.
Re: communal challenges, it might make them seem more manageable by grouping them something like this -
SOCIETAL
- tzdekah priorities
- keeping up with neighbors
- sinat chinam
- abuse
- otd
EDUCATIONAL
- rising costs, lack of transparency & quality
- special needs
FAMILIAL
- Shalom bayit
- shidduchim
This is meant to representative, not exhaustive by any means...Make it too granular, and it seems overwhelming.
The idea of grouping and ordering the issues facing klal is a good one. However, how much change would actually come about from such a process is in doubt. Unless those in positions of authority are willing to concede that some problems must be handled now and some can wait for later, the cooperation necessary will be lacking.
Just as an example. Perhaps such a conference as you call for might look at the numbers and say that if all US students were to refrain from Israel for one year and that money or part of what would have been spent must go to form an endowment for problem X here, the uproar from roshei yeshivas here and in Israel would be incredible.
Everyone wants a solution to the problems as long as you don't take money from them to apply the solution. I guess what I'm saying is that cooperation may be the biggest problem of all, and how to solve that problem is hard to envision.
Many of these problems are symptoms or effects of larger, broader causes.
In the last two decades, there have been two costs that far exceed inflation that are largely to blame for the enormous financial stress we're under: education and real estate.
Those costs have largely driven our wives into the work force to make ends meet, and I think that most of the problems you have listed can be traced to these issues.
One natural response to this is to have fewer children, but this is not within accepted halacha. The other response is to move to where living costs are lower. However, this too requires significant sacrifice and isn't an answer for many people.
The right place to start is at the income side. Our community cannot support as many full-time learners as we have right now. We should revamp the Kollel system to make it competitive, so that only the best learners can learn full-time for the long-term. Everyone else needs to get jobs and pump more income into our system.
The only reasonable answer I see on the expense side is to reevaluate which services we absolutely must provide for ourselves, and which we can leave to the government.
Rejewvenator: I agree about the income side, however that may mean deferring marriage and children for a few years until after college/job training, and making sure that those jobs are in the broader economy. As for your comment about leaving some things to the government, what do you have in mind?
Rejewvenator, did you really mean the government or did you mean agencies outside of the frum community? Government help is of one kind, usually for those with limited resources financially. The post pointed out that there are all kinds of organizations outside of the jewish community that already deal with some of the problems we face also. Why duplicate those services? AA was a good example.
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