Politics
High-tech and war are integrating some ultra-Orthodox Jews into Israel's secular society
Yakob Shoolman spent years studying the Torah, pouring over ancient scripture like many boys in his ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. He lived a sequestered religious life, marrying early and having four children before he was 30.
But these days Shoolman is learning how to code in a high rise with a view of the sea and a copy of a Steve Jobs biography nearby. His faith remains the center of his identity, but, like a number of students from traditional yeshiva schools, Shoolman wants to join this nation’s vibrant technology industry.
His aspirations come at a time when ultra-Orthodox Jews face increasing resentment from a larger, secular society over religious school subsidies and other benefits, including exemption from compulsory military service for Torah students. Those tensions and a move to limit the role of the Supreme Court led to mass street protests last year as far-right nationalist and religious parties became prominent voices in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. Many Israelis regard the power that religious parties wield as a threat to civil rights and the country’s democracy.
Students from ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities learn to code to become programmers and software developers at firms like Citibank and Mobileye.
That concern has been eclipsed somewhat as Israelis have united around the war with Hamas and a small but growing number of ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim, have started to push beyond the bounds of centuries-old tradition. They represent a generational shift that may lead to wider integration of religious conservatives into Israeli life and its economy.
“I don’t believe in separation. The gap between the Haredi and the secular is closing,” said Shoolman, 31, a student at JBH, a school that trains Haredi men to become programmers and software developers at firms like Citibank and Mobileye. “In this school, we’re exposed to many different people. It’s important to understand these worlds.”
He added that the war and an increased reliance on technology since COVID have drawn more ultra-Orthodox Jews out of their enclaves. Haredi have attended shivas for those killed by Hamas and 4,000 have volunteered for temporary emergency service in the army since the war began in October.
But moderates and secularists view such limited integration as hardly notable when Netanyahu’s government is increasing spending on Haredi projects. The government coalition’s discretionary spending for yeshiva schools — which teach little science or math — rose from $322 million in 2022 to $456 million in 2023. Hundreds of millions of dollars more have been allocated for cultural, religious and education programs, along with thousands of government funded jobs that benefit the ultra-Orthodox.
Haredim account for about 13% of Israel’s population of more than 9 million, but their average family size of about seven children is a drain on social welfare spending. The Israeli media have reported that poverty and low employment among Haredim could lead to a 16% tax increase on working Israelis and cost the nation’s economy $2 trillion over the next 40 years.
Students take a break between classes where they learn how to code and program. Ultra-Orthodox Jews face growing resentment from a larger, secular society over religious school subsidies and other benefits.
“The Haredim are the cornerstone to the clash of religion and state,” said Rabbi Uri Regev, head of Hiddush, an organization that advocates for religious freedom and equality. “This problem predates Netanyahu. All previous governments bent to the will of the Haredim.”
He added that the ultra-Orthodox, about 45% of whom are poor, “are a great weight and burden on society.”
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A 2023 survey done by Hiddush before the war found that 70% of Jews in Israel believe the country’s “most acute internal conflict” is between ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews. The study showed that those fault lines were deep when it comes to military and educational issues: 78% opposed a blanket exemption on military service for ultra-Orthodox and 69% of Jews “support complete cancellation or a significant cut in funding” for yeshiva schools. That latter figure jumps to 93% for secular Jews.
Some fear the Haredim and the extreme right Religious Zionist Party could upset the Middle East and further damage prospects for peace with the Palestinans. Best-selling author and scholar Yuval Noah Harari wrote an essay in July in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper under the headline: “What will happen to Judaism if Israeli democracy is destroyed by supremacist zealots?” He warned of “spiritual destruction” if a “messianic state” arises to persecute “Arabs, secular people, women and LGBTQ people.” What, he asked, “if that state were to embrace a racist ideology of Jewish supremacy?”
Haredim believe that God’s will shapes all destinies and that their devotion protects the state of Israel. They have long lived in segregated neighborhoods like Mea Shearim in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv. Men wearing side curls and black hats walk with sacred books to religious schools while Haredi women are the main breadwinners and child-care providers. Their large families gather on the Sabbath to stroll amid closed shops and quieted tram lines.
This portrait was resonant in the TV series “Shtisel”, about a Haredi father and his artistic son as they confronted nosy neighbors and matchmakers on cloistered streets while navigating the clamor and temptations of an encroaching outside world. The show was widely popular in Israel and provided a common ground that — for less than an hour each night — went beyond suspicions and stereotypes to give secular Jews a glimpse of a world few were intimate with.
Students at JBH, a school that trains Haredi men to become programmers and software developers, take a break and play a video game between classes.
“The other side needs to know that we are Israelis just like everyone else,” said Yitzhak Pindrus, a Knesset member of the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism, who blamed employers and the army for not doing more to integrate the Haredi. “We have a different culture and different traditions, but you don’t always need to come down on us.”
Computer students like Shoolman, whose wife founded a virtual reality production company, aspire to modern lifestyles and bigger incomes. That desire, however, is considered a threat by religious conservatives who worry such enticements may lead to liberal beliefs around marriage and civil rights — Haredi leaders have long opposed women praying at the Western Wall — and pull the young away from their faith.
“The Haredim are concerned that a person will become his work,” said Aaron Fruchtman, vice president of JBH, which has trained 500 Haredim since 2013, many of whom received government funds and private donations for tuition. “The question is, ‘How do we get a Haredi guy into the Israeli Defense Forces or into high-tech without him losing his religious identity?’ The Haredi idea is first you’re a servant of God, a Torah Jew. But integration in the workforce will break down barriers.”
The early days of Shoolman’s training were difficult. Like most students from yeshiva schools, Shoolman, whose family income is too high to receive public subsidies, knew no English and only a little math. “You’re starting from zero,” he said. “Literally from A,B,C.” He added that since the start of the pandemic, more younger Haredi have turned to technology, using email and rabbi-approved smartphones. His long hours of studying the Torah for years, he said, will help him with the rigors of coding and software.
“We have the ability to sit and learn and be dedicated,” Shoolman said as students played video game tennis on a big screen while others typed on keyboards. “The process of change is speeding up.” He tried to express the contradiction — the navigating of two unreconciled worlds— by joking, “I’m a mainstream, hardcore Haredi.”
The war with Hamas has led other Haredim into the military. Rabbi Ram Moshe Ravad, a Haredi who served for 29 years and retired as a lieutenant colonel and chief rabbi for the Air Force, helped enlist Haredi volunteers for short service after Oct. 7. Most had studied in yeshiva until age 26, which had allowed them military exemptions. Some volunteers went into basic training but many took nonfighting roles like mechanics, cooks and drivers.
“The Haredim are not against the army,” Ravad said. “What’s happened over the years, especially the last few years, is people have been coming out against Haredim. All these [political] movements were saying that Haredim are against the army. So the Haredim avoided serving in the army. Now we’ve come with a different approach. Whoever wants to learn the Torah should learn, and whoever isn’t learning should come [to the army].”
“The Haredim are concerned that a person will become his work,” said Aaron Fruchtman, vice president of JBH, which has trained 500 Haredim since 2013. “The question is, ‘How do we get a Haredi guy into the Israeli Defense Forces or into high-tech without him losing his religious identity?’ ”
Chemi Trachtenberg is a 21-year-old Haredi who enlisted three years ago. “It doesn’t matter if you like Bibi [Netanhayu] or not, if you like the Haredim or not,” he recently told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, an international news service. “At the end of the day they [Hamas] want to kill us and we need prayers and weapons.”
The “Israelization” of the younger generation “of Haredim was already well underway when this war began,” Anshel Pfeffer wrote in a November opinion column in Haaretz. “It was only natural that those who were already less committed to cutting themselves off from society would feel shame as they saw hundreds of thousands of men and women their age being called up on the day of the [Hamas] massacre.”
He added: “For now, though, they remain a minority in their community. Aside from praying for Israel’s salvation, most of the Haredi groups have continued life as before.”
Regev, the rabbi, said to suggest the ultra-Orthodox are joining society is “an overly rosy characterization” when so many Haredim don’t have well-rounded educations that would benefit the nation’s economy. “The Haredi’s attitude of spiritual strengthening is anathema to the larger secular society,” he said, adding that the ultra-Orthodox oppose secular marriage, civil rights and using public transportation on the Sabbath. “They rely on the public coffers to perpetuate their own poverty.”
Regev said Israel faces two existential questions: the relationships between religion and state, and between Jews and Arabs. The one between religion and state, he said, often appears irreconcilable as the ultra-Orthodox place the sacred above the temporal even when it comes to immediate threats — from COVID to war — against Israel’s future.
Pindrus, the legislator, disagreed: “Haredim are part of the State of Israel,” he said. “What hurts the State of Israel hurts Haredim. Right now we’re in a period of pain, and we’re all feeling this pain.”
Politics
Jacob Frey praises Somali community as Minnesota faces renewed scrutiny over fraud investigations
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told members of the city’s Somali community over the weekend that they are “our family,” pledging solidarity and praising their contributions to the city during remarks celebrating Somali Independence Day.
Frey’s remarks came as Minnesota continues to face scrutiny over several high-profile fraud investigations and weeks after a Republican-led House Oversight Committee report alleged the Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s administration failed to act on repeated warnings about widespread fraud in the state’s social services programs.
“Through the most difficult of times and through Operation Metro surge, we all saw that they tried to come for some of us,” Frey told members of the Somali community on Saturday. “And when that happens, we say that you’re coming for all of us.”
BLUE STATE’S ANTI-ICE PLEDGE COLLAPSES AS GOP WARNS OF NEW SANCTUARY ‘CONFEDERACY’
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks during a Somali Independence Day celebration in Minneapolis as attendees stand on stage holding Somali flags. (Credit: Mayor Jacob Frey X Post)
“In Minneapolis, we loved our neighbors. In Minneapolis, we do not see you as immigrants. We see you as our family,” he added. “You are our brothers. You’re our sisters. You have done so much for this incredible city, and for that, we stand with you.”
Frey appeared to reference Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s immigration and public safety initiative in Minnesota.
The operation concluded in February after border czar Tom Homan announced it had resulted in the arrest of more than 4,000 people in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and had reduced what he described as public safety threats.
BLUE STATE’S ANTI-ICE PLEDGE COLLAPSES AS GOP WARNS OF NEW SANCTUARY ‘CONFEDERACY’
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks to the media at City Hall on Jan. 9. (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Frey shared the video on X, writing, “Happy Somali Independence Day.”
“Here in Minnesota, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the United States, we celebrate the resilience, culture, and leadership that continue to enrich our city and community,” he said.
Earlier this month, a Republican-led House Oversight Committee report alleged Walz’s administration repeatedly failed to act on warnings about fraud involving state social services programs, including the Feeding Our Future scandal.
WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
The committee said more than 110 people have been charged in connection with various fraud schemes in Minnesota, including many defendants identified as members of Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community.
The report also alleged concerns about potential racial discrimination claims contributed to delays in addressing suspected fraud and estimated Minnesota lost roughly $300 million in stolen federal child nutrition funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Walz administration officials have disputed the committee’s findings.
Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack contributed to this report.
For as long as I’ve been a journalist, which is a really long time, public entities have hated public records requests, even while claiming they don’t.
Ask your typical elected or hired official, from the governor to the animal control folks, and they’ll tell you transparency is vital and sunshine in government a key value.
Then turn in the most benign of public records requests — access to a calendar, for example — and prepare for weeks of delays and excuses. Want emails or financial records or, heaven forbid, anything from the police? Months or even years may pass before a single page is delivered, no joke.
That’s why I am deeply concerned about a bill winding its way through the California Legislature that would definitely slow down public records requests and likely make them more difficult and expensive. At its worst, it could push people into costly court battles just for having the audacity to ask for information.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 1821, is authored by Democratic Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, whose district includes Norwalk, Downey and Bell, where legendary scandals are Example 1 of why public records matter.
Pacheco’s office told me Wednesday that the troubles with the bill are far from what Pacheco set out to do.
“It was never the author’s intention to take away people’s rights to a [Public Records Act] request,” said her chief of staff, Nikki Johnson.
Johnson said the bill was meant to curtail malicious records requests, which do happen, where a citizen goes after copious amounts of records just to be a jerk and cost the government time and money.
It was also meant to address the growing problem of artificial intelligence and other for-profit businesses requesting thousands of records with the intent of using the information to create money-making products — think of sites that already sell publicly available personal information as “background checks.”
I believe Johnson on the good intentions of the bill in addressing those real if nebulous difficulties, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
The bill passed through the Assembly recently with ease, largely because most of its problematic portions (I’ll get to those in a minute) were removed — though not all. Even in a watered-down form, which basically gave government more time to answer requests, I found myself in the unlikely position of agreeing with conservative Republican Assemblymember and Trump supporter Carl DeMaio of San Diego, who offered some of the only opposition from elected leaders during the Assembly vote.
“We cannot police the public’s right to know, and we want to err on the side of transparency in how government agencies operate,” DeMaio said.
Amen, brother.
But the Democratic-controlled Assembly erred on the side of secrecy and slowdown instead, and the measure sailed to the Senate, where seemingly out of the blue, a bunch of new provisions were added that fill it with loopholes, vague language and tons of room for abuse.
David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the bill as written now was “comprehensively bad for transparency and therefore for government accountability.”
Sean McMorris, transparency, ethics and accountability program manager for the advocacy organization California Common Cause, put it even more forcefully. He pointed out that “public records are the public’s records.”
“They’re not owned by the government,” he said. But this bill would shift that paradigm and make the public “prove why you need them.”
“It’s going to chill people who want to make requests, and it’s going to complicate the process, and it’s just wrong,” McMorris said.
In its new form, the bill basically allows government entities to decide if they feel a public records request is malicious or for commercial gain. If they do, they can petition a court to intervene — potentially sparking both legal costs and new fees associated with fulfilling the request.
It would also, Snyder said, force a requester to explain why they wanted the records — something California law has repeatedly avoided because it gives power to government to treat those it perceives as enemies differently.
In this age of fairness and reason, it’s hard to imagine a government official misusing power to keep secrets, but I’m told it happens. That makes it all the more crucial that people not be forced to explain why they want information, or if they will use it to, say, expose corruption — be it wrongdoing by a single individual or the entire system.
Faced with unintended consequences, Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey), shown in 2023, will seek to scale back the bill to its original form, according to her chief of staff.
(Rich Polk / Getty Images for Equality California)
“I have little doubt that some agencies will use that provision to overburden requesters that they view as political opponents, requesters that they view as just a hassle, requesters that ask for things the government doesn’t want to disclose,” Snyder said. “They can bring the requester into court, and at a minimum, slow down the process, and probably more likely get the requester to simply withdraw.”
As written, the bill also gives a shoddy carve-out meant to protect journalists, but which in reality could be used to curtail requests from freelancers, student journalists and more.
McMorris said access to public records is a “moral issue,” and fixing any problems with the current law requires “a scalpel, not a meat ax.”
This bill, he warned, is a meat ax.
“I don’t discount that there are abusive requests, and that there are requests that really are a burden on government agencies, but the law right now has ways for government agencies to address that,” he pointed out. “Once these laws go into place, they’re going to be hard to roll back.”
It could “fundamentally change” our access to public records, he said.
Johnson, Pacheco’s chief of staff, told me that faced with all these unintended consequences, the Assembly member is going to ask for the amendments to be removed, and for the bill to progress as it was written when it passed the Assembly. That could happen as early as next week, when the bill with the new provisions is scheduled to come up again in a Senate committee for debate.
Reverting to the bill the Assembly voted on would be better, but slowing down public records is in government’s best interests, not the people’s. The bill does nothing to address the problems it seeks to fix, but stretches out the time officials have to simply tell a requester if any records do exist — never mind delivering them.
So even back to its watered-down form, the bill remains a meat ax for a scalpel problem, chopping up transparency with good intentions.
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Former President Joe Biden appeared to briefly seek directions before exiting the stage after delivering remarks at a Democratic gala Saturday night, capping his speech with an awkward onstage moment.
After delivering a roughly 10-minute keynote speech at the Maryland Democratic Party’s “Fight Back & Win Gala” near Baltimore, the 83-year-old paused onstage and looked toward the wings before pointing in two different directions, seemingly trying to determine where to exit. After receiving guidance, Biden turned and walked off the stage with his back to the audience.
Unlike several other speakers at the gala, who exited on the opposite side of the stage after their remarks, Biden left in a different direction.
EX-DEM INSIDER REVEALS SHE WILL EXPOSE DEMOCRATS WHO COVERED UP BIDEN’S COGNITIVE DECLINE IN NEW BOOK
Former President Joe Biden exits the stage after delivering remarks at the Maryland Democratic Party’s Fight Back and Win Gala near Baltimore on Saturday. (CSPAN)
The moment came after Biden delivered one of his sharpest public critiques of President Donald Trump since leaving office. During his remarks, Biden defended his own administration’s record while accusing the Trump administration of corruption. He also took aim at what he described as Trump’s “vanity projects,” including renovations to the White House, changes at the Kennedy Center and the ongoing saga with the reflecting pool on the National Mall.
“Whoa, what a loser,” Biden said.
After pausing several times to cough throughout his remarks, Biden concluded with a call for Democrats to “fight back,” saying the country could overcome its challenges by acting together.
“Folks, I guarantee we can do this. And we will. We just remember who in the hell we are. We’re the United States of America,” Biden said. “There’s nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we act together. So let’s get up and fight back, God darn it.”
The latest onstage moment comes just days after another widely shared incident at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
WATCH: BIDEN LEFT SEARCHING FOR FAMILY AFTER OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER CEREMONY
The star-studded ceremony brought together former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and other political leaders and entertainers. At the conclusion of the event, Biden remained onstage after others had exited before calling out, “Where’s my granddaughter?”
Former First Lady Jill Biden then returned to the stage, took his hand and guided him off.
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Former U.S. President Joe Biden and Former first lady Jill Biden appear on stage during the dedication ceremony for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in John Lewis Plaza on June 18, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Biden has largely stayed out of the public eye since withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race after facing intense pressure from fellow Democrats to end his reelection bid.
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The former president has since made only occasional public appearances and recently disclosed that he is undergoing treatment for Stage 4 prostate cancer.
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