On Shabbos I had an einfall - an illuminating thought. It happened during a discussion with a friend about the lack of general education, and the governments upcoming efforts to try to get haredi schools to implement a core curriculum that would include mathematics and some language skills (English as the international language for the most part). The discussion mostly centered on how it is a good idea to have a basic level of education, and how in chutz la'aretz even the most hardcore haredi schools have at least basic general education, with many providing even much more than just the basics.
Shortly after that, the discussion changed topics, and we were discussing an incident from Tanach. Neither of us could remember some detail of the incident in Tanach under discussion, and we asked a couple of yeshiva kids (our own children) if they knew. None of the kids even knew what we were talking about, let alone the detail we could not remember.
Granted, I have a lousy memory and barely remember what I did learn, and I am no expert in Tanach even regardless of my bad memory, but at least I have an idea of Tanach - we learned it in school, and even in Yeshiva High School (in Telshe Yeshiva, so don't say that if I learned Tanach it must have been MO school)
And that's when I had my einfall - my illuminating thought.
The government is barking up the wrong tree. Yes, it is a problem the kids don't get basic math and language in schools. But they do not even learn Tanach! If the government is going to force a core curriculum on the haredi schools, I hope they include Tanach as one of the required topics...
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