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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: ISRAEL ORTHODOX YOUTH
HEADLINE: More of Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Youth Abandoning Religious Lifestyle
TEASER: Group helps them through often painful process of breaking with their families and communities and integrating into the modern, secular world
PUBLISHED: 03/02/2023 at 8:20AM
BYLINE: Linda Gradstein
DATELINE: Jerusalem
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricki Rosen, Agencies
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA, REUTERS, AFP
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X RADIO _
TRT: 2:56
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: FOR PRODUCTION WEDNESDAY Web desk, please post camera credit for Ricki Rosen))
((INTRO)) [[In Israel, the ultra-Orthodox, who strictly observe Jewish law, are currently about 13 percent of Israel’s population, although their numbers are growing due to a high birthrate. At the same time, a growing number of ultra-Orthodox youth are opting out of the community, often cutting all ties to their past. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.]]
((NARRATOR))
Israeli ultra-Orthodox schools focus almost exclusively on religious studies, and most forbid their students to use the Internet, which could take them outside their insular communities and into a liberal secular society. But a growing number of ultra-Orthodox youth are choosing to break out.
About 3,000 of these ultra-Orthodox youth, called “yotzim,” have left the community in the past year, according to Yair Hass, the executive director of the Hillel organization. Hillel’s network of more than a thousand volunteers helps many of the yotzim to begin new lives, offering temporary housing, education and psychological counseling.
((Yair Hass, Hillel Executive Director (male in Hebrew, VOA))))
“We offer a supportive community and a way to deal with loneliness. The loneliness is terrible because they are cut off from their families. Someone who leaves the ultra-Orthodox world is seen as a traitor to their values and way of life, and many of those who leave also deal with terrible guilt. It is crucial that they get support from others who have left the ultra-Orthodox world.”
((NARRATOR))
Hillel centers in four Israeli cities arrange communal dinners and other events to substitute for the close-knit ultra-Orthodox family life left behind. Some of the “yotzim” were married, like Fredi, who was 18 when her parents arranged a match with a man she barely knew.
VOA is using only the “yotzim’s” first names to protect their privacy.
((Fredi, Left Ultra-Orthodox Judaism- Female (in Hebrew, NEEDS VOICEOVER), VOA))
“One day I just left. I was 20, and I walked out of the house, and I didn’t know where I was going. For three months every day, I was just looking for a place to sleep that night. Eventually I found Hillel, and they arranged a place for me to live and other services.”
((NARRATOR))
Others say the decision to leave took years.
[[RADIO VERSION: That was the case of Bracha.]]
((Bracha, Left Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, Female (in English), VOA))
“There was a slow progression of me wanting to leave the ultra-Orthodox world because I wasn’t allowed to sing in front of men, I wasn’t allowed to dress how I want, … I had no skills for the world. I couldn’t go out in the world and be treated decently in a job where I can move up.”
((NARRATOR))
Hillel helps “yotzim” make up the secular studies they never learned in ultra-Orthodox schools to prepare them for a job in the outside world.
[[RADIO VERSION: Dudi says the journey has, indeed, been difficult for him.]]
((Dudi, Left Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Male in Hebrew, NEEDS VOICEOVER), VOA))
“I had to start over at zero, with new friends, a new language, a different culture. You have to study completely different things. You have no degree, no English or math.”
((NARRATOR))
Ultra-Orthodox political parties in Israel’s new right-wing religious government are currently demanding massive budget increases to support their community’s lifestyle, especially religious education. They want to keep their young people satisfied within the community and not tempted, like the “yotzim”, to leave and join modern Israeli society.
((Linda Gradstein for VOA News, Jerusalem))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Jerusalem
BylineLinda Gradstein
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
