A Mandatory Listen - Nechumi Yaffe: An insider's dire prognosis for the Haredi world - and its cure

Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.

For this fourth episode in the new series, we speak with Prof. Nechumi Yaffe, an ultra-Orthodox woman running for Knesset for the Charedi Public Party (HaTzibur HaCharedi).

A faculty member at Tel Aviv University since 2019, Yaffe is currently a tenured senior lecturer at the School of Public Policy and co-director of the Haredi Research Group at UCLA.

Among other fields of interest, Yaffe delves into the issues of poverty and identity in Haredi society.

We hear how the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on southern Israel made Yaffe rethink the ideas of civil obligations and rights. While she believes that youths who are not fit for yeshiva can -- and should -- be conscripted into the IDF, she is deeply concerned with allowing the ultra-Orthodox community to remain strictly observant.

How can a delicate balance between religious observance and national burden be forged? Only through education, says Yaffe.

Over time, she relates, her friends and neighbors in the ultra-Orthodox world stopped accusing her of airing their dirty laundry in the secular public and began understanding the dire situation their community is in.

But will this increased awareness lead to a gain in the polls? Perhaps through the Haredi world's overlooked weapon -- women.

A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

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