Dr. Yoav Heller: “The Chareidi Citizen Is the Most Discriminated Against — and Therefore the Most Neglected”
In a pointed interview with Eli Guthelf on Kikar FM, Dr. Yoav Heller, chairman of the Fourth Quarter movement, argued that the death of the child Yosef Eisenthal z”l was not only a personal tragedy but a warning sign of a collapsed civic contract between the State of Israel and its chareidi citizens.
Heller said he was not seeking to comfort listeners or align with any political camp. “I’m saying things that people may not like,” he said at the outset, “but the truth has to be said.”
According to Heller, the incident should not be viewed as an isolated event. He described it as part of a broader, ongoing pattern of systemic failure. When children are present at a protest, a driver repeatedly calls the police, and officers never arrive, Heller said, that is not a malfunction but a breakdown of sovereignty.
“In a state governed by law, there is no such thing as areas where the state simply isn’t present,” he said. “Even if it’s a radical group, even if they are lawbreakers, the police must respond. No citizen can be abandoned because of who they are.”
Heller rejected attempts to frame the case as an internal problem of the chareidi community alone. He drew a parallel to the Meron disaster, arguing that the state repeatedly shifts responsibility to intermediaries and power brokers, then distances itself when systems collapse.
“The State of Israel doesn’t speak to the chareidi citizen,” he said. “It speaks to chareidi mechanisms, to askanim, to mediating leadership — and then wonders why there is no control.”
While making clear that he has no tolerance for extremist factions, whom he described as criminals, Heller insisted that law enforcement cannot simply disappear. He compared the situation to violence in Arab society. “When there are murders in Arab communities, can the police say, ‘That’s your culture, deal with it yourselves’? Obviously not. The same applies here.”
Heller extended his critique beyond policing, saying the same dynamic exists in debates over military service and education. He argued that chareidi society is often portrayed as freely choosing its path, when in reality individual choice is severely constrained.
He cited data indicating that 61 percent of chareidi parents want their children to study English and mathematics, yet have little ability to make that happen because decisions are made at an institutional level rather than by parents themselves. “In a chareidi municipality, the authority decides whether such a school will exist or not,” he said. “The parent is left powerless.”
Turning to the past year’s events, and especially October 7, Heller said Israel can no longer rely on partial arrangements and ad hoc compromises with a population that is no longer marginal. He called for a new civic contract — not based on coercion, but also not on blanket exemptions.
“There are national missions — security, the economy, and the spirit,” he said. “Not everyone has to do the same thing, but everyone has to contribute something.”
Heller said he opposes arresting those who do not enlist, but argued there is no justification for full access to welfare systems for individuals who do not contribute to any national mission.
On the question of Torah study, Heller described Torah learning as a national asset that the state should formally recognize. At the same time, he warned against turning Torah into an exclusive, lifelong profession for an elite minority.
“For most of Eastern European Jewry, people worked and learned Torah,” he said. “The idea that everyone must sit in kollel all day is a modern innovation.”
Toward the end of the interview, Heller recounted conversations with senior rabbanim following October 7. One rabbi, he said, told him he viewed certain problems as unsolvable because of siyata diShmaya. Heller pushed back on that approach.
“I don’t think that’s Judaism,” he said. “The Chazon Ish went into a room with Ben-Gurion because he understood that there is a state, and there is responsibility.”
Despite his sharp criticism, Heller concluded with a clear warning against hatred. “It is forbidden to hate chareidim,” he said. “It is forbidden to deny them services and present that as an achievement.”
He summarized his vision simply, though he acknowledged its complexity: “Torah, work, army — each in their own way, while preserving identity.”
{Matzav.com}
