New findings from the Institute for Chareidi Strategy and Policy are raising serious questions about many assumptions that have long shaped public discussion of the chareidi community in Israel. The data points to significant demographic, economic, and social shifts that together paint a far more complicated picture than is often assumed.
In an interview on Kikar FM with Eli Gothelf, Dr. Eitan Regev, vice president for research and data at the institute, summed up the situation succinctly. “The picture is complex,” he said. “There are areas where we see improvement, areas that are standing in place, and economic pressures that weigh on everything.”
At the center of the report is a sharp decline in birthrates. According to Regev, the chareidi public in Israel is currently experiencing its lowest fertility levels in nearly forty years. Two decades ago, the average chareidi family had 7.3 children. Today, that number stands at 6.2. Regev explained that the drop reflects a combination of factors, including housing pressures, ongoing financial strain, increased attention to the physical and emotional wellbeing of women, and a steady rise in academic education among chareidi women.
He noted that additional factors further change the overall demographic picture. Various studies show that 13 to 14 percent of those raised within the chareidi world eventually leave it, a figure Regev stressed cannot be ignored. He also said updated population estimates place the current chareidi population at roughly 1.3 million, rather than the 1.4 million cited in earlier projections.
These revisions have led the institute to update long-term forecasts. Contrary to the commonly repeated claim that chareidim will comprise about one-third of Israel’s population by 2065, Regev said the institute’s current projection is significantly lower, at 20 to 22 percent. He explained that older forecasts relied on higher historical birthrates and did not sufficiently account for attrition. As the community grows larger, he said, the absolute number of those leaving becomes more meaningful and no longer balances itself out.
The report also highlights differences within the chareidi public. According to the data presented, the chassidic sector continues to have the highest birthrates, averaging around seven children per family. The steepest decline has been recorded among Sephardic chareidim, where the average is about 5.2 children. The Litvishe sector falls in between, with an average of roughly 6.5 children.
Education trends among women show similarly wide gaps. Overall, about 16 percent of chareidi women hold an academic degree, but the breakdown by group is striking. Among chassidic women, the figure stands at just 5 to 6 percent. Among Sephardic and Litvishe women, it is around 17 to 18 percent, while among Chabad women it approaches 40 percent. Regev added that among women aged 30 to 34, nearly 19 percent already hold academic degrees, meaning close to one out of every five.
On the employment front, Regev said chareidi male employment saw a noticeable rise in 2022, largely driven by rising interest rates and higher mortgage payments. That trend reversed in 2023 and 2024. He attributed the decline to uncertainty surrounding the draft law, particularly among younger men, as well as possible concerns about reporting employment. “The State of Israel keeps making the same mistake by tying employment to the draft issue,” he said, warning that this linkage harms both sides.
Another indicator of longer-term change, Regev suggested, is the rapid growth of state-chareidi education. Within just two years, the share of boys in elementary school enrolled in these frameworks doubled from about 4 percent to 8 percent, and this year has already reached roughly 9 to 10 percent. He described this as a conscious parental decision, reflecting an understanding that children will need broader tools going forward, including core studies.
The most dramatic data, however, emerged in the area of housing. Regev said that in 2023 there was a 30 percent drop in the number of young chareidi couples able to purchase their first apartment. Although 2024 saw some recovery, levels remain well below those of 2019. Survey data collected by the institute shows that about 70 percent of chareidi families now assume they may need to live in rental housing.
According to Regev, this represents a major disruption to the traditional chareidi economic model. For decades, owning an apartment served not only as housing but also as savings and a foundation for helping children later on. In a high-interest-rate environment, fewer couples can take on a mortgage, and those who do pay far more interest and far less principal, weakening the savings element. He noted a growing move toward alternative investments, some safer and some riskier, creating greater variation between families where once there was a fairly uniform model.
Regev concluded that the convergence of declining birthrates, housing challenges, rising female education, shifts in male employment, and the growth of state-chareidi schooling points to a deeper structural change. These trends, he said, do not reflect a passing phase but an ongoing process in which the chareidi public is being forced to rethink and rebuild its economic model while still in motion.
{Matzav.com}
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a lower court judge lacked the authority to order the release of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody, handing a win to President Donald Trump’s administration as it pursues his deportation.
In a 2–1 decision, a panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the lawsuit Khalil filed challenging his detention should be dismissed, a ruling that leaves him vulnerable to being taken back into custody.
The majority opinion was written by U.S. Circuit Judges Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, both appointed by Republican presidents. They concluded that the Immigration and Nationality Act requires Khalil’s arguments to be raised through the standard immigration process, specifically by appealing a final removal order issued by an immigration judge.
“The scheme Congress enacted governing immigration proceedings provides Khalil a meaningful forum in which to raise his claims later on — in a petition for review of a final order of removal,” the judges wrote in an unsigned opinion.
Khalil, who emerged as a leading figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations opposing Israel’s war in Gaza, was taken into custody on March 8 when immigration agents arrested him in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan.
President Donald Trump has described the campus protests as antisemitic and has pledged to remove foreign students who participated in them. Khalil was the first individual targeted under that policy.
Although Khalil was initially held in New York, immigration authorities transferred him to New Jersey before his attorney filed a lawsuit contesting his detention, resulting in the case being reassigned to a judge there.
In June, Khalil was released from a Louisiana immigration detention facility after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ordered the Department of Homeland Security to free him from custody.
{Matzav.com}
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should aggressively remove criminal illegal immigrants, urging agents to take decisive action against those with criminal records.
Speaking on Fox News Channel’s The Will Cain Show, Fetterman addressed a recent Minneapolis incident in which Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Good had “weaponized her vehicle” while agents were attempting to free their own vehicle.
“Round up all the criminals,” Fetterman said. “Deport them. They shouldn’t have ever been here, and they definitely have to go.”
While acknowledging that the shooting was “a tragedy,” Fetterman said it has been “very clear” to him since he entered the Senate in 2023 that the Biden administration was “failing at our border.”
He cited what he described as the “latest statistics” reported by the Washington Post about the criminal backgrounds of immigrants taken into custody by ICE.
“Sixty-seven percent have criminal charges — pending ones … that’s more than two-thirds,” Fetterman said, adding that “two things can be true” and that it is possible to back deportations while opposing “the extreme.”
Fetterman also pointed to data published by the New York Times on the number of monthly encounters at the southern border in recent years.
“When you reach almost 300,000 people, that’s unsustainable,” he said. “As a Democrat, it shouldn’t be unreasonable to want to secure our border and do it in that way.”
The Pennsylvania senator has previously voiced support for ICE, saying the agency “performs an important job,” and has faulted fellow Democrats for not “handle the border appropriately.”
According to Breitbart News, Fetterman said in a 2024 CNN interview that although he wants to “provide the American Dream for any migrant,” doing so becomes untenable when “you have 300,000 people showing up encountered at our border.”
{Matzav.com}
The United States has carried out an initial sale of Venezuelan crude valued at approximately $500 million, according to multiple reports on Thursday that cited unidentified government officials.
According to Semafor, the proceeds from the sale are currently being held in bank accounts under U.S. government control, with the primary account based in Qatar, an industry source familiar with the arrangement said. That source explained that Qatar was selected as a “neutral venue” that allows funds to be transferred with U.S. authorization while avoiding the risk of seizure.
The move was described as consistent with an Executive Order signed last week by President Donald Trump that protects Venezuelan oil revenues held in U.S. Treasury-controlled accounts from attachment or court action, with the goal of “ensuring these funds are preserved to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives.”
The same source told Semafor that the Venezuelan socialist government, currently headed by “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez, has “fully cooperated” with Washington, noting that the United States retains “leverage” through its sanctions regime and control over oil transactions.
“The United States Treasury is fully committed to supporting President Trump’s efforts on behalf of the people of Venezuela,” a U.S. Department of the Treasury spokesperson told Semafor.
Another unnamed official also confirmed to Semafor that the principal account holding the oil sale revenue is located in Qatar, describing it as a “neutral” setting where “money can flow freely with U.S. approval and without risk of seizure.”
“President Trump brokered a historic energy deal with Venezuela, immediately following the arrest of narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro, that will benefit the American and Venezuelan people,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to Semafor, adding that the administration is continuing “positive, ongoing discussions” with oil companies regarding Venezuela.
CBS News reported that Rogers provided a similar statement to its newsroom. Fox News likewise published Rogers’ remarks, which stated:
President Trump’s team is facilitating positive, ongoing discussions with oil companies that are ready and willing to make unprecedented investments to restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
President Trump is protecting our Western Hemisphere from being taken advantage of by narcoterrorists, drug traffickers, and foreign adversaries.
Reuters, citing an unnamed U.S. official, reported that further oil sales are anticipated “in the coming days and weeks.”
Separately, the Venezuelan socialist government recently announced plans to sell as much as $2 billion in crude oil to the United States, a deal that Reuters noted last week would “divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.”
{Matzav.com}
