Pursuant to my phone conversation with Chedva on May 16, 2010:

Hello.

My name is Yechezkel Hirshman. I am a member of the Anglo-hareidi

community here in Israel and am involved in public relations issues that
effect the hareidi community at large. I authored a book titled One Above
and Seven Below: A Consumer's Guide to Orthodox Judaism from the
Perspective of the Chareidim.

All information about my book is available on the book's web site at:

http://sites.google.com/site/oneabovesevenbelow/

In addition, I maintain a blog as an on-line supplement to my book. The

blog is meant to deal with the same issues in real-time format. It is
available at:

http://achaslmaala.blogspot.com/

I took special interest in the publication of your report titled: Annual

State of the Nation Report 2009: Society and Economy in Israel
which was released on April 11, 2010. There has been much discussion
about the details of the report which were published in your press release
dated April 13, 2010 in various news media as well as Internet forums
(blogs).

It is my estimation that many of these details are in need of clarification

and to that end I contacted the Taub Center and tried to reach Professor
Ben-David. Prof. Ben-David was engaged in meetings at the time of my
call. Per the suggestion of the person I spoke with, Chedva, I did
download the Hebrew version of the study and I looked over the
segments that pertain to the topics that were summarized in the press
release. I was quite dismayed to note a lack of thoroughness that calls the
accuracy of some of the findings into question. The main issues are a lack
of definition of terms and minimal disclosure of the surveying techniques
save for a statement that the Institute's survey was from a total sampling
of 1000 respondents.

I would very much appreciate if Prof. Ben-David can call me to discuss

these details or, better yet, if he can devote some time for a personal
interview. I can be reached at: 052-5551212.
For the purpose of this clarification, I have prepared a list of questions
that relate to the topics that were emphasized in the press release. Here is
my current list of questions (though more may be added in the course of
an official interview):

1. How was the survey conducted? (I.e., orally by telephone or

written questionnaire? How many people were approached and how
many from those responded? If by phone, how were potential
respondents selcted? If by questionnaire, what geographical locations
werre chosen and why those? Were the questions Y/N, multiple choice
or free text? If Y/N or MC, were there allowances for Don't know or
undecided? Etc., etc.)

2. What is the definition of Hareidi for the purpose of this report?

3. How did you determine if the respondent meets said definition of

Haredi?

4. How many of the respondents were Hareidi both in absolute

numbers and percentage of respondents?

5. What is your source of information for the non-employment of

male haredim 3 decades ago? How was a haredi defined 3 decades
ago?

6. Why, in the segment on employment, were there no more than a

single sub-division (Hareidi Jews vs. non-Hareidi Jews) analyzed and
no other social classes were taken into account (most notably
immigrants in general and immigrants from underdeveloped countries
or the former Soviet Union, especially since immigrants were a class
division discussed in the survey section at the end of the report) as
well as secular vs. religious and sefardi vs. ashkenazy, etc.?

The segment on welfare authored by Professon Joannie Gal was

discussing expenditures for social services. She mentioned the following
services: Services for the elderly (the lion's share), services for the
handicapped and disabled. Family services and youth services. Not only
are none of these services allocated based on social class, but but it is
self-evident that the hareidi sector has no more need for these services
than any other sector and arguable considerably less. Therefore two
strong questions come to the fore:
 1. In the Hebrew report the discussion was entirely about
expenditures ‫ הוצאות‬. Yet, in the English press release these
expenditures were called "payments". What is the rationale (and
license) to translate ‫( הוצאה‬expenditure) as payment, as this is not the
translation of the term nor the topic of the report?

2. Why does the press release note a sharp cutback in welfare

payments in the early 2000s if we are not discussing payments but
rather expenditures, and in what way were the expenditures for these
services cut back in the early 2000s?

3. Why is the subject of welfare services that has no direct relation to

the Hareidi sector included in a press release that is titled: Taub
Center: Non-employment amongst ultra-Orthodox men has risen by
200% during the last 30 years?

I would be grateful if you could have Professor Ben-David contact me for

a telephone or personal interview to clarify these issues. At the very least,
to respond to these questions via email.

Note - This is an open email. I reserve the right to make these questions
available on my Internet forum. I consider all official responses to be
open to the public and can be made available on the same forum. Any
correspondence that is confidential must be labeled as such.

Very sincerely yours,

Yechezkel Hirshman

1a7b.author@gmail.com