Torah and Tech in Israel

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2016

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can you learn to code if you’ve spent your life studying religious texts? Can you be part of the fast-paced, secular world of technology and startups if you’re from a conservative religious community? Israel has been called the "Startup Nation", with a flourishing technology sector playing a big role in the country’s economy. But one group who haven’t traditionally been involved are ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim. They often live apart from mainstream Israeli society and adhere to strict religious laws covering everything from diet to dress and technology. Many men don’t work or serve in the army, spending their lives studying the Torah, subsidised by the government. It’s a way of life that leaves many Haredim in poverty, and other Israelis resenting picking up the tab. But in recent years, the ultra-orthodox have been increasingly joining the high-tech world, working in big international tech companies and founding their own startups. David Baker travels to Israel to meet the new breed of high tech Haredim, and find out how they reconcile taking part in the "Startup Nation" with traditional Torah life.

Produced by James Fletcher.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've always been interested in how technology affects human beings
0:03.6	and especially when very traditional communities come up against tech.
0:08.1	So I want to Israel to discover how the country's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community
0:12.3	are getting involved in the tech startup world.
0:15.0	Hello I'm David Baker and for assignment this week I'm in Jerusalem. This is the
0:29.0	whaling wall and it's Tisha Ba'av a day of mourning in the Jewish calendar.
0:33.7	And thousands of Jews have gathered here to remember the destruction of the Jewish temple
0:37.5	in this very place 2,000 years ago. There are men here pushing up against these stones.
0:45.0	There are men here pushing up against these stones.
0:50.0	There are men here pushing up against these stones. This is the wall that was the original temple which was destroyed here in 70 AD. There's a real sense of grief here.
1:08.6	There's a real sense of grief here.
1:10.4	These people really are mourning the loss of the temple.
1:13.0	Of all the groups praying here at the wall, the most numerous and the ones that really stand out are the Haridim or ultra-Orthodox Jews.
1:28.0	In their long black coats and black hats, a way of dressing that's centuries old.
1:33.0	Karedi culture is rooted in tradition in the past and it tends to stand apart from Israel's
1:48.1	more secular mainstream.
1:50.3	But for this week's program I'll be finding out how the country's ultra-Orthodox Jews are engaging in an unexpected area, Israel's booming high-tech sector.
1:59.0	This country is known as the startup nation. In technology it's often considered second only to
2:04.2	Silicon Valley. I'll be asking how Haridim getting involved in this world will change
2:09.2	the shape of their communities and the country as a whole.
2:18.0	We're in Herzegelia. This is a town just north of Tel Aviv and it really is the the powerhouse of the Israeli tech industry it's very much where the
2:24.8	startup nation starts up if you like this is a very modern town it looks like it could
	...

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