Israel has come to terms with the fact that the ultra-Orthodox sector does not cooperate with the Compulsory Education Law and conducts its own segregated and closed education system that refuses to incorporate basic subjects such as the sciences, civics, Hebrew and English. The state has thus failed in its obligation to young ultra-Orthodox people, preventing them from realizing their basic right to an education.

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis are convinced that their formula for educating their children is the winning one. They do not want to waste precious time on secular studies when a child's soul is being molded. There will be time for such studies when the child is older, says Rabbi Yisrael Eichler. From the ultra- Orthodox point of view, childhood ends only after marriage. Only then can time be spared to learn a trade.

Successive Israeli governments have worried about being too coercive toward the way things are done in the ultra-Orthodox sector. Some say the concern was politically motivated; however, it can be assumed that another reason was respect for Torah scholars, the keepers of the seal, and fears about sparking a civil war. Conditioning exemption from military service on a life of devotion to yeshiva study has created large yeshivas that have become cities of refuge from service in the Israel Defense Forces. The size of the student body has become a problem for the ultra-Orthodox themselves, who become increasingly insular and poorer as their numbers rise. The rabbis preferred to preserve a closed and poor camp of Torah students and not give in one iota in educating their children as they wish.