Israel’s Mossad Is Recruiting More Ultra-Orthodox Men

For the past dozen years, Yossi has followed a simple routine: rise at 7 a.m., prayers and breakfast until 8, then 14 or more hours studying sacred Jewish texts, with breaks for meals and more prayers. But since September, Yossi has replaced most of his religious readings with math and programming textbooks as he works toward a computer science degree. He hopes to ultimately land a job with an Israeli security agency—perhaps even Mossad, the country’s equivalent to the CIA. “Of course I have dreams,” says Yossi, 29, whose family name has been withheld for security reasons. “I wanted a purpose, to contribute to Israel, and this allows me to do that, especially serving in defense.”

Yossi participates in a program called the Pardes Project, which seeks to better integrate Haredim—as the ultra-Orthodox are known in Hebrew—into the economy while preserving their identity. Under Jewish tradition, a man’s holy obligation is to learn, and for Haredim that means studying ancient texts to forge a closer relationship with God. The ultra-Orthodox represent more than 10% of Israel’s population, but roughly half the men devote their lives to religious scholarship while their wives work to support the family. The government has said it wants to get 63% of working-age Haredi men into the labor force by next year; there’s little chance that will happen, even as economists say that with growth slowing, Israel needs a greater contribution from them. If all Haredi men were as productive as other Israelis, the economy would get a boost of more than $5 billion a year, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. “These people are geniuses, and they have no opportunities,” says Moshe Kahan, the founder of Pardes. “We’re trying to give them something to look forward to.”