Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin met with haredim involved in the Israeli high-tech industry on Tuesday in the backdrop of a report noting a 52 percent jump in the number of Torah-observant workers in the field since 2014.
The new report by the Israeli Advanced Technology Industries (IATA) and KamaTech, which facilitates the integration of ultra-Orthodox workers into the industry, also found a 90 percent spike in haredi women employed in high-tech in the past four years.
It also found that the majority of such workers are under the age of 28.
Participated in the meeting with Rivlin were Deputy Minister of Transportation Uri Maklev; Sari Roth, a haredi woman who holds senior positions in high-tech companies; Naama Rutenberg, a graduate of the KamaTech program who is currently employed with Apple; and 20 or so other technology leaders that joined by Zooom.
“Haredi society is not just responsible for itself. Haredi society has a responsibility for the State of Israel and its economy. Bringing haredim into the workforce is clearly in the interest of Israel as a whole,” said Rivlin.
He added that “the continued success of our country depends on it.”
The number of haredim in the various programs offered by the Ministry of Education’s technological training institute has doubled in the last four years. In addition, some 200 haredi startups have been established in Israel since 2015.
