For The Love Of Children

Israelis are scrutinizing the government's role in
helping _people have a large family.

NECHEMIAH MEYERS

Israel Correspondent

Rehovot, Israel
ome Israelis were flabbergast-
ed to read recently about
anti-child organizations in the
United States that maintain
numerous Internet sites with names
such as "Brat" and that describe little
boys and girls as "ankle biters" or "crib
lizards". They are run by people who
regard youngsters as a noisome burden
rather than a joyful blessing, and resent
that families with children can get tax
deductions and other benefits.
To be certain, some Israelis may
have such opinions. But in this coun-
try, such people keep those
notions private. Like everyone
else, they admire, or at least
pretend to admire, the occu-
pants of every baby carriage
that rolls by. Indeed, ogling at
children is a national obsession.
Even women in the high-
tech field, where every minute
counts, are unwilling to forego
motherhood. Dr. Dorit Dor, a
33-year-old vice president in
the high-tech industry, knows
this. With two children, aged
6 and 11, she comes home early — at
about 6 p.m. — at least twice a week.
At least it's early according to her
industry's standards. And she reserves
weekends to be with her family.
Her husband, also working in high-
tech, likewise comes home relatively
early twice a week. At other times, the
nanny is in charge.
Not so happily, Dr. Dor relates, one
of her son's first sentences was, "Mommy
lives at work." Was she shocked? "I sur-
vived," is all she would say.
Characteristically; she didn't even take
maternity leave when her second child
was born. "I gave birth on a Thursday
and on Sunday I already attended a
meeting in my office," she explains.
Where opinions split more dramati-
cally is on the topic of whether the
government should keep encouraging
parents to have many children, num-
bers well beyond the two or three
raised by most middle-class couples.
Not surprisingly in a country caught
up in an extended battle between its
religious and secular populations, this
has become a messy political issue.

S

To date, encouragement from the
government comes in special grants
from the National Insurance Institution
to all families with youngsters under the
age of 18. Those with one child receive
$40 a month, while the per-child
allowance rises substantially with the
number of offspring in a family. Thus, a
family with 10 boys and girls receives
$1,250 a month (or $125 per child).
Families with 10 children — or even
more — are likely to be ultra-Orthodox
and this has prompted their representa-
tives in the Knesset to sponsor a meas-
ure that would further increase the
amount paid to the parents of numer-
ous children. The expenditure could be
an extra $120 million. It now seems as

Israel's Arabs and
Orthodox Jews are
teaming up to fight
for greater government
support of large families.

if the measure will pass, despite the
opposition of the government and secu-
lar parties outside the Knesset. Shinui,
the radical secularist party and self-pro-
claimed representative of Israel's middle
class, opposes the new bill.
Giving new life to the maxim that
politics creates strange bedfellows,
ironic and enthusiastic support for the
ultra-Orthodox on child support
comes from the 10 Knesset members
who are Arabs. Many of their con-
stituents also have very large families
and stand to benefit from such a
measure. This would begin to address
their concerns that Israel's Arab citi-
zens are treated differently than Jews.
If the measure comes to fruition, of
course, it could lead to an increase in
the proportion of Arab citizens. Today,
they are about 20 percent of the popu-
lation; because of the Arabs' extremely
high birth rate, their representation in
the schoolyards is nearly 30 percent.
No doubt, in a country where every
issue is vigorously contested, that, too,
will become a factor in the debate over
the size of families. [7

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