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Degrees or Direction?
Esau and Jacob reconcile. Photo: Francesco Hayez.
JNS.org – Who do you think is more likely to succeed, a yeshivah student with limited secular education or a university graduate with a degree? I imagine the statistics would confirm that the latter usually do better in terms of salary packages and income.
But increasingly, we are seeing a shift in that divide. A woman in South Africa recently shared her experiences in the workplace on LinkedIn, and it elicited a huge response in the online community. Esther Ekoko had several degrees but couldn’t find a job for years. She explains that employers are no longer interested in degrees but in experience, initiative and the skills an individual brings to a company.
She acknowledges the importance of education, but as a formerly unemployed with multiple degrees, her fortunes improved when she learned two digital skills: copywriting and data analysis. Her advice to job-seekers was that a degree is not enough; learn a skill and network.
This week in Parshat Vayishlach we read the dramatic story of the reunion between the estranged twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. Jacob’s messengers report that Esau is coming with murder on his mind, seeking to avenge Jacob’s procurement of the birthright and the blessings of their father, Isaac. Jacob prepares for war should it be necessary. He also prays to God for his family’s safety and employs a significant diplomatic initiative by sending his brother a huge gift of hundreds of animals stretching for miles.
Where did Jacob acquire so much wealth? The answer is that after working for his father-in-law, Laban, for 20 years, he left with enormous numbers of livestock. His gift to Esau was a fraction of what he had amassed in the farming business.
But Jacob was a yeshivah bucher, a student whose education was exclusively in Torah. He is described in the Bible as “a dweller of tents,” a reference to the proverbial “Tent of Torah.” Could this naive yeshivah student rival his brother Esau, who never stepped into a yeshivah and was a man of the world? Yes. When Esau protested and begged Jacob to keep the large gift he had sent him, Jacob declined and said he had all that he needed. Jacob was a very wealthy man.
May I be so bold as to suggest that we are now seeing many such “Jacobs” today, whose main education was studying Torah and who have done exceptionally well in a broad variety of businesses. We can debate over whether Talmudic study has sharpened their minds to succeed in business, or it is the blessings from God above (or both), but the bottom line is that the sands are shifting, and we should take note.
John Major was the youngest prime minister of England in the 20th century. Only much later did he reveal that he was a high school dropout. Guess what, he wasn’t impeached.
Now, I’m not suggesting that we raise a generation of dropouts, but we could use a rethinking and reassessment of our educational system. Is it working? The disrupters are making huge changes in today’s world. Perhaps we need some disruption in our educational system, too.
We are currently witnessing a serious breakdown in the world of higher education with many of our students becoming so “liberal” as to lose all common sense. Traditional family values are despised, and every type of “alternative” lifestyle is praised—all in the name of enlightenment and a so-called “progressive” philosophy of life. People would do well to heed the advice of scientist Carl Sagan, who was the first to advise us to “keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out!”
And, of course, the Palestinian agenda has been adopted by many American students who are completely ignorant of the history of the Middle East and have no idea which sea or river they’re chanting about. It may as well be the Mississippi. They simply get caught up in the popularity of the campus movement of the day. Today, “Free Palestine” is the flavor of the month. I hope by next year they get back to saving the whales or the ozone layer.
Albert Einstein famously said that “education is what you’re left with when you’ve forgotten everything they taught you in school.” We need values just as much as we need facts. It’s more important to be a mensch than to have a master’s.
And when you consider the raw, blatant and brazen antisemitism on college campuses today, we could do with a serious reset and rethink. No wonder talk show host Dennis Prager advises parents not to send their kids to college. Just look at what the deans of the top Ivy League universities had to say last fall about calls of genocide on their campuses regarding Jews. That it depends on the “context!”
Maybe we should all take a leaf out of Jacob’s book and pay more attention to the study of what’s really important in life. Who knows? We may become millionaires, too.
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Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, following the results of the election, in London, Britain, July 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
i24 News – The United States has warned the UK and France not to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference scheduled for June 17 in New York, the Middle East Eye reported Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-host this conference on the two-state solution, with Paris reportedly preparing to unilaterally recognize Palestine. France is also pressuring London to follow this path, according to sources from the British Foreign Office.
French media reports indicate that French authorities believe they have the agreement of the British government. Meanwhile, Arab states are encouraging this move, measuring the success of the conference by the recognitions obtained.
This initiative deeply divides Western allies. If France and the UK were to carry out this recognition, they would become the first G7 nations to take this step, causing a “political earthquake” according to observers, given their historical ties with Israel. The Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer threatened last week to annex parts of the West Bank if this recognition took place, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary David Lammy publicly opposes unilateral recognition, stating that London would only recognize a Palestinian state when we know that it is going to happen and that it is in view.
However, pressure is mounting within the Labour Party. MP Uma Kumaran, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the government was elected on a platform that promised to recognize Palestine as a step towards a just and lasting peace. Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, believes that there is no legitimate reason for the United States to interfere in a sovereign decision of recognition, while highlighting the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump on this issue.
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Police, Shin Bet Thwart Suspected Iranian Attempt Perpetrate Terror Attack
A small number of Jewish worshipers pray during the priestly blessing, a traditional prayer which usually attracts thousands of worshipers at the Western Wall on the holiday of Passover during 2020, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 12, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.
i24 News – The Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police thwarted another Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis, according to a statement on Tuesday, arresting a resident of East Jerusalem for allegedly carrying out missions for the Islamic Republic.
Iranian agents recruited the suspect, who in turn recruited members of his family. He is a resident of the Isawiya neighborhood in his 30s, and is accused of maintaining contact with a hostile foreign entity to harm the state by carrying out a terrorist attack against Jews.
The suspect had already begun perpetrating acts of sabotage and espionage, including collecting intelligence about areas in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market. He also hung signs, burned Israeli army uniforms, and more in exchange for payment totaling thousands of shekels.
He was also charged with planning a terror attack in central Israel, including setting fire to a forest, and was told to transfer weapons to terrorist elements in the West Bank.
The suspect’s sought the help of family members, including his mother. A search at his home revealed sums of cash, a spray can used in some of his activities, airsoft guns, suspected illegal drugs, and more.
His indictment is expected to be filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The statement said that the case is yet another example of Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis. “We will continue to coordinate efforts to thwart terrorism and terrorist elements, including those operating outside Israel, while attempting to mobilize local elements in order to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Shin Bet and Police said.
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Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds a chart showing the development of antisemitic crime, during a press conference on Figures for Politically Motivated Crime in the Country, in Berlin, Germany, May 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Cybercrime in Germany rose to a record level last year, driven by hacker attacks from pro-Russian and anti-Israeli groups, the BKA Federal Crime Office reported on Tuesday as the government said it would boost countermeasures to combat it.
“Cybercrime is an increasing threat to our security,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. “It is getting more aggressive but our counter-strategies are also becoming more professional,” he said.
Some 131,391 cases of cybercrime took place in Germany last year and a further 201,877 cases were committed from abroad or an unknown location, a BKA report said.
The actors behind the hacker attacks on German targets were primarily either pro-Russian or anti-Israeli, said the BKA, adding targets were mostly public and federal institutions.
Ransomware, when criminals copy and encrypt data, is one of the main threats, said the BKA, with 950 companies and institutes reporting cases in 2024.
German digital association Bitkom said damage caused by cyberattacks here totaled 178.6 billion euros ($203.87 billion) last year, some 30.4 billion euros more than in the previous year.
Dobrindt said the government planned to extend the legal capabilities authorities could use to combat cybercrime and set higher security standards for companies.
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