No Child Spared: Horrifying Violence as an Educational Tool

Hundreds of thousands of young children are enrolled in the early Haredi education system, known as the heder, from the age of five or six until eighth grade. There are no official statistics on the matter, but estimates suggest that in this system—where a child's future is determined—severe, institutionalized violence against students is widespread. This violence, considered an educational tool in the hands of teachers and principals, exists even in the most mainstream institutions. It is fully known to parents and carried out with their consent. It can manifest as psychological abuse or as physical beatings—sometimes of children as young as five—in countless creative ways, often humiliating them in front of their classmates or even the entire school.

Filmmaker Meni Philip himself went through this system and endured this treatment, but he believed it was a thing of the past. A few years ago, in the wake of the reckoning sparked by the #MeToo movement, a social media post describing this violence went viral. It led to hundreds of testimonies from others who had suffered similar horrifying experiences and ultimately compelled him to create No Child Spared. In the film, which airs tonight on HOT 8 and will be available on HOT VOD, Philip allows people to speak for themselves. Every participant speaks openly on camera—from Philip and his brother, now in their 40s, to the youngest interviewee, an 11-year-old boy, who is accompanied by his mother and older brother as he shares his own experiences.

Testimony after testimony (and some disturbing footage from inside the institutions shown at the end of the film) builds a chilling portrait of the society this education system creates. The participants themselves reflect on the adults they have become as a result, the impact on the wider public, and even on the country's leadership. No Child Spared seeks to make this abuse impossible to ignore. One can only hope it will also lead to change.

___

*This article was translated from the original Hebrew version.