Well, it's more complicated than you might think. My exposure is that Shosh, my wife's mother has three children, one of whom became ultra-orthodox, seeking for meaning after her army experience in Lebanon, I understand. So of Shosh's roughly 40-50 grandchildren (the number is still growing), only four are secular, and I have gone to quite a few weddings, and some of the many brits. While only the women hold regular jobs (with one exception, a couple both of whom are musicians), there are deals to be made and lots of unofficial side businesses. At the Hebrew University, we are under constant pressure to provide education streams for the Haredim, but as long as they refuse to have women in their classes, or (perish the thought) take instruction from a female faculty member, we still say no. We have faculty members who live at the edge of the ultra-orthodox community. One of our grad students, an ex-haredi, was an army logistics officer for his reserve duty. He knew where every armored bus could be found in the west bank, and could round them all up, if needed, within an hour or two. He's now working in an MIT-spinoff startup in the Boston area. Another famous faculty member, one of six sons of a distinguished rabbi, calls himself the "white sheep" of his family, and lives a split life.
