Do Yeshivas in New York State have a future?

Rabbi Responds to Attack on Yeshivas by New York State

David Eidensohn

First, we begin with an article in the Lohud Journal News of Rockland New York and other New York State environments, attacking the present Yeshiva system based on laws passed years ago but never enforced until the Cuomo administration. For the first time with a Democratic majority, it has passed hideous laws permitting killing fetuses and not being challenged by the government. The attack on Yeshivas is in line with this new attempt to do away with biblical values for all people and much of respect for woman and children. Here we present from me, David Eidensohn, a defense, not on all of the hideous murderous inventions of Albany which began on Jan 22, ’19 anniversary of abortion law Roe vs Wade, but on this article attacking Yeshivas in New York State. Cuomo’s Democrats did not invent this law which has been law for many years, but they have insisted on enforcing it, and there is great fear that their efforts will spill out into great changes in that very law similar to what they did with the abortion law. Here is the article of the Journal News which simply explained that all of this was state law, and my defense of those who opposed it.

From Journal News

It was clear that state Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia was going to have a hard time producing private-school curriculum guidelines that would meet state law and satisfy the Orthodox community, especially those protective of Hasidic yeshivas.

But who could anticipate the wrath directed at Elia and her updated guidelines for enforcing that academic instruction at private schools is "substantially equivalent" to public schools? The timing of the release, just before Hanukkah, fed numerous comparisons of Elia and the state Education Department to the Syrian-Greeks, who tried (and failed) to Hellenize the Jews in the Hanukkah story.

Grand Rebbe Aharon Teitelbaum of the Satmar Hasidic movement, for one, has declared war against Elia. In a major speech before thousands of followers in Brooklyn, he said his community "will not bow down or surrender to the wicked, not even before the Commissioner of Education." 

Almost 55,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the new state guidelines and rejecting Elia's "attempt to impose her curriculum on our yeshivas."

Attacking from another front, the New York State Council of Catholic School Superintendents, which represents about 500 Catholic schools, also rejects the new guidelines. The group opposes having Catholic school instruction reviewed by local public school officials, with whom they say they are in competition for students.

THE GUIDELINES: Yeshivas could face closure, eventually, if academics fail

Much of the vitriol directed at Elia and "her system," though, is way off base. Critics seem determined to ignore the reality that Elia is trying to enforce existing state law, which is her job. She did not create instructional rules for private schools; nor did she design a system to inspect what private schools teach. 

But blaming her is an easy out. Comparing her to Jewish oppressors of yore is nonsense.

The simple truth is that state law — since at least 1947 — has required that academic instruction at private schools be "substantially equivalent" to what public schools teach. Section 3204 of state Education Law has also required that public school districts be responsible for making sure that private schools within their boundaries teach what they're supposed to teach.

The law, by and large, has been ignored. Until now.

Two years ago, Elia decided to update state guidelines for enforcement of the law. Why she did so is one point of conflict. Many Orthodox critics insist she was unduly influenced by an advocacy group they don't like, Young Advocates for Fair Education or YAFFED. State Education Department officials told me they received requests to clarify requirements by many, including public schools, private schools and BOCES.

Ruminating on Elia's motivation is just a distraction. The law is the law, and Elia is doing the right thing, the only thing, by trying to enforce it. Wishing she would look the other way, as her predecessors did, is not a credible position. 

End of Journal News Article. Now is my defense of Yeshivas.

My Defense of Yeshivas in New York State

 by Rabbi David Eidensohn

The above article from the Journal News simply describes government law in New York State and the article seems to be accurate. My response is that any governmental force on religious people to violate their religion is not only anti-religious but also a violation of a Supreme Court ruling in Wisconsin v. Jonas Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, is the case in which the United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade. The parents' fundamental right to freedom of religion was determined to outweigh the state's interest in educating its children. The case is often cited as a basis for parents' right to educate their children outside of traditional private or public schools. Cuomo government violation of this is a direct contradiction to Federal Law and the Supreme Court that voted 7-9 that religious right of an organized religious group trumps state power to change it. Incidentally, the two justices who were not part of the 7 who voted for it, did not oppose the idea that religion trumps the state, but for other reasons.

This is not about judicial issues for which I am not an expert on American law. This is about religious law, and how the religious community of all religions is upset with a secular government creating new ideas that are anathema to major sectors of that country. New York State and many states have very large amounts of deeply religious people. These anti-biblical and anti-family laws have now taken place in England and other countries. A senior rabbi in England declared that now religious people will have to leave England. What about the thousands of religious New Yorkers?

Let us now turn to the religious Jews who instigated forced change in policy mentioned above where Yeshivas are under attack for not spending the time that public schools spend in teaching various subjects. These religious Jews follow a history of “our destroyers come from us.” One of them, a deeply pious Jew, caused the destruction of the Second Temple. They always know better than the senior rabbis of the generation. And the rabbis whose Yeshivas are heavily populated by believers surely don’t want the atheists of Cuomo telling their children about atheism. This is a capital crime.

The greatest rabbis in the world going back a few generations made it clear that forcing a woman by the government for any reason is a capital crime. I heard this from a relative who was the one who trained the present Stoliner Rebbe; Reb E. Brizel, the grandfather of my daughter.

The greatest rabbis in the world held that any governmental pressure on women for any reason is a capital crime. These rabbis are Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Yitschok HaLevi Soloveitchik, and other major Torah personalities.

The Brisker Rov Rabbi Yischok haLevi Soloveitchik says that the sin of forcing a Torah woman even to join a social program not the army and to help people in nursing homes is a capital crime. Rabbi Brizel told me further that a Jewish woman must be guided only by her husband and parents. To force Jewish boys and girls into a school where they will be taught things that are against the Torah is a very serious sin.

I conclude by saying that if Cuomo fulfills his dream of becoming President of the United States, there is a great fear that America, the only friend of Israel, will force Israel to accept its policies that Cuomo believes in very strongly or lose its help from America.

The only hope is to stop Cuomo now, especially when all biblical and family people will publicly pronounce their opposition to destroying religion and family. There is a letter I have from Reb Moshe Feinstein commanding everyone to do this and to attend governmental decisions on toeivo and protest. 

Cuomo is a murderer and a great hater of heaven and family.