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.
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 telling 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 the greatest
toeiva in the world.
