Community Magazine April 2019

adar II - nissan 5779 april 2019 39 The winner, JumaaneWilliams, on the other hand, was backed by the New York Times , which ran pronouncements stating, “Let’s turn New York City in to a progressive beacon for the rest of the nation. Do you have Jumaane’s back?” “Progressives” have traditionally not favored parochial education. “Electing Ulrich as Public Advocate would have sent a powerful message as well as created an earthquake in New York politics,” says Brooklyn attorney and activist Asher E. Taub, who attended that meeting and who was a strong advocate for Councilman Ulrich. Unfortunately, despite the endorsement by the rabbanim , not enough religious Jews came out to vote him in. Ulrich came in second. Taub noted that Williams obtained only 33% of 400,000 votes in this low-turnout election. Had the “guaranteed” Jewish votes been generated, Ulrich would have won handily. "Williams is pro-BDS and known to be a bona fide soneh Yisroel . He is now in a good position to become mayor. We pushed very hard, but we had no ground game. We didn’t have enough time from receiving the rabbinic endorsements to pushing out the votes. We only needed another 50,000 votes to get Ulrich in. Instead, we confirmed to the politicians that as a community we are powerless. We now have no one advocating for us, and the city is breathing down the yeshivot's throats, more so than initially thought," Taub commented. The rabbis pushing for Ulrich included Rabbi Shimon Alouf, Rabbi Haim Benoliel, Rabbi Elya Brudny, and Rabbi Yaakov Bender. Volunteer activists had been closely monitoring the political negotiations taking place between three Torah institutions, Agudath Israel, Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools (PEARLS), and Torah Umesorah, and State Commissioner for Education MaryEllen Alia. It was a frustrating, painstaking process that resulted in few gains for Orthodox Jewish schools. A Reason for Activism Rabbi Yosef Churba, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivat Magen Abraham, was one such activist. “When I got involved in early December, the State was demanding over seven hours of secular studies daily – 1.7 hours more than required in public schools. That meant that students wouldn’t open a siddur before 4:30pm. The Department of Education was essentially looking to eliminate limudei kodesh from our schools.” Infuriated, he immediately posted an online petition [ https:// www.change.org/p/500-000-students-vs-state-education-department ] accusing the Commissioner of this intent. Within a short period, 35,000 to 55,000 individuals signed the petition, which now boasts 71,000 signatures. The petition had an impact: At the subsequent Department of Education meeting, Commissioner Alia noted the petition and insisted that her intention was not to eliminate religious education, and that she was prepared to work with the schools to upgrade their secular studies to "substantially equivalent" to those taught in public schools. The law lies within the authority of the State Legislature. Governor Andrew Cuomo can amend the law with the stroke of a pen. To prove her position, Commissioner Alia reduced the hours to 4.2 daily [depending on the grades] but imposed on yeshivot additional all-encompassing regulations. Essentially, the guidelines incorporate the Regents Learning Standards. Schools must apply whatever instruction is necessary for a student to achieve State standards. The State can force schools to fire teachers it deems unqualified. Additionally, inspectors oversee all educational aspects. They determine whether teachers teach critical thinking skills, and evaluate curriculum, textbooks, lesson plans, hiring policies, teacher training, supervision, student testing, and remediation. Subjects that advance progressive beliefs are mandated. These include evolution, comparative religion, and cultural relativity. Yeshivot are permitted to provide religious education, but only after achieving these standards. YAFFED is also challenging the Felder Amendment that was passed through the State Legislature by State Senator Simcha Felder last April, claiming it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of religion and bars the government from favoring one religion over another. The amendment places authority for yeshivot under the jurisdiction of the state, rather than local education officials allowing charedi schools to determine if their curricula meet the statutory requirement to offer “substantial equivalent instruction.” Schools not in compliance will lose funding for busing, textbooks, nursing, special education, security, clean water, and other benefits. Depending on the size of the school, parents may be forced to pay additional $2,000 – $4,000 tuition per child. More significantly, if a school fails to comply, parents will be told to send their children elsewhere lest they are deemed truant; the school will be shut down, and parents fined, and possibly sent to prison. Private Schools at Risk, Despite Outshining Public Schools I asked Rabbi Churba: given progressives’ disdain of private schools, does the Commissioner consider Jewish schools an easy mark to begin chipping away at private schools in general? “I don’t think so,” Rabbi Churba responded. “Moster contested this issue for many years. He was continually pushing his point in City Hall and Albany, proving to the mayor and governor that the state does have jurisdiction over private schools to force them to provide an equivalent education to public schools. Only now did they run with it. There is no question that Chassidic yeshivot have to step up to the plate; but whether we agree with them or not, every Orthodox Jewish school is now in the same position.” The irony, of course, is that fewer public school students passed their regents exams this year than last, meaning that fewer students graduated high school. According to State Education Department stats showed that pass rates dropped in areas of both math and English. City Education Department spokeswoman Danielle Filson blamed the drop on more challenging tests. Regardless, yeshiva and Bet Yaakov students maintain a 90% pass rate, despite their added limudei kodesh workload. “When public schools keep to their guidelines, then they should bother us,” Taub says. Rabbi Yosef Churba Rabbi Yaakov Bender