09-13-2022, 10:21 PM
on the other hand....
Opinion
Hasidic families deserve a choice
By Eli Federman
New York Daily News
•
Sep 13, 2022
The New York State Board of Regents is passing new rules meant to enforce the state’s “substantial equivalency” law, so that yeshivas must offer more robust coursework in subjects like math, English and science. For years media outlets have been spotlighting deficiencies in standardized testing results in yeshivas.
But many Hasidic Jewish people don’t have the same value system which defines success as climbing the socioeconomic corporate ladder and becoming a doctor or lawyer with a good salary. They value studying ancient texts in Aramaic and biblical Hebrew, learning Jewish philosophy, history, ethics and Talmudic exegesis. The law should respect them and give them the freedom to raise their children as they see fit.
Even if the data is correct that the yeshiva students are faring poorly on standardized tests and white-collar jobs are the exception, so what? Do all Jewish people need to excel as doctors, lawyers, accountants and other professions that the secular world respects? Western democracies should give wide latitude to those seeking alternative lifestyles so long as people have basic health and safety standards met.
Hasidic people, who often get jobs as teachers in yeshivas and kosher supervisors, typically live modest lives. Those jobs don’t require English and math proficiency since they are within the Hasidic communities. Many also work blue-collar jobs like packing grocery shelves, delivering food, working in Amazon merchant warehouses, and the like.
Those members that become financially successful through real estate, e-commerce or other industries, give back to the community and help support other members that dedicate their lives to spending time in the study halls. They also have free-loan societies, and numerous charitable organizations that help those struggling in their communities.
It’s absolutely heartbreaking how Hasidic Jews that leave the community are left at a grave disadvantage due to inadequate literacy skills and secular knowledge.
But this is a challenge when anyone, including immigrants, or even secular Jews becoming Hasidic have to integrate into a new society and culture. There are great organizations such as Footsteps that help those who have left Hasidic communities integrate into broader society.
My father and mother sent me to a Hebrew school that had secular studies. My father later homeschooled me because he didn’t approve of either the public education system or the Jewish private schools. So I value secular education and alternative educational systems. I ultimately graduated from college and law school. My wife has a doctorate in nursing. My kids go to a Jewish school that has a high standard of English and secular education. That is what I chose for my family.
But we shouldn’t impose our worldview on the insular Hasidic Jewish world. Education is not monolithic. Parents make those choices for their children. People should be permitted to sacrifice Western comforts to emphasize and preserve their way of life.
The Amish do it too. They often forgo modern technology (not just smartphones like many Hasidic Jews, but even air conditioning!) and live a blue-collar farming life. They also often have poorer literacy skills compared to the general population, with one study finding that 12% of Amish read at or lower than a sixth-grade level compared to just 2.6% of non-Amish, and stop formal schooling altogether after eighth grade. People in these communities find comfort, purpose and meaning living according to the traditions they seek to preserve in a world that they perceive as hostile to a simpler life.
In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Supreme Court held that the Amish Mennonite Church had a religious right to refuse compulsory English education. There is a long line of cases that also protect the rights of parents to decide how to raise their children.
If the yeshiva issue gets to the Supreme Court, Hasidic people will likely win especially given the very conservative composition of the court. As a result, they will become more entrenched in anti-secular education ideology and view it as a victory against attacks on their religion. It will, unfortunately, create even more resistance to voluntary secular education.
Native Americans were once forced into boarding schools to rob them of their way of life and language, reeducating them in the name of assimilating and integrating them into society. The horrific motto was “kill the Indian, and save the man.” Hasidic Jewish boys in czarist Russia were forcibly conscripted and reeducated to abandon their way of life.
Of course, New York State’s attempted coercion is much more subtle and humane today, and even allows Hasidic people the ability to maintain their faith, schools and customs. And so you might ask: What harm is there in improving English literacy, studying civics, and math? But the historical parallels and rationale are the same. Why can’t these people just live like everyone else? Speak the same language. Think the same way. Get the same jobs. Conform to societal norms. And that is wrong.
Opinion
Hasidic families deserve a choice
By Eli Federman
New York Daily News
•
Sep 13, 2022
The New York State Board of Regents is passing new rules meant to enforce the state’s “substantial equivalency” law, so that yeshivas must offer more robust coursework in subjects like math, English and science. For years media outlets have been spotlighting deficiencies in standardized testing results in yeshivas.
But many Hasidic Jewish people don’t have the same value system which defines success as climbing the socioeconomic corporate ladder and becoming a doctor or lawyer with a good salary. They value studying ancient texts in Aramaic and biblical Hebrew, learning Jewish philosophy, history, ethics and Talmudic exegesis. The law should respect them and give them the freedom to raise their children as they see fit.
Even if the data is correct that the yeshiva students are faring poorly on standardized tests and white-collar jobs are the exception, so what? Do all Jewish people need to excel as doctors, lawyers, accountants and other professions that the secular world respects? Western democracies should give wide latitude to those seeking alternative lifestyles so long as people have basic health and safety standards met.
Hasidic people, who often get jobs as teachers in yeshivas and kosher supervisors, typically live modest lives. Those jobs don’t require English and math proficiency since they are within the Hasidic communities. Many also work blue-collar jobs like packing grocery shelves, delivering food, working in Amazon merchant warehouses, and the like.
Those members that become financially successful through real estate, e-commerce or other industries, give back to the community and help support other members that dedicate their lives to spending time in the study halls. They also have free-loan societies, and numerous charitable organizations that help those struggling in their communities.
It’s absolutely heartbreaking how Hasidic Jews that leave the community are left at a grave disadvantage due to inadequate literacy skills and secular knowledge.
But this is a challenge when anyone, including immigrants, or even secular Jews becoming Hasidic have to integrate into a new society and culture. There are great organizations such as Footsteps that help those who have left Hasidic communities integrate into broader society.
My father and mother sent me to a Hebrew school that had secular studies. My father later homeschooled me because he didn’t approve of either the public education system or the Jewish private schools. So I value secular education and alternative educational systems. I ultimately graduated from college and law school. My wife has a doctorate in nursing. My kids go to a Jewish school that has a high standard of English and secular education. That is what I chose for my family.
But we shouldn’t impose our worldview on the insular Hasidic Jewish world. Education is not monolithic. Parents make those choices for their children. People should be permitted to sacrifice Western comforts to emphasize and preserve their way of life.
The Amish do it too. They often forgo modern technology (not just smartphones like many Hasidic Jews, but even air conditioning!) and live a blue-collar farming life. They also often have poorer literacy skills compared to the general population, with one study finding that 12% of Amish read at or lower than a sixth-grade level compared to just 2.6% of non-Amish, and stop formal schooling altogether after eighth grade. People in these communities find comfort, purpose and meaning living according to the traditions they seek to preserve in a world that they perceive as hostile to a simpler life.
In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Supreme Court held that the Amish Mennonite Church had a religious right to refuse compulsory English education. There is a long line of cases that also protect the rights of parents to decide how to raise their children.
If the yeshiva issue gets to the Supreme Court, Hasidic people will likely win especially given the very conservative composition of the court. As a result, they will become more entrenched in anti-secular education ideology and view it as a victory against attacks on their religion. It will, unfortunately, create even more resistance to voluntary secular education.
Native Americans were once forced into boarding schools to rob them of their way of life and language, reeducating them in the name of assimilating and integrating them into society. The horrific motto was “kill the Indian, and save the man.” Hasidic Jewish boys in czarist Russia were forcibly conscripted and reeducated to abandon their way of life.
Of course, New York State’s attempted coercion is much more subtle and humane today, and even allows Hasidic people the ability to maintain their faith, schools and customs. And so you might ask: What harm is there in improving English literacy, studying civics, and math? But the historical parallels and rationale are the same. Why can’t these people just live like everyone else? Speak the same language. Think the same way. Get the same jobs. Conform to societal norms. And that is wrong.