Aug 6, 2015
"I Blame the Messenger"

Op-Ed: The demands by the group Yaffed to investigate Yeshivas are not to improve them, but to disrupt and destroy them, writes Ezra Friedlander.
By Ezra Friedlander
Recently, we've been hearing much in the news about a group that calls itself Yaffed (Young Advocates For Fair Education). They sent a letter to New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina and seven district superintendents, calling upon them to investigate "the quality of secular education, and in particular English instruction, at (the listed) Yeshivas, and to take steps to ensure that pupils at these Yeshivas receive the essential and substantially equivalent education to which they are entitled."
This group, led by Naftuli Moster, is causing a tremendous amount of controversy in our community, and I'd like to share my own thoughts here.
On the face of it, their proposal seems fair. What could be more beneficial to our community than enhancing the quality of its education, even secular education? In fact, my wife and I, who are parents of two young boys in the Yeshiva system, were recently also discussing this very same issue.
So what could be wrong with Yaffed's proposal? Plenty!
In our community, mesorah (loosely translated as tradition, values, and fundamental beliefs) is the core of our educational system, a concept that has defined the Jewish people from time immemorial and has been the source of our continued survival. So when a person like Mr. Moster and his organization comes along, calling on the New York State Department of Education to investigate our Yeshivas, my only response is: "How dare you? What right do you have to interfere with such sensitive and sacred matters?"
Do Moster's claims have any validity at all? That is irrelevant. His actions speak louder than his words. By what he has done, he has completely disqualified himself from the conversation. He is like a prosecutor who is representing his case to the jury but has gathered evidence illegally. Any judge would throw his case out of court without a moment's delay.
I highly doubt that this organization truly cares about our youth. Or about the quality of our Yeshiva system. Because if they did desire to communicate effective change, they would not have gone about it by retaining the former Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union Norman Siegel (a man who I do respect on many levels) to represent their case. It seems to me that, the sole purpose of this whole campaign is to besmirch our community's reputation and to undermine our system at its core. And for that I unequivocally condemn their efforts.
It pains me greatly that it takes this person and this organization to raise points about our system that do indeed need to be addressed. They are hardly the proper messengers to deliver this message. In order to bring about productive change, the demand must come from the parents themselves and not from outside forces whose very mission is to attack our system with a viciousness and mean-spiritedness that will put our Yeshivas at risk.
Frankly, I personally feel that, by and large, our Yeshivas do adequately meet the State's educational criteria. And most of us are very much aware of the serious failings within the New York public school system, so I would advise the DOE to focus on their own schools. Be that as it may, my goal here is not to criticize that system. I'd rather focus on our own Yeshivas.
When discussing this same issue, my wife and I came to the conclusion that it would be disingenuous for us to demand that our Yeshivas take on additional expenses at this time. They are sadly underfunded and struggling to survive. Especially in the Chassidic world, where a minimum of four to six children in a family can be attending Yeshiva at any given time, tuition barely covers the necessities. So how can we possibly demand that they do more?
Is there room for improvement? Certainly. But the only way to improve the system is through the united efforts of the parent body. It is our responsibility to ensure that our children are properly educated to prepare for their future, including giving them the tools to succeed in life. The Torah demands that parents educate their children and the Yeshivas are essentially our shlichim in this endeavor. But the onus is essentially upon us. Parents should work together with the Yeshivos to create a curriculum that would allow their children to be properly trained to enter the workforce. That is, after all, the stated objective of this campaign for change.
It's important to me that my children are prepared to earn a livelihood and I take that responsibility very seriously. If Mssrs Moster and Siegel would really care about this, I call on them to redirect their talents and energies to find creative ways to request that government funding be increased so that Yeshivas can enhance their curriculum. Doing so would at least give them a seat at the table to participate in this conversation. It would show that they truly care about our children.
The Jewish people have only survived through the millennia because of the wholesome purity of our chinuch system. And that is uncompromising. Back in 1892, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, (the Netziv) actually shut down the famed Yeshiva in Volozhin because Russian authorities, prodded by members of the Haskalah movement, sought to introduce secular studies to the Yeshiva. He closed down the Yeshiva rather than submit to their demands.
I'm certainly not comparing the DOE to the communist regime. I'm simply trying to demonstrate how sacred our Yeshivas are to our community and how outside interference can only be counterproductive. Moster certainly knows this. And calling on the DOE to investigate our Yeshivas tells me in no uncertain terms that his agenda is not to improve our Yeshivas, but to disrupt and destroy them.
Sadly, his claim, as legitimate as it might be, has lost all credibility. It reminds me of the halacha which states that a Sefer Torah written by an apikores (non believer) is not kosher and cannot ever be used. I'm not accusing him or anyone else of being an apikores, just that their actions have invalidated their initial intent.
It pains me to write this article because I truly believe that positive change can be accomplished when there's unity and people work together for a common cause. But when it comes to our sacred mesorah and the education of our precious children, there is no compromise. We must ensure that they are brought up al taharas hakodesh.
Don't blame the messenger? In this case, I do.
Ezra Friedlander is the CEO of The Friedlander Group, a NYC and Washington DC based public policy consulting group. Follow him at @ezrafriedlander on Twitter. For more information, contact ezra@thefriedlandergroup.com or visit www.thefriedlandergroup.com.
Since Yeshivas are change-resistant, the only way to incorporate this education plan is to force them via the DOE, much like Affirmative Action in the 1960's.
Comparing the learning of basic English, math and science to the communist propaganda that the commies tried to brainwash children with is absolutely disgusting.
I wrote Comment #3 on NY To Probe 39 Brooklyn Yeshivas.
OUCH! I am sure he was NOT comparing the DOE to the Communists. But, he certainly was comparing Yaffed to Haskala!!!
And that may be a fair comparison. But, you lose your credibility when you state history incorrectly.
Lets not nit-pick-
U get the idea...
Considering this reality, the state has a right to demand that these schools - which they also subsidize through free busing, lunches, Head Start, disability payments etc - teach children the basics so that you don't end up with hand-out recipients in perpetuity.
But of course, the author does not address this perfectly reasonable and valid critique. Instead, and like all poor debaters, he resorts to attacking the messenger instead of the message. Well played. Or not.
B"H nowadays there are places like Touro that offer vocational training and secular remediation for those leaving yeshiva. Probably a kollel guy has to make that decision, and resulting transition, earlier in the marriage, so that he will be gainfully employed by the time his family, IY"H, grows. Part of the problem is waiting until he has six kids & thousands of dollars in debt before taking action.
While I am ambivalent about the responsibility of a yeshiva to offer intensive secular or vocational training, the subject should be brought up & the guy directed, if need be, to job training.
School in Kfar Chabad?
As a shliach in a relatively wealthy community, I know many single moms, divorced people, drug addicts, down on their luck Jewish families and others who are struggling horribly financially - most of whom received college or graduate education.
Secular education is NOT a panacea that will help you. It is fraught with horrible side effects!!!!
The ppl in YAFAD were all educated in these schools, why are they not qualified to voice their opinions on how lousy the education is?
The author's arguments are poor. He recognizes the issues exists and pretty much admits that it will never be addressed internally because yeshivas will always be underfunded.
I wasn't a big fan of YAFAD b/c I thought these matters should be corrected internally. I now support the organization b/c I now realize our leaders will not fix it until they are forced do. Much hatzlachah to YAFAD and I hope you will be able to help my children without having to smear inept leaders too much.
The motivations behind this organization are not holy. The goal is abandon the archaic Yiddishkeit as we know it, for a more 2.0 approach.
When is it ok to support the Samech-Mem? Can we support someone who wants to destroy Yiddishkeit even a little bit?
Ashreinu Mah Tov Chelkeinu.
Any individual that doesn't mind to stay ignorant and illiterate will fail in life no matter what courses are offered in school.
If anything, the skills my kids get at OT will serve them much better through life. The **skills** that they're supposedly missing can be caught up within a few weeks of study, should it ever come to that...
And speaking of education, part of the problem here is math -- or the lack thereof. While it may be true that some people who are not frum are also on welfare, frum dependency on taxpayer generosity is grossly disproportionate to the general society. Likewise, it may be true that some people with a proper education are flipping hamburgers, while some barely literate immigrants are doing quite well, but on average, educated people fare far better.
How do I know?
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Unemployment rate by educational attainment:
Doctoral degree: 2.1%
Professional degree: 1.9%
Masters degree: 2.8%
Bachelors degree: 3.5%
Associates degree: 4.5%
High School diploma: 6.0%
Less than a High School diploma: 9.0%
That's how I know.
Each community will respond according to its demographic, or changing demographic.
The actions of disaffected ex Charedim will do little beyond cause frustration, resentment and will not be productive.
At this time, there are Yeshivos which offer a full secular program, those which offer a basic program and those which offer no program; parents have the prerogative to choose the approach which best fits their weltanschauung.
As the process evolves the institutions in the main will modify their approach.
Blaming Yeshivos for someones failure to read or write is a scam.
If they never read english, let them open any of the thousands of English books we have published and start familiarizing themselves with the language.
Anyone who doesn't know how to read and write can blame only themselves, or English for being such a counter-intuitive language. But they certainly can't blame anyone else for their failure to PICK UP A BOOK (any book) AND READ!!!
Refuoh Shileimoh.
There are a couple of colleges in the US that made the decision that they did not want the government telling them what and how they could and could not teach. So they decided to stop asking for or taking government money.
Voila! They were free to do things as they saw fit!
It is not easy to function without government money. But there is historical precedent for this, i.e., before the government became so involved with local educational matters among religious groups wanting to educate their own children.
We don't see the Amish being pressured by the government to make sure their educational system prepares their children for "modern society". That's because they take responsibility for their own, and don't go running to the government for a handout.
We have made a gradual shift over many years' time, from a struggling self-sufficiency to a struggling government dependency, in our Orthodox system of education. It's not too late to transition back.
It's not easy, but isn't it interesting that our schools seem to struggle with or without government money. But at least without government money, we are free to educate our children al taharas kodesh.
They (BP & Williamsburg) have this issue because they never focused on reaching out beyond their Daled Amos.
Whether you become a shliach or not, if you were raised in Chabad you should have the tools to not only navigate this world but to try to make a Dirah Batachtonim
#2 Hashem created the world for the yiddin to serve him and study Torah
#3 the Rebbe rights many times exactly how we are to educate are children altras hakodesh only and by doing so Hashem will provide and we should not listen to what the world says that if you don't education you kids thay won't even be able to polish shoes for a living[ we have to remember this is what paroh said about the girls you should let them live Rebbe explains that you should education them the way of the land there by killing them spiritual read the first sicha on parshas shemos]
You can't spell the word "writes" and you are lecturing about education?
Shlichus comes with a special koach from the Rebbe. Any Shliach who believes otherwise does not belong on Shlichus altogether. Shlichus is the exception, NOT the rule. In other words, DESPITE their poor education, they are able to succeed.
As for the 99% who do not go on Shlichus, the vast majority are left with an inability to provide for a large family without turning to welfare and making "shtick".