A petition to protest new secular study guidelines being imposed on Yeshivas has received over 15,000 signatures after being widely shared on social media.
Titled “Tell New York State Education Commisinoer Maryellen Elia No,” the online petition at the website Change.org encourages parents of Yeshiva students to “tell her that you reject her attempt to impose her curriculum on our Yeshivas.”
The petition, which is aiming for 25,000 signatures, reads as follows:
New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has issued new guidelines that require all private schools – including our yeshivas – to adopt a curriculum that the State has prepared.
She has directed that all private schools – including our yeshivas – must be inspected to enforce the new curriculum. She even requires all yeshiva teachers to be evaluated by the State. This new curriculum comes with a comprehensive course list. There are seven required classes for grades 1-5, and 11 required classes for grades 5-8.The State is even imposing the amount of time each course must be taught – a total of seven hours a day of secular studies in grades 5-8. In fact, public schools are only required to provide 5 hours a day of instruction.
Leading Rabbonim such as Rav Elya Brudy and Rav Yisroel Reisman have spoken out publicly about these terrible guidelines.
The Agudah, Torah Umesorah and PEARLS have written to the Commissioner to let her know that these guidelines are unacceptable to our yeshivas.
Even the Catholic school community has spoken up, and told Commissioner Elia that they reject her guidelines and have directed all Catholic schools not to cooperate with them.
Now the Yeshiva community needs to make its voice heard.
We need to let Commissioner Elia know that we choose yeshiva education for a reason.We trust our Rabbis, our principals and our leaders to create the school schedule and curriculum that works best for our children.
We do not need these new State Education Department rules!
We do not want these new State Education Department rules!
We will not accept these new State Education Department rules!
Commissioner Elia has threatened yeshiva parents with sanctions if we don’t bend to her will.
On the day she released these guidelines she said that if yeshivas don’t change and adopt her curriculum parents “would be notified they need to transfer students within . . . six weeks to two months,”
and if they didn’t “they’d be considered truant and that’s another whole process that gets triggered.”
Tell Commissioner Elia that yeshiva parents will not be bullied.
Tell Commissioner Elia that yeshiva parents will not back down.
Tell Commissioner Elia that yeshiva parents know better than she does how to direct the education of their children.
Click here for more information or to sign the petition.
I went to public school in the USA and didn’t have 7 hours of secular education per day. This is absurd and outrageous and shouldn’t be tolerated!
YAFFED, a Jewish organisation had the major hand in this. These “frum” mosrim are causing our communities’ downfall… The petition should be against YAFFED, rather.
I can’t open the link BC of my filter but pls sign it in my name. Thanks.
I’m a Shliach on campus for close to 20 years now. I sometimes help students with their papers because they write and spell at a 7th grade level. They go into debt for 10-20 years and end up getting jobs in a field that they did not get their college degree for. Meanwhile, Lubavitchers who go through the “system” are able to become lawyers, real estate brokers, and tons of other well-paying jobs (including Shluchim!). Even those that require a college degree (preferably attending only after marriage) are often amazed at how easy the schedule and work is compared to… Read more »
Please read the beginning of the petition before you sign! This will be used as a way of saying that people with kids in the school don’t want it. If you are not a parent you are signing a false statement. As a single guy I find it very sad that I can not be a part of the community because I do not have kids. Basically here we go again with a public statement claiming that we are who we aren’t. Thanks to all the askonem that don’t really care about our public image as long as they can… Read more »
This is pure anti semitism. Maybe out of ignorance and maybe out of hate, but that’s what it is. Based on their supposed concern, can you imagine what they would need to do with the horrible education so many low income, Black, Hispanic, and others are receiving.
They would never dare to try doing the equivalence of this in any of their communities with threats of stopping funding and saying that parents are truant.
Sorry, whatever their motivations are don’t really matter. This is an act of anti semitism.
I find it fascinating that commentators bash the lack of secular education in yeshivos, when they themselves seem to lack basic reading comprehension skills. This is not about improving or adding some secular studies. These guidelines are saying that yeshivos should teach 7 hours of secular study! Did you just read that? Basic math now- this doesn’t allow for any religious studies at all. It is mind boggling how any frum person can support such guidelines that would basically not allow yeshivos to exist! The state cannot dictate how I choose to educate my children. That’s religious coercion! I pay… Read more »
It seems that a lot of people think the reason people don’t learn English is for chassidish purposes, and being that they don’t care about (at least certain) chassidishe values, they don’t care about this either. I would therefore like too point out to you what the Alter Rebbe writes in Hilchos Talmud Torah perek gimmel halacha zayin, that those who are obligated to learn Torah are not allowed to learn secular studies. And if you don’t care about Shulchan Aruch, then you can’t have an opinion for those that do.
They didn’t mandate 7 hours.
We are in Galus and just have to continue remembering that Hashem is running the world. We are trying to be more machmir than the secular government as the state mandates allow religious exemptions for vaccines for private schools which the majority our state accept expect many yeshivas(with regard to the religious exemptions for vaccines) and now they are coming out at us to say go do even more for us make sure to have 6 hrs
This is what happens when we conspire against our own people in lieu of.goverment agendas
Just a thought…
I am a shlucha out of town. I have a number of community members who are professionals, college graduates etc who have offered to help us write our newsletters, weekly emails etc. I am appalled time and time again at their lack of writing skills, grammatical errors and complete incompetence. I am far from convinced that every college graduate and professional possesses proper writing skills.
https://medium.com/@Yaffedorg/statement-regarding-new-york-state-substantial-equivalency-guidelines-e331006f6aef
the rebbe’s schools – tomchei and achei tmimim have secular studies. mandated curriculum of science english history and math can easily be adapted to halachic standards. in fact one could satisfy curriculum requirement using purely jewish books – by the right educator. is ignorance of these a mitzva or chossid choteh? how and why does a school think it can take money as being a school but not be a school according to the money giver? why should teachers NOT be required to have training and certification? I think it’s great that society is finally requiring basic education for all… Read more »
I agree with no 1 lets all enroll all of our children in public school. I think this should be done in one day. maybe the city will find space for 2 to 3 hundred thousand seats for our children.
I think it’s wrong for a school in a civil society to teach no secular studies but these guidelines are outrageous. I hope they will come with some sort of compromise in which yeshivos will start teaching basic skills and still have most of the day to teach kodesh. I thing the extremes are dangerous. The truth of the matter is, there are many young people who suffer from not being able to write properly in English so I don’t think yeshivos should be so radical as to not teach any English and math but this law is crazy.
What’s next? Keeping kids locked into basements to learn Torah?!?! We have to stand up and tell these anti-semites to STAY AWAY from our way of chinuch!
That’s what it always has and always will come down to PERIOD
This was the perfect day for this petition. There will be a didan notzach and yad hashem will emerge victorious!!! Am Yisroel chai and we won’t be messed with- not from the Greeks or hellenists of today
Actually you can look at the results, Yeshivos teach high level life and business skills.
Most of Gemora is business skills, conflict resolution etc
Mivtzoyim is sales skills
Camp counselors learn leadership skills, interpersonal skills.
Our Yeshivos produce high level entrepreneur skills.
A regular professional needs to be a master of one traid, an entrepreneur needs to know about many professions do be successful.
Before Yeshivah I went to secular public schools, and the skills I learned there were absolutely inadequate for real life.
These yaffed people are dangerous making problems for no reason because they are trying to take revenge on the communities they left
All parents should go and register their kids in public school today. We will see how fast they leave us alone! Can you imagine the chaos ?😀
The Fridiker Rebbe would send teachers to teach a Torah education and when a teacher would be shot by the yevseksiya, the Fridiker Rebbe would send another teacher. Thats how Crown Heights exists today, many Crown Heights residents are decentands of teachers that were killed.
Were are the yevseksiya now? Were are the maskilim before them? Were are the Syrian Greeks? Were is Pharaoh? Torah education survived.
We need to have Mesiras Nefesh for Kodesh Torah Education.
The Rebeyim will help!
Hmm I wonder when seeing there tone of the comments if COLLIVE supports madated secular studies in our schools.
Whoever doesn’t like the way the Frum community educates the children, is welcome to leave. Nobody is forced to be part of it. As an aside, if you want to be truly honest, studies show that Frum people are from the happier people. Does that mean people should be forced to be religious? That’s totally inappropriate, you don’t force people. Whoever is not happy with the Frum community, welcome to the real world, where in every community there are people that won’t be happy with it. You’re free to exercise and act on what you want to do, but have… Read more »
Maybe if they taught proper English in yeshivas, which includes writing, it would be written more professionally.
Yeshivos in ch don’t even come close to other ultra orthodox yeshivos. They are the reason the state is looking into this. Stop with these silly petitions and start giving the kids tools to make it in life! It’s Rambam a father has to teach his son a trade.
There is nothing wrong with being educated
In Soviet Russia they also tried to dictate what we teach our children.
Let’s stick with choice and democracy.
we are back in Russia with all jew haters and atheists. And if, CHAS VE HALOM, Moshiach does not come immediately we will be walking back to the gas chambers soon
“Even more so, considering the high receipt of welfare assistance in the Haredi community.’
They are not targeting the “H”aredi community. They are targeting ALL private Jewish Schools.
Even more so, considering the high receipt of welfare assistance in the Haredi community. It’s that simple; When you take a partner into your business, they then have a say in it. As the old saying goes:
ווער ס’האט די מאה, דער האט די דיעה
The idea of a petition has merit but the way this one is worded is really unprofessional and not the way to go about it. To be effective it needs to be completely reworded.
Perfect. The schools will shut down, we can all go back to homeschooling our kids, and that’ll solve the tuition crisis.
To comment one- do you understand whats going on? The state is mandating 7 hours of secular studies education PER DAY. Is that what you want? All secular subjects and maybe an hour of “religious instruction”? Do you know what we are celebrating when we celebrate chanukah? We are celebrating the victory of the maccabees over the hellinists – the people that tried to get the jews to learn secular studies and play sports- to worship the mind and the body. In fact most jews at the time of chanukah were hellinists. In fact the rebbe says* that what we… Read more »
We have no one to blame but ourselves.
We elect liberal democrats and then complain as crime rises and our values are trampled upon. Today in New York. The Orthodox Jews have no political power anymore. It’s in the hand of atheistic democrats who are looking to destroy Torah Judaism to the core. Unless every single Orthodox Jew over 18 registers to vote we are doomed. There is no reason that we can’t turn New York around. If we elected the right people we could change things. The same story in Israel.
Tell the police not to get involved in cases of child abuse?
This petition shows exactly why NYC needs to step in.