Is Freedom of Religion a Risk?

School Bus in Boro Park (Israel Hayom/AP)

Are we really at risk of government interference in how we teach our children. Does a religious education in Judaism contradict the ideals set forth in the newly released substantially equivalent guidelines for non public school education? Or is this about something entirely different... a guide that will better enable our religious youth to function in 21^st century America?

I hate to keep harping on this. But I am not gong to let it go. I truly believe the latter is true and the former is not.  There is virtually no risk of government interference to the vast majority of religious schools in Orthodox Judaism. Most of those schools offer an equivalent secular studies program that complies with those guidelines. Some better, some worse. But I believe that all those that do are within those guidelines. 

The only ones that are affected are those that offer no secular studies at all to their boys. (Girls generally do get a secular studies education.) The community most guilty of that omission are the more extreme elements of Chasidic world. They have refused - and continue to refuse to alter their curriculum of full day Torah study for boys.

This has been the case for decades. Even though the state required it, these schools were basically ignored. state education officials looked the other way. (The for reasons of which are beyond the scope of this post.)

Naftuli Moster has created YAFFED - an organization that has pushed NYSED (New York State Education Department) to look at those schools specifically and to enforce their guidelines.

Long story short… NYSED has looked into some of those schools and noted that a lot of progress has been made in many of them. They have also recognized that their religious studies do in fact have value with respect to some of their equivalency requirements.That is in oart due to the newly created advocacy group called PEARLS (Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools). they have helped some of those schools into compliance. And they are still working towards that goal. A goal designed to make these students better and more productive citizens. 

But what does compliance really mean? To most of us (and to the vast majority of religious schools) it means offering courses in studies like math, science, English, history, and civics – among other courses. 

The schools in question offer none of those courses. Their community leaders defend that by insisting that full day religious curriculum includes the essential parts of many of those courses. They further argue that their critical thinking skills are better developed through their religious studies than those of their counterparts in public school are through their secular studies. 

But is that a fair comparison?

Apparently NY State Senator Simcha Felder thought so. He pushed a bill through the state legislature last spring that puts those yeshivas under the authority of the state rather than local education officials. This has allowed the equivalency requirement to become very subjective along the lines claimed by those supporting those schools.

A word about Naftuli Moster. He is an expatriate former Chasid that attended schools like that. I do not know him at all. People defending those schools have sent me quotes he has made ‘proving’ that his real agenda is to destroy his former community - or even the entire Orthodox religious educational system in some sort of hateful anti-religious act of revenge. While some of his comments showed quite a bit of anger in attacking his former community, they did not prove to me that his goal is to destroy it.

Be that as it may, because of this controversy I am dismayed that Moster has become the face of the very real goal of improving those schools. That is nothing but a distraction in my view. He is an easy target that prevents progress. It takes away from the goal to improve the education this community needs.

I am often told by their defenders (virtually all of them I have spoken to about it privately) that they would never choose that kind of education for their own children. But they insist that this is a religious rights issue.  And that no matter how we feel - or anyone else feels about it, parents in this country should have the right to educate their children any way they see fit. They add that in any case they do educate their children via their religious curriculum in certain ways (e.g critical thinking skills) that are even superior to their public school counterparts .And that getting the government involved is a violation of the first amendment’s separation clause.

This is where I have difficulty with their advocacy. To say that you would never send your own children to their schools says that you believe their education is deficient. That it is lacking the basics you want for your own children. They are saying that this community has a right to substandard education as a matter of religious freedom. In essence they are advocating for them  something they would never advocate for their own children. I have to ask, is that even ethical?

They also make the ‘slippery slope’ argument. That if we let the government in at any level, it will eventually hurt all religious schools. Forcing them all to teach values that contradict our own.

Sure, anything is possible. But that is clearly not anyone’s goal here. Nor do I think it will be based on what is demanded of them. Which is to require a basic core curriculum along the lines mentioned above. One that has long been a part of the vast majority of religious schools.

Finally they will assert that that this is what the community and that they do just fine under their own system. At best that is a debatable proposition. 

First, we have no real way of knowing just how many of those parents prefer what their children are getting over what they could get in religious schools outside of their community. Compliance with their religious standards as defined by their leadership is demanded of them. Those that would object publicly are not treated well.  Disagreement may even result in expulsion from their community. Something they are ill prepared to do. Repercussions like that are justifiably feared.

Second, how happy can anyone be that is forced to live on welfare as a source of income? And how happy can a parent feel about likely dooming their children to the same kind of future - or worse. 

Sure there are plenty of wealthy Chasidim despite the fact that they were educated in those schools. But clearly they are not the majority. As the vast number of them on welfare attests to.

So at the end of the day, I am still in favor of all religious schools offering a basic secular core curriculum. Although I prefer they do it themselves, if necessary the government should enforce compliance. 

Their leaders may not like it. But it will benefit them and - even better-  assure their own future as a viable independent religious community.

Having a right does not make it right. Think of it like a vaccination against a serious illness. No one likes getting a shot. But it is foolhardy to avoid it and insist that everyone has the right to choose not to be inoculated. Ultimately, it will impact all of us if avoided. So too with a good education. If they continue avoid it - their welfare numbers will likely surge. And that affects all of us. Sometimes in ways that are a Chilul HaShem.