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| Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Joel (YWN) |
My quick answer to that question is no. Most Yeshivos do not offer a subpar
education. But we have to define subpar.
For me par means equivalent. But equivalent to what? I think
the answer is relatively simple. First,
it should not mean a carbon copy of the state requirements for public school.
What it should mean is an education where students attending public schools or
Yeshivos will graduate with substantially the same level knowledge. Enough so
that most graduates can continue their studies beyond high school without any
significant disadvantages or the need for remedial help.
That should be the standard. In other words, how well prepared are those
students for continued education should they choose that route - compared to
their public school counterparts?
Furthermore Yeshivos cannot be grouped together as one
entity. It is unfair to impose new standards on Yeshivos whose students have
shown great success beyond their yeshiva education. The differences between individual
Yeshivos can be so stark as to make them unrecognizable to each other. To for
example compare the secular education in a Yeshiva under Satmar auspices to what
is offered in a yeshiva under modern Orthodox auspices would be like comparing a
tricycle a supersonic jet.
Clearly it is the Yeshivos that offer no secular education
that should be targeted. Not the Yeshiva system as a whole.
This is where the New York State Education Department (NYSED)
guidelines have failed. Those guidelines will unnecessarily hurt schools whose
students have a superior secular studies curriculum by virtue of the time
allocation requirement that would leave practically no time for religious studies!
That portion of the guidelines needs to be challenged. I support efforts to do so. What I do not support is the position of the Satmar Rebbe (of Kiryas Joel) as reported in YWN.
His goal is to assure that his Yeshivos remain free of any secular studies curriculum
at all. Claiming that being forced to offer it is a violation of his religious
rights guaranteed by the constitution.
Which in my view cannot be further from the truth.
Judaism is not opposed to secular studies (Limudei Chol). There
is no legitimate position like that anywhere in Jewish law. Not even according to Satmar whose girls’ schools do have a secular studies curriculum. Satmar wants to retain the right to keep their male
polpulation ignorant.
The Satmar Rebbe also declared that before
education officials try and fix Yeshivos they should first put their own house
in order. He challenged NYSED to measure the success of his students against the
success of the students in inner city public schools.
But that is a grossly unfair comparison. As public school officials have
pointed out, public schools are required to take in everyone. Including
children from communities where education is not valued at all. (The reasons of
which are beyond the scope of this post.)
Satmar, on the other hand, values education greatly albeit only religious
education when it comes to boys. You cannot compare the two. What their Yeshivos must be
compared instead to is public schools in communities that do care about education. (Although
there might be some comparison to be made even to those inner city school students
in the sense that their English skills are both pretty poor.)
What about the claim that any government interference in a religious
school is a violation of the first amendment? It is with this
claim that they have declared a war on NYSED. This is where I part company with
them. A government has the right to set minimal standards of education for
purposes societal benefit. Good citizenship and being less dependent, more productive is a legitimate societal goal. Freedom
of religion does not mean one has to be ignorant.
If you don’t see the truth about the outside world and are
constantly told how evil the outside world is, or how they must hate non Jews
while pretending to love them, how can that produce good citizenship?
Religious rights should
be sacrosanct. But that need not come at the expense of a secular education. To
claim that requiring a minimal secular studies curriculum program is a
violation of Jewish religious rights is ridiculous. Limudei Chol is not prohibited by the Torah.
Just because they think it is better not to offer any secular
studies curriculum, does not mean that having one is a violation of their religious
rights. Besides, the first amendment is not unlimited. What about a religion
that believes in human sacrifice? Should that too be protected by the first
amendment?
I have mentioned the
two extremes of secular education provided by religious schools. But there
are lot of schools in-between those two
extremes that do offer secular studies programs. How should the state deal with
them?
In my view the same standard should be applied to all
schools. Yeshivos and public schools. NYSED should evaluate each school’s
products and judge those schools independently For me that means
that there ought to be a basic secular curriculum in subjects like English, math
science, and history.
The Satmar Rebbe’s declaration of war on NYSED is foolish
and counterproductive. And it should not be joined by any responsible
Jewish organization. Especially when hyperbole like the following by the Satmar
Rebbe is used:
The Rebbe continued: “(New York State Commissioner of Education Mary Ellen Elia) wants to change Klal Yisrael and remove us from our religion exactly as the Greeks wanted in their time, to destroy the education institutions, a decree of extermination (shmad).
That is pure Sheker. The esteemed Rabbi of Satmar knows better and I
cannot protest that enough! As should any responsible Orthodox
organization. A comment like that should not be allowed to go unchallenged by any mainstream Orthodox organization!
The is not a case of Shmad! And the only thing that should
be protested in the new NYSED guidelines is the time allocation requirements.
Not the subject requirements. And that ought to come in peaceful discussion.
Not by way of ‘war’.
