It has been 48 hours since New York City handed the New York Times 14 letters about Brooklyn yeshivas – each of which recommended a finding that the yeshiva does not provide substantially equivalent instruction.
YWN has reason to believe that each of those letters is 10 or more pages long, and contains far more nuance, subtlety, balance and positive news than is being portrayed in the media. YWN suspects that most if not all of those schools were given grades of passing or better on their instruction in the core subjects of English, Math, Social Studies and Science. But without copies of the letters – which the yeshivas themselves have not received – there is no way to push back on the false narrative about yeshiva education that is being pushed by the media and others.
In addition to the City’s refusal to publicly release the letters that were provided to the media or to provide an overall public report, there is also the Mayor’s troubling public silence about yeshiva education in the face of the media onslaught the City released.
In this, he is acting as far less of a friend of the yeshiva community than his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. YWN was not a fan of the prior Mayor and has been supportive of Mayor Adams. But when the media reported negative findings about yeshivas under Bill de Blasio, this is what he said publicly:
“I just want to say, there’s two sides to every story . . . Clearly, there was room for improvement, but I have to be straightforward and say there’s room for improvement in a lot of our traditional public schools too . . . It was not gotcha, it was not the advocates are 100% right or the yeshivas are 100% right.”
“I spent a long time working with the community and I came to a very simple conclusion: every Yeshiva is different. And there are some that I believe, especially from the direct findings of our educators are doing a fine job and I wouldn’t be surprised there are some that are not putting the emphasis they need on some areas of the curriculum and that need to be better. I do know every Yeshiva is different.”
By contrast, Mayor Adams hasn’t said anything publicly about yeshivas since the City provided its recommendation letters to the media.
City Hall’s silence is deafening and its refusal to release the 14 letters is killing us. YWN implores Mayor Adams to do the right thing: release the letters and speak out to provide the full story about yeshiva education to a public to a public that deserves it.
YWN Editorial Board
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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21 Responses
Homie don’t play dat.
This matter is getting curiouser and curiouser. For starters, IF the letters are addressed to the yeshivas, why have they not received copies? There seems to be much more to this story, and I have no idea why YWN is running this story if it does not have more information.
Yeshivas are failing to provide a good education. Stop beating around the bush. If you don’t want the negativity don’t ask the city for funding.
Nu? So where are the selfless dedicated askanim who just joined the Mayor’s Jewish Advisory Council??? They suddenly lost their tongue? What about the Mayor’s right hand chassidishe man with the tilted yarlmuka? Yawn. Zzzzz. Crickets. Kavod kavod and more kavod.
you got no one but yourselves to blame for having been supportive of Adams. Shame on you.
Yidden keep electing enemies of Hashem just because they pay some self-serving lip-service about Yeshiva education etc.
What do you expect? he’s a democrat, and you can’t expect him to take on the NYT and the entire Democratic party!
lakewhut – “Don’t ask the city for funding”?! Gladly, but they’re the ones who ask for our taxes…
What a nasty article, we all know both mayors are dear frien
Dear friends of the frum community and have done everything while towing the line
NGI — you are totally right
who wants to give up their lofty seat at the rodef kavod table ?
shame on every alleged yid who supports any political figures associated with the dem party that has systematically destroyed this city / state .
NGI – they didn’t lose their tongues .. to quote a rasha from the past ” sometimes I stood their thunderstruck. I didnt know what to be more amazed at : the agility of their tongues or their virtuosity at laying ”
a rasha gamur needless to say but strikingly relevant to trash that represent “us”
correction ” lying not laying”
They’re liberal democrats. Trust me, neither of them are friends.
The one who I feel bad for is Harav Moshe Wolfson Shlit”a who gave of his precious time to give the mayor recognition and a reward for somehow sticking up for the yeshiva.
To lakewhut
The Yeshivas in New York do not receive any funding for the core education and administration of the schools.
What the city/state does pay is for extra amounts that they demand, ie school lunch, STEM education, computers, etc. And while that amount may seem a lot, it is a fraction of what the school budgets are, which they are paying out of their own pockets. And, as is pointed out, that money that they do receive comes from property taxes, which are literally a drop in the bucket of what Orthodox parents pay to their property taxes.
They know about Adam and Steve if they don’t speak a yiddish english
Where are the judenrat he just put together so when the city goes bankrupt he can blame the jews.
@Those who bash the askanim here.
I too have questions, but your hurled accusations without reason or witness speaks not to what the askanim may be afflicted with, but to your own ugliness.
only Torah, only educating our children in the schools we recommend…..USA is not our friend, USA was against Israel and for that matter only RUSSIA should be granted the gift of reason…..trust Hashem…..
Teaching the students a little English would solve the problem.
neither is a friend