There's A Lot At Stake

 Article printed this week's edition of Lehovin newspaper 

THERE’S A LOT AT STAKE

Avi Schnall has thrown his hat into the ring to represent Lakewood in the New Jersey Assembly. As the Asbury Park Press reported, “Schnall, a powerful leader in the township’s Orthodox community, jumped into the race for the 30thAssembly District just weeks ago, a move observers saw as a way to boost the Jewish community’s voice in Trenton.”

“I think there are enough people in the district who know who I am,” Schnall, who served as director of the New Jersey office of Agudath Israel of America in Lakewood, said at the time. “I have accomplished a lot and people will vote for results.” 

[Ed.: The only results important to the Yeshivaleit in Lakewood, are those which help maintain Torah values and practice.

Money is nice, but, it doesn’t mean that much to bnei Torah.]

 There’s plenty to fight for in Trenton. Toeiva issues, murder under the guise of kindness, and religious freedom just to name a few. The money is tempting. 

[Ed.: But, Lakewood’s Bnei Torah care way more about their children’s ruchniyus than about their pocketbooks. Somehow, even if with financial difficulty, Lakewood’s yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs are not only surviving, but thriving, bursting at the seams. And people think that the Olam HaTorah will sell their children’s ruchniyus and Klal Yisroel’s future with the naivete of thinking that ‘we’ll get the money and there’ll be no strings attached?’]

Read what Mr. Schnall wrote about it, himself, not long ago. “We’ve never advocated for funding that directly covers the Standard educational programs that our schools provide.

There’s always a catch. If the state is funding something, they may then decide to regulate how it is being provided. If they cover the costs of the instructions, they can tell us what to teach and how to teach it and who can teach it. Is it a risk we’re willing to take?”

[Ed.: NO. It is definitely not a risk we should be willing to take. Administrators and

baalei batim might look at school vouchers as a tremendous help to alleviate the financial burden, but Lakewood hasn’t spent decades building the Town of Torah to now give

it all away. The Bnei Torah will never give up their children for a n’zid adashim.]

We share with you some of what New Jersey is currently telling their teachers and schools, to enlighten the Lehovin readership a bit about what’s at stake. In 2019 Governor Murphy “signed a law that would require the state public schools to implement [toeiva] curriculum for students in grades five through 12, becoming the second U.S. state to do so after California.

Last week, the New Jersey Department of Education released documents clarifying its

role in implementing the curriculum. The document stated that by the end of

second-grade students are expected to “discuss the range of ways people express their

gender and how gender-role stereotypes may limit behavior.” 

[Ed.: By the end of SECOND GRADE. The requirements by the end of fifth grade cannot even be cleaned up to be printed in this, or any, newspaper. There is no way that any caring yungerman or Jewish mother

can tolerate even the possibility of the state of New Jersey getting anywhere close to our

preschools, yeshivos or Bais Yaakovs.] 

For those who think they don’t care to change the education of the Haredim in Lakewood, think again. Five years ago, the Asbury Park Press printed an interview with Naftuli Moster of YAFFED titled Should state oversee private schools? The end of the article reads: “Will Moster be bringing his campaign to Lakewood? Yes, he says. … But for now, he wants to focus on New York. Last week, city education officials say

their investigation into whether Hasidic schools were complying with the state’s “substantially equivalent” standard for non-public schools was being hindered by the refusal of some schools to allow investigators to enter the schools or to provide more than a basic outline of the curriculum. Moster believes he eventually will prevail. And when he does, he will turn his attention to New Jersey. Gov. Phil Murphy and the Legislature should be prepared. State standards should be developed that ensure all students in New Jersey — public and private — are provided a thorough and efficient education. The state should establish minimum curricular requirements and, insist, as a condition of any state funding, that they are

being met.” Forewarned is forearmed. Let no one be fooled, naïve, or bought off.

[Ed.: And, let no one – not a single yungerman, aishes chayil, or caring yerei Shomayim- sit idly by or complacent and let anyone, even with the best intentions or bags full of money, even put their eyes on our children, or have the slightest foothohold on our most precious possessions.]