BS"D
20 Menachem Av, 5779 °°° Aug. 21, '19
By Binyomin Feinberg
feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com
As the September 2nd deadline for submitting comments against the proposed Regulations for NYS Educational Equivalency approaches, we offer a sample letter that addresses the key issues. NY residents, you may use this to write your own letter to the NYS Board of Regents. We emphasize the need to ensure that any letter sent is properly edited, especially given the issue at hand.
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Here is some important contact information:
New York State Education Department 89 Washington Avenue Albany, New York 12234 Phone: 518-474-5889 E-mail: RegentsOffice@nysed.gov
Send your letter (email) to all of the following:
seregcomments@nysed.gov Christina Coughlin, NYSED
regulations@nysais.org NYSAIS will keep a record of all comments
Regent.Brown@nysed.gov Regent for the county where our school is
Regent.Cottrell@nysed.gov Regent at Large who will vote on the regulations
Regent.Norwood@nysed.gov Regent at Large who will vote on the regulations
Regent.Reyes@nysed.gov Regent at Large who will vote on the regulations
Regent.Young@nysed.gov Regent at Large who will vote on the regulations
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B"H
With G-d’s help, I would like to bring to your attention my deep concern over the new proposed Regulations released on July 3, 2019 by NYSED, known as “Substantially Equivalent Instruction for Nonpublic School Students” (7/3/19 St. Reg. EDU-27-19-00010-P).
The majority of the founders of the Orthodox Jewish communities emigrated to this country in pursuit of religious freedom, fleeing religious persecution in their countries of origin. Our parents taught us to appreciate this country for the Constitutional liberties it guarantees. We immigrated to this country to live a life of Torah, and pass it on to our children and all future generations, just as our ancestors have done for thousands of years, ever since G-d gave us His Torah on Mt. Sinai. This is because Judaism obligates us to transmit to our children that which was transmitted to us by our parents.
Specifically, every Jew is commanded by G-d in His Torah to transmit our Faith to our children. We are obligated to instill in our children an unwavering belief in the absolute, objective truth of the entirety of Torah, starting with the existence of our Creator, Who created the universe and fully controls it. We are further obligated to teach G-d's commandments, and our obligation to observe them, as it states: “Only take heed and guard your soul exceedingly so that you do not forget the facts that your eyes have seen and that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life: and make them known to your children and your children’s children; the day that you stood before G-d your G-d, at Horeb (Mt. Sinai) when G-d said to me ‘Assemble this people for me; I will let them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on earth and teach their children accordingly’” (Deuteronomy 4:9,10).
Thus, in Judaism, Education is not just about teaching information. We are commanded to have children in order to raise them to grow to become servants of the Almighty. We are obligated to train to fulfill His commandments, and to abstain from what He prohibited. For us education is not just a part of life; it is the purpose of our life.
Additionally, it is specifically prohibited by Jewish law to expose ourselves or others to ideology that runs contrary to the ideology of our Holy Torah (e.g., see Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry 2:2-3; Sefer HaChinuch 387; Bi'ur Halacha 1:1). It is absolutely prohibited to expose ourselves or others to studies of immoral lifestyles. Therefore, to study or teach the theory of Evolution - or immorality - violates core Torah prohibitions, and would entirely jeopardize our Education.
It is prohibited by Jewish law to expose ourselves
Even worse, in a sense, is teaching that LGBT-advocated conduct - the most evil of "lifestyles" (explicitly branded an "abomination" in VaYikra/ Leviticus 18:22) - is acceptable, much less to be "respected." Yet, in 2010, the N.Y.State Legislature passed the "Dignity for All Students Act," which mandated precisely that type of LGBT indoctrination.
That law modified section 801a of NY State's Education Law, to require schools to teach children to respect flagrant displays of immoral conduct that the Torah unequivocally commands us to abominate (Lev.18:22). Many of us were unaware of this legislation at the time, and only were alerted to it in the wake of the recently-revoked Guidelines of the Department of Education.
Last November, shortly after the elections, Dept. of Education Commissioner Elia - not surprisingly - publicly reinterpreted the aforementioned law. She applied it to religious schools as well. Thereby, she enabled the extension of the anti-Jewish LGBT assault on public school children to the large majority of Orthodox children, studying in religious schools.
[Please be aware that even if we were confident that the LGBTQ propaganda law would never be applied beyond public schools, we would still oppose this reprehensible policy, even if tolerance of such a policy would somehow procure "benefits" for our schools.
Sacrificing public school children for other children is anathema, and antithetical to everything Judaism stands for.]
After a judge subsequently dismissed those NYS DOE Guidelines as procedurally flawed, NY State proceeded to promulgate the same agenda, but this time in a procedurally correct - and tactically far more effective - manner. The recently issued Regulations carefully and predictably omitted explicit reference to the ultimate goals of LGBT indoctrination, and other red-flag policies. Yet, those Regulations emphatically allow the forthcoming Guidelines to cleverly include the most objectionable policies - AFTER passage of the public comment period.
This is absolutely unacceptable. Such policies are anti-Torah, as well as anti-Jewish, un-American, and unconstitutional. It is imperative to vote down any Regulations that even passively allow adoption of Guidelines mandating LGBT indoctrination.
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Furthermore, please understand that the integrity of Torah institutions is only possible when complete control of what is acceptable in our curriculum is decided by qualified Rabbis and religious leaders. Please realize that government oversight influencing how Orthodox Jews operate their Yeshivas undermines the very purpose for which those institutions were founded. The curriculum of our schools, calibrated to enable our children to secure appropriate vocational employment, has been established by our Rabbis, and is not up for discussion. Our schools have enviably produced multiple generations of peaceful, law-abiding communities, blessed with successful businessmen and philanthropists. The past seventy plus years testify to the success of the Torah education system, producing tens of thousands of caring, responsible, moral and upstanding families who contribute considerably to society and the economy. Communally, we have the lowest rates of violent crime in the state. Any tampering with our curriculum is bound to ultimately increase crime in the state, by decimation (incremental or otherwise) of our religious values. If we can't unequivocally teach - without any exception - that everything the Bible forbids is objectively wrong and must not be committed, or tolerated, then, by definition, other prohibitions like murder, theft etc. will ultimately be neglected too. If the Divine origin of any part of the Torah is rejected - an evil in its own right - then adherence to all other commandments is also at risk, to the detriment of society at large.
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Torah observant Jews have proudly lived as G-d-fearing Jews throughout history, and have sacrificed our wealth and even lives to secure the ability to live a Torah-true way of life. It is our sacred duty to further transmit pure Torah-true Judaism exactly as it has been passed down to us from generation to generation from Sinai. And that is exactly how we intend to educate our generations forever, whatever the price may be, be it fines, prison or even our lives.
Additionally, what good is government funding if that interferes with what is most precious in our lives – pure Torah education? Any governmental oversight, reform or slightest interference in the curriculum, subjects, etc. constitutes persecution on the basis of our religious beliefs and way of life, and therefore cannot be tolerated. We came to this country for religious freedom; please don't impose on us to flee this country due to a form of religious persecution even worse than that of Czarist Russia.
We humbly plead with you, please reject any and all Regulations or forthcoming Guidelines that would infringe upon our Religious Liberties, ensconced in the Bill of Rights. Please stand up for the values upon which the Founding Fathers have established this Republic. No American should collaborate in undermining these Religious Liberties, so foundational to our Constitutional Republican form of government. Please abolish the proposed regulations, and shun complicity in anti-constitutional policies with which tens of thousands of New York citizens will be unable to comply.
Thank you kindly,
Sincerely,
