Dozens Of Hasidic Kids Not Enrolled In School Because Rabbis Are Blocking Yeshiva Placements To Hurt Parents, Activist Alleges

There are allegedly at least 40 hasidic kids between the ages of six and 12 living in Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn who don't have a yeshiva to go to because rabbis are using yeshiva placement as a club to punish the kids' families – sometimes allegedly because a family complained about child sexual abuse or reported abuse to police.

 

There are allegedly at least 40 hasidic kids between the ages of six and 12 living in Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn who don't have a yeshiva to go to because rabbis are using yeshiva placement as a club to punish the kids' families.

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg told me tonight that he personally knows of 40 such kids and that there are likely many more.

According to what I've heard, the city knows this. (It may not know the exact numbers, but it knows it is happening.) And likely the state knows, as well. But they allegedly aren't willing to cross the large hasidic bloc vote, and these kids are simply not being educated.

A parent I was told about enrolled her child in a public school after the yeshiva the child had previously attended would not take him back. The public school was shocked to see that an 8-year-old didn't even know the letters of the alphabet because he hadn't really been taught them in yeshiva. The child had no mental illness, no learning disabilities and doesn't have ADHD. When the yeshivas realized how dangerous this situation could be for them, the child suddenly got a yeshiva placement.

Why was the child  not given a yeshiva placement to begin with? There are lots of excuses, but in the end, it all seems to boil down to one fact that kid can't change, the name of one of his grandfathers.

The city and state appear to be turning a blind eye, both to haredi schools' failure to teach basic things like proper English usage (which we already know and have reported previously) and to rabbis' use of yeshiva placements as a club to hit parents who own the wrong cellphone, trim their beards – or, in some case, report alleged child sex abuse to police.

The city, the Brooklyn DA, the state and even the federal government all have legal action they could likely take against these rabbis and yeshivas.

Likely none – perhaps save for the federal government, if the action originates from Washington, DC (the Brooklyn US Attorney is notoriously unwilling to prosecute haredi crime) – will do it.

Comments

[adams]

Should have kept the kids in Public school.

[BMW]

We learn from Mesorah that Tinok shel Beis Raban which means adolescent Torah learning is exceedingly loved by the creator, & the Talmud says if anyone disrupts that(by not allowing children to learn and forcing them into public schools then the punishment will be shock/Awe! As far as academic studies there is no reason not to be as educated as possible.

[ah-pee-chorus]

+++ the punishment will be shock/Awe!+++

Sounds scary. I love how people think the nonsense they spout to justify their position sounds better when accompanied by a threat.

[David]

That poor kid that actually made it into a real school.... What a tragedy that after that the Yeshivah accepted the kid and the parents sent it.

[Yochanan Lavie]

If they can't abide public school, send them to a Modern Orthodox yeshiva. They would get a better education than at a chassidic one.

[Jeff]

"If they can't abide public school, send them to a Modern Orthodox yeshiva. They would get a better education than at a chassidic one."

To these people, an MO school is a greater abomination than a public one.

It's tragic that the kid was in a public school and the parents sent him back to the indoctrination factory once the lunatics caved. This illustrates what I keep saying; change from within is impossible. That world must be forcibly dismantled. If that means sending in the National Guard as was done in the 60's to desegregate schools in the South, I have no problem with it. I'd rather enjoy it, actually.

[Allan]

Exactly Jeff. The real tragedy is being accepted by a haredi yeshiva – not being rejected by one.

”The public school was shocked to see that an 8-year-old didn't even know the letters of the alphabet because he hadn't really been taught them in yeshiva”

But not “shocked” enough to try to keep the poor child from returning to a life of ignorance and illiteracy? Imagine returning a child from a background of physical or sexual abuse back to his/her toxic environment. That would be illegal, but when it comes to victims of "educational abuse" they’re content to say “we’re shocked”, then wash their hands and allow the poor child to be returned to a dismal life of illiteracy and future poverty.

[Jeff]

That's New York, Allan. Civil authorities are all scared to death of the black hats. It's amazing the kind of power you have when you vote in blocs, because no one is allowed to have an independent opinion.

[Alter Kocker]

Yeshiva education is no education at all. Torah lifestyle is a sham. Best that the parents give their children a real education so that they can support themselves at some time. Oh it is so delightful that they can study the same scroll and the same books over and over and over and over. How about this: They can count past 20 without dropping their pants. They can write a letter in English using punctuation and spell commonly used words and phrases. They can communicate using English instead of pidgin patois mixed with yiddish. They will learn that they live in the United States instead of "Jew-land". THEY WILL LEARN THAT THE RABBIS OBJECTIVE IS SLAVERY AND POWER. THEY WILL LEARN THAT THEY ARE PART OF A CULT WITH SINISTER OBJECTIVES. THEY WILL LEARN THE TRUTH.

[Sarek]

If an 8 year old kid doesn't know his ABCs, that is child abuse. Seems to me the public school is now criminally liable for not reporting it.

[g sullivan]

Controlling and money is what they are after. Just like the Catholic church. Pathetic!

[mordechai]

There are no federal laws regulating private schools in the US. It appears you are not very well educated on US law. There isn't much regulation on the state level as well.

Public schools often don't teach kids to read in the US. How do you think Obama gets elected. All those Obama supporters demanding a minimum wage of $15 an hour went to public school and can't get a better job with their public school educations.

The US doesn't subsidize lifetime Kollel and hassidim in the US seem to be able to get jobs and make a living so whats your problem

[Shari Cantor]

@ Mordechai I'm an Obama voter and I have three degrees. Virtually everyone in my extended family has one or more degrees and also voted for President Obama. They all have very good jobs. On the other hand, there are many people who have bachelor or Masters degrees working in places like Walmart today because corporations are moving all their jobs to places where people earn 11 cents an hour.

And just so you know, my son's high school, which has a 27% minority population, was rated 2nd in our state by US News and World Report. The high school across town was rated 5th in the state and has a smaller percentage of minority students. Graduates from both schools go on to do great things.