schmendrik

Mr. Isler makes some good points about the state of affairs and raises some good (mostly unachievable) conceptual ideas that could chip away at the crisis a little, but seems to still be leaning toward the idea of enrolling Orthodox Jewish children in public school, one way or another. And then he questions why he doesn’t get any cooperation or interest from rabbonim.

The reality that Mr. Isler seems somewhat out of touch with, is that most yeshiva parents (and rabbonim) have very strong convictions about keeping their children out of a public school environment at all costs. Mr. Isler, on the other hand, seems to be pretty comfortable with the idea of Orthodox Jewish children attending public school (possibly with non-Jewish children), doesn’t seem to perceive the risks of a public school environment for Orthodox Jewish children. This attitude is somewhat typical of some religious Jews who may have attended public school as children many years ago, but unfortunately they are usually the exception if they remained religious, and everyone knows that a public school environment today is far worse than the environment that existed in public schools of a previous generation. As soon as Mr. Isler exhibits a commitment to the ideals and the necessity of yeshiva education and a yeshiva environment, and stops painting rabbonim as the enemy, he should find that more people will take him seriously and his efforts will come across more constructively and less like a personal rant about his tuition bills.