Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is devoting himself to making sure that no child is excluded from yeshiva in the upcoming school year. In a new video, Hikind discusses how he has heard from too many parents whose sons and daughters are still not in a yeshiva or girl’s school.
“We are in late March and sadly there are hundreds of children who are still not in yeshiva,” says Hikind. “I have listened to the pain of fathers who have shared with me how they go into a room and cry. This problem has been talked about for too long. My office has been involved in numerous cases, and other individuals in our community also work hard to help, but there are still hundreds of children who have not seen the walls of a classroom all year long! For whatever reason, they were not accepted into a school yet, and this is unacceptable!
“More needs to be done and we are working to make sure that in the upcoming school year no child is left behind. There is never an excuse. There is never a reason for a child not to be sitting and learning Torah. Imagine what it does to the child–the anguish, the humiliation… Or to the parents—having to beg and plead with schools to take their child. This is something that I have done, too. Over the years, I’ve begged and pleaded with schools to please take someone’s child in. And most of the time the child who was initially refused turns out to be one of the great kids in that yeshiva!”
Hikind promised to do more than just underscore the terrible crisis and says that he is already hard at work on the issue. “No child can be left behind in our community,” he said. “No child!”
Hikind’s video can be seen here:
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4 Responses
Fifty years ago every Jewish child was precious. Yeshivas conducted outreach to get children into their schools, urging families who weren’t even completely shomer shabbos to enroll their children, knowing that the children themselves could shlep the whole family frum.
Now we treat children the way we treat consumer goods. Is the child “good enough” to represent the yeshiva’s brand? Don’t parents “deserve the best” in a yeshiva where only the “top students” are admitted?
Why are so many children walking away? Because they know that outside of their own families they won’t be missed. Instead of gratitude to HKBH for allowing us to so quickly make up the losses for the victims of the Holocaust, we turn the Torah learning of children into another consumer-oriented circus. When will we regain the realization that every neshama is precious, even if the child isn’t an ilui?
Why is this a State politician’s issue? I though he’s supposed to work on State policy not private school problems.
Also, you’d think that someone of the stature of a State Assemblyman could afford better audio for his ranting video!
With all due respect to the sincere readers of Yeshiva World 5his message is for the second comment calling himself “the FRUM guy” you need to cleanse yourself from all the hate you carry in your heart this is a state politician that has an open office where distraught parents come looking for help and BH there is someone interested in helping them. Where are all the other leaders of our large community? Why aren’t YOU “FRUM GUY” busy helping the Assemblyman give some relief to these pained parents. The assemblyman is doing something for our community and THAT HURTS YOU……..I’m not a youngster I’m embarrassed watching what has become with our community instead of helping it’s “Let’s attack the person trying to do good”
Frumguy:
Your ignorance is showing.
Dov Hikind has become a goto person for problems of all kinds, spanning matters related to Federal and local issues, not just state government. he has been a strong and vocal activist for all problems and issues that confront the frum community. If you never approached him, or never needed to, that may be your unique experience. As for your “private school problems”, he is addressing the plague the frum community suffers of hundreds of kids that are left to stay depressed at home, suffer rejection, or roam the streets suffering the ills that plague much of secular America. Dov is correct in noting that this is not just a number of individuals that have been unable to fit into the system. It’s about a broken, shattered system that excludes too many and sentences them to a horrific future.
Will you think about these kids by your seder? Will you wonder which of the Four Sons is the category where they fit? If you want to start up that the schools bear no responsibility here, I will not continue any dialogue with you on this. Your premise is false, and I will not entertain a conversation on that. The issue is complex. No single sentence can be the answer to all. But a school year where all kids are not placed before the beginning of the year is an עת צרה for all of כלל ישראל. The gala dinners hosted by these yeshivos to raise funds might be pleasant events to enjoy, but are unfair to the many that are excluded from the Klal. A real Rosh Yeshiva, Menahel, Menahales would find these needed fundraisers painful to them, suffering from knowing that there are kids being tortured every day by exclusion. If you know any of these real ones, they deserve recognition, and i would ask you to share their names.
Dov rants. But Dov cares. Do you? How would you do something to reduce the scourge of these yeshivaless kids?
No comment on audio quality.