An upcoming White House Summit on inner-city children and nonpublic schools will be addressed by Agudath Israel of America’s Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel.
At the White House’s request, Rabbi Zwiebel, the organization’s executive vice president for government and public affairs, will travel to Washington on April 24 – matzah in tow, as the date coincides with the third day of Chol Hamoed Pesach – to share the American Jewish community’s experience with intra-Jewish private programs aimed at providing assistance to families unable to pay tuition at Jewish schools, strengthening building funds and other growth-related needs and maintaining fiscal viability.
By demonstrating the achievements of even limited private programs, Rabbi Zwiebel will make the case that similar ventures have the potential to bring positive change to the larger American educational landscape.
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9 Responses
B”H great news. This defenitly falls in the catagories of DAVAR HA-AVUD & L’TZOIRECH HARABIM.
We all wish him much success.
Whenever The Agudah does something that people don’t like, the critics come out of the woodworks. Yet, when they are at the forefront of something like this you don’t hear any praise. We have to realize that while the Agudah is not perfect it serves a vital need as one the spokespeople for Torah true Judaism. I consider myself very fortunate to be represented before the federal Gov’t by Rabbi Zweibel and applaud his efforts.
“ChaZeeSa Ish moHir BimLachTo, Lifnei meLoChim YisYaTzov.”
So, as I understand the last paragraph, they want to use the secular studies programs in Orthodox yeshivas as a paradigm for the public school system. Ochin vey! Ask your yeshiva bochur son what a ‘paradigm’ is and tell me he doesn’t say ’20 cents’.
dovidl(no. 4):
Shame on you. You mean to say that the Yeshivos are inferior to the Government schools, where they teach the glories of Toeva and atheism!
Are you kidding?
Reb Chaim Dovid,
Please, on behalf Klal Yisroel, also let them know how hard it is for an average family to pay tuitions which in some cases are even less than whats spent per public school student yet is still too difficult for most middle to upper class large mishpochos to cover. We are tax paying citizens who commit little crime and have little to no benefits from the public schools which we pay for.
May H-shem guide your words into the hearts of those who have the power to make a change.
Hatzlocho!!!!
This a huge Kiddush Hashem! R’ Zwiebel is an excellent spokesman for Torah Jews.
Charliehall,
You’re saying 3 things. 1- yeshiva tuition is more costly than public school. 2- someone has got to pay for it. & 3- we will not want to be regulated by the government.
My response is as follows:
1-i don’t know where you live and I know some day schools in certain areas charge a lot of tuition but most NYC yeshivos have not hit $10,000 yet for a year in elementary school. Now public schools are spending approx $12,000-$15,000 per student from 9-3 while yeshivos have a much longer day. Yeshivos have a lot less waste.
2- I agree with you that we will all pay for that through higher taxes but that’s because we are giving the government a free pass right now. Bottom line as citizens we are entitled to a free education. At least for the secular studies portion of the day.
3- our yeshivos are already somewhat regulated since they do take whatever gov funding that’s available. I don’t think a voucher system has to be more regulatory than any other program where our yeshivos benefit
In closing, we basically tax the rich in our communities to cover the scholarships of those who can’t afford so if the government would have to provide all frum kids with an education they would probably do the same and at least they’d have a bigger pool to get $$$ from.
Chaim Dovid….it should be with much hatzlacha. You and the staff at Agudas Yisroel deserve much praise and thanks from the entire orthodox community. People are unfortunately to quick to knock and make fun of – but many of us DO know the great work and total dedication that you all have to make our lives in this bitter galus as “sweet” as possible. Hashem should bentch you and all the other dedicated members of the Agudah with health and happiness for many many years to come.