Boroughwide

Yeshivas file civil rights complaints on being ‘secularized’ as another Jewish group seeks reform

January 14, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Yeshiva school bus
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BOROUGHWIDE —  A TUG OF WAR BETWEEN FOUR BROOKLYN YESHIVAS and the New York State Department of Education has led to a civil rights complaint for alleged discriminatory education review, according to a letter from the law firm representing the schools and the Daily News. The schools — in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg — include Bobover Yeshiva Bnei Zion, Oholei Torah, United Talmudical Academy and Yeshiva & Mesivta Arugas Habosem. The yeshivas claim the agencies unfairly devalue Jewish Studies curricula, prohibit dual-language instruction, impose secular reading lists, interfere with hiring autonomy and reject accommodations for cultural practices like gender-separated classrooms. 

The schools further argue that the state’s actions violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act; constitutional protections for religious freedom and parental rights; federal intervention to halt discriminatory practices; and protection of a Jewish traditional education. 

“New York categorically refuses to credit any instruction that is a part of their Jewish Studies curriculum, despite its academic value and content,” writes Avi Schick, a partner at Faegre Dinker, in a complaint letter. Schick claims that his plaintiffs are not challenging state regulations but rather that the alleged use of the reviews to “impose its secular views on these Jewish schools.”

Another group of Jewish parents refutes the argument that the requirement to teach basic reading and math skills secularizes the yeshivas, saying that these schools are just trying to avoid accountability. Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, Young Advocates for a Fair Education (YAFFED), whose board and members were raised in Hasidic and Haredi Jewish families, told the Daily News, “Teaching English, math, science, and social studies does not contradict Jewish values; it complements them.”

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