NY area Hasidics and the local school system

[flyawaystray]

Can't stop blaming your shopping woes on the Jews, can you?

Wow.....I don't really give a crap what store are there now or not. Old Cedarhurst was WAY before my time. Someone else posted about old Cedarhurst and how ritzy it used to be, so I looked it up, sheesh.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Here's a Hasid who's a principal in a public school serving mostly non-Jewish minorities:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/nyreg ... wanted=all

Some of his initiatives may be controversial, but he's certainly not trying to gut the school. Guess they're not all the same after all.

I heard Waronker speak at my synagogue a couple of years ago. He's great.

One of the questions that he says that he gets is "why spend all this effort with public school kids, instead of the Jewish school kids?"

IIRC, he replied that ALL kids deserve a good education, and that his background and education meant that serving this kids seemed to be his life mission.

He didn't grow up Orthodox, but he's now affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch movement. This would be a prime example of the tension in the ultra-Orthodox world between outreach and insularity. Chabad has a few insular tendencies in a couple of spots (eg. Crown Heights), but overall there is an extreme emphasis on outreach. Most of this outreach is geared toward Jews, but they do have some limited efforts geared toward teaching "the seven universal laws of Noah" to non-Jews as well. Being outreach-oriented means that they need to take the needs of their communities into account - many rabbis will serve communities where a lot of the children go to public schools, so weakening the public system would result in lost members and donations.

Many Jews appreciate the fact that Chabad has a clear philosophy of loving and serving all Jews, even if they have no intention of taking up ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Others find it annoying to be constantly approached and asked if they've put on tefillin or if they light Shabbat candles. I guess that's the tension - is it better to have groups that care SO MUCH that they won't leave you alone, or groups that just focus on their own issues to the extent that they fail to engage with the world around them. There's another twist as well - some of these super-insular, super-restrictive communities have supported liberal politicians over conservative ones. Hillary Clinton got the Satmar vote when she ran for New York senator. Part of the community's indifference to outsiders means that they care more about being able to fund their own super-religious lifestyle than preventing everyone else from have access to legal abortions and same-sex marriage.

Their philosophy is that if they are supposed to love all Jews, they have to get involved in their spiritual and physical welfare. There is a story that is told in Chabad circles about a meeting between the Lubavitcher Rebbe and another big Hasidic Rebbe. [Rebbe = big leader of a Hasidic community] The Lubavitcher Rebbe asked him "what are you doing to curb drugs and promiscuity in Israel?" The other Rebbe replied, "That's not a problem among OUR children", to which the Lubavitcher Rebbe angrily responded, "And which children are NOT our children?"

Chabad does periodically clash with other ultra-Orthodox movements. If your goal is to keep the outside world at bay and concentrate on living in this holy bubble, bringing in new people who don't necessarily keep many of the commandments and who are part of the outside world isn't something good. On the other hand, if you belief that the fate of the world depends on you reaching out to as many people as possible and being "G-d's Salesman", you find that much of your effort is spent combatting the negative impression created by those who see themselves as "G-d's Policemen".

[Sarah]

I think we have to be really careful with "THEY" comments. Not all Christians are the same, not all Muslims all the same, not all Jews are the same, and not all Orthodox Jews are the same. I would never support deliberately rude or dishonest behavior. But if you're upset at people for having to drive home on Fridays--there's not much they can do about it other than abandoning their community, is there? It may not be meant that way, but it comes across as just as prejudicial as an anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim rant.

And fair warning that I will be one of those Jews on the road in Cedarhurst this Friday--in case you want to clear the road! :)