JEWISH SENTINEL

By KAREN E. H. SKINAZI M y heart jumped when I saw the phone number of my oldest son’s school on the screen. “Hello?” “Is this Dr. Skinazi?” “Yes.” “Don’t worry, Lucas is fine. Only — I just wanted to let you know that there was a little anti- Semitic incident at school today.” Breathe in, breathe out. “What happened this time?” I asked. The last time there had been a “little anti-Semitic incident” was when Lucas mentioned being Jewish in a religious education class during the first year of sec- ondary school, and one of his classmates teased, “Hope you don’t get gassed!” That time I had to bring it to the school’s attention. My husband and I grew up in insular Canadian Jewish commu- nities. We attended Jewish day schools through high school, Jewish sleepaway camps and Shabbatons. We met on our year abroad in Israel. When we had kids, I wanted them to have the same strong sense and love of Yiddishkeit that I had. So we sent them to Jewish preschools and Jewish day schools. When my husband was offered a job at the University of Warwick, in Coventry, England, a place with a negligible Jewish population, I realized our children would have upbringings very dif- ferent from our own. But in many ways I was excited about what that meant: friends from all kinds of backgrounds, worldliness, empa- thy across ethnic and religious lines. Also, who doesn’t love a British accent? We moved to Birmingham so that we could send our children — who were then all elementary school age — to King David Primary, the only Jewish school between London and Manchester. Small and heimish, academically solid in both secular and religious studies and located in a lovely, leafy area of this city, it was a no- brainer. My children would not By AVI SHAFRAN R elentless campaigns calling for curricula reform in the nation’s yeshivas. Mislead- ing headlines about educational standards at Orthodox schools. Zoning efforts aimed at keeping large Jewish families out of subur- ban towns. Some see a direct link between such things and the anti- Semitic violence that has erupted on the streets of Brooklyn. I don’t. But links can be indirect. Groups that smear yeshivas, and suburbanites who assail observant Jews for daring to want to move into their towns, thicken an expand- ing cloud of hostility against Jews who wear their Jewishness openly. Denying that subtle but significant link should not be an option. Since 2012, an activist group called Young Advocates for Fair Education has accused a number of Hasidic yeshivas of neglecting sec- ular studies and thereby handicap- ping their students, preventing them from becoming productive mem- bers of society. The group’s founder and execu- tive director, Naftuli Moster, would himself seem to belie his claim. He has mounted a tremendously suc- cessful, if misleading, public rela- tions campaign against those yeshivas, and convinced a wide assortment of media to parrot and embrace his claims — an impres- sive accomplishment for a graduate of what he insists is a school that didn’t prepare him for a career. Moster says that his only concern in championing state control and radical overhaul of all yeshivas and private schools in New York State is to ensure that Hasidic children will be able to make decent livings. But some observers, who note that he has characterized Orthodox rules governing family purity as “absurd” and “crooked,” feel that Moster may be motivated by the antipathy he harbors for the community in which he was raised. He also claims that many Hasidic parents are overjoyed by his cru- sade but are too cowed by nefarious community leaders to register their chagrin. The truth emerged when New York State released proposed continued on page 16 Wars Against The Jews That is, Jews who wear their Judaism openly CANDLE LIGHTING continued on page 28 307 W. 37th Street New York, NY 10018 516-594-4000 Fax: 212/244-2257 Publisher & editor-in-chief Jerome Wm. Lippman Assistant Editor Jeff Helmreich Features Editor Barbara Weinblatt Travel Editor Tania Grossinger Editorial Assistant Megan Batt Contributors Douglas M. Bloomfield, Shira Dicker, Lawrence J. Epstein, Marcelle Sussman Fischler, Ezra Goldstein, William B. Helmreich, Sandy Portnoy, Joseph R. Rackman, Erica Rauzin, Walter Ruby, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Barbara Schultz, Jacob Stein, Carol Steinberg, Harold S. Steinberg, Andrew Wohlberg, Nora Yood Donald Pleasant, Michael Perry. Production Editor Laura Katz Account Executives Joyce Ehrlich, Enid Feldman, Dave Levin Lee Lichtman, Joyce Rudnick, Judy Schnelwar Art Director Deborah Gruenberger Traffic Manager Karen Chasen For Israel Advertising Information International Media Placement P.O.B. 7195. Jerusalem, Israel 91071 (02) 6252933 Fax (02) 6249240 Counsel Steven D. Cohn All material in this paper has been copyrighted, is the exclusive property of this newspaper, and cannot be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed by our columnists do not necessarily reflect the editor’s point of view. Composition responsibility: This newspaper will not be liable for errors appearing in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Advertiser assumes responsibility for errors in telephone orders. We are not responsible for the Kashruth of any product or establishment advertised in this newspaper. All advertisements designed and prepared by the Jewish World are the sole property of the newspaper and can not be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. Published weekly by World Jewish Media, Inc. Jerome Wm. Lippman, President. Manhattan’s largest Jewish Newspaper Circulation 40,000 Muslims On Jewish Kids Orthodox Jewish school, 85 percent Muslim Friday, February 7 Candles 5:02 pm Shabbat ends 6:12 pm Friday, February 14 Candles 5:11 pm Shabbat ends 6:20 pm (Clockwise from far left) U.S. Atty. Gen. William Barr and Richard Donoghue, U.S. Atty. Eastern District of N.Y., met with Agudath Israel’s Rabbi Chaim Zwiebel and (far right) UJO’s Rabbi David Niederman and other Jewish leaders to discuss, among other issues, efforts to tamper with yeshiva curricula. 4 JEWISH SENTINEL • FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020 PERSPECTIVE In many ways, I was excited about what that meant: friends from all kinds of backgrounds, worldliness, empathy across ethnic and religious lines. ANALYSIS A diverse group of students arranged on a stage singing together at the Orthodox Jewish King David Primary in Birmingham, England. An activist group has accused Hasidic yeshivas of neglecting secular studies, preventing their students from becoming productive members of society.