A Corruption of Judaism

Day school students watching protesters on June 3rd (JTA)

Yeshiva K’tana Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn (resumed) classes (joining) a number of yeshivas in operating illegally as the school year comes to a close… the Orthodox schools that have opened in the past several months appear to be taking deliberate steps to evade notice… 

…at least one school sent a letter last week indicating its plans — and the strategies families should use to avoid calling attention to themselves.

Written in Yiddish, the letter provided instructions for the return to school “in order to not be disturbed by foreign (outside) elements.” The letter instructed parents to send their children with masks, but not to bring them to school using non-Jewish car services or to leave strollers in front of the building while dropping off children. “Do not stop in front to talk with one another,” the letter said. “Only come and go quickly.”  

The schools which have chosen to open have set guidelines; no preschools, minimal hours of attendance, some have alternate days, no transportation, no playing in the playground, students enter buildings form [sic] side or back doors, many have staggered the attendance of grades throughout the day, no uniform,” the letter said. “The underlying objective of these guidelines is to avoid being noticed.

“Most importantly, when students are told all these rules in order to avoid being noticed, this presents a huge chinuch compromise as students are being taught to do things illegal while avoiding ‘being caught,’” the letter said, using the Hebrew word for education.