איך נפלו גבורים The Infiltration of our Mosdos Hachinuch by Secular Culture and What You Can Do About it Right Now
Be’ezras Hashem, there is a must-attend Asifa tomorrow night.
BS”D
וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ־לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: שמות פרק יט פסוק ו
כִּי־מֵרֹאשׁ צֻרִים אֶרְאֶנּוּ וּמִגְּבָעוֹת אֲשׁוּרֶנּוּ הֶן־עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן וּבַגּוֹיִם לֹא יִתְחַשָּׁב: במדבר פרק כג פסוק ט
וַיֹּאמֶר בֹּעַז אֶל־רוּת הֲלוֹא שָׁמַעַתְּ בִּתִּי אַל־תֵּלְכִי לִלְקֹט בְּשָׂדֶה אַחֵר וְגַם לֹא תַעֲבוּרִי מִזֶּה וְכֹה תִדְבָּקִין… רות פרק ב פסוק ח
This article isn’t just about the pernicious effect that government funding is having on our children’s chinuch - although it’s about that, too.
This is about the shocking intrusion of secular culture - which is now at its lowest level since Dor Hamabul - into our holy Yeshivos and girls’ schools.
When people want to cook a frog, they start by placing it in cold water, and the frog is so happy. He enjoys himself, swimming around merrily. Slowly, slowly, they make the water hotter and hotter. The frog does not notice it, because it’s so gradual, and he eventually dies from the heat.
Similarly, as Mashiach draws closer and the Yetzer Hara wages his dying battle, the world has become ever more corrupted by evil forces of tumah - and, without realizing, we have allowed ever more terrible influences into our children’s lives.
We are, very sadly, like the frog. If they had shown us at the start what we’d end up with, there would have been huge protests. But they do it slowly, and we become acclimated, and COOKED.
The current matzav is so bad that it is clearly a fulfillment of what the Navi foretold would happen before Mashiach, namely, that those who warn against the evil would be the ones seen as the “crazies.”
וַתְּהִי הָאֱמֶת נֶעְדֶּרֶת וְסָר מֵרָע מִשְׁתּוֹלֵל וַיַּרְא ד׳ וַיֵּרַע בְּעֵינָיו כִּי־אֵין מִשְׁפָּט: ישעיהו פרק נט פסוק טו
Most people probably have little awareness of how serious the situation is - of how deeply the world has deteriorated, and of the influences seeping in.
Many parents are moser nefesh for Torah - but have no idea that their children are learning about, and being affected by, an assortment of foreign cultures, alien “religions,” forbidden lifestyles, and anti-Torah Hashkafos. In some cases, there can even be Issurei D’Oraysa transgressed with the information about world “religions.” In all cases, our children’s very worldviews and lifelong values are being subconsciously molded by the kefira, pritzus, and negative middos inherent in the textbooks. These are forces that we would never have chosen or desired to shape our precious children, and which are diametrically opposed to the very reasons that we have enrolled them in a frum school.
It is time for all of us - Rabbonim, parents, teachers, principals, and all members of the community - to take a close look at every aspect of the materials used in both Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol, at every age level, in every school, and remove the bad that has seeped in.
וּבִעַרְתָּ הָרָע מִקִּרְבֶּךָ וְכָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל יִשְׁמְעוּ וְיִרָאוּ: דברים פרק כא פסוק כא
Yes, much of the influence has come to be present in our schools because many have accepted government funding, and with it, government oversight. But that is not the whole story. There are schools which do not even have any reason that they “have to” be using the harmful textbooks that they are. Apparently, an awakening and a return to our inner values is desperately needed.
By Hashgacha Pratis, I found out on Erev Shabbos about a very important event which will Be’ezras Hashem be taking place this week for the exact purpose of awakening the Klal and the schools to the secular influences in our children’s schools, and what we can do about it.
As you will see on the flyer below, seventeen Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbonim, among them Rav Malkiel Kotler and Rav Yaakov Forchheimer, stand behind this event and urge everyone who is able to, to attend.
The event is split into two - Be’ezras Hashem, Rav Olshin, Rav Zuckerman, and Rav Grama will be addressing the men tomorrow (Monday night, March 13) and Rav Lieberman, Rav Zuckerman, and Rav Grama will be speaking to the women on Wednesday night, March 15.) Both events are at 8:30 PM at Esther Gerber Hall at 590 Madison Ave in Lakewood.
While the physical event is in Lakewood, there is an audio hookup available so that you can call in from anywhere. The number is 848-233-1030.
I hope that every member of our community will take part.
I would like to give you my own small collection of examples of the extremely harmful influences. Some of these have been included in previous articles and some are new.
Even innocuous materials like elementary grade readers have subtle messages that are placed purposely by the textbook manufacturers, to influence our children’s outlook on life and shape their values. For example, decades ago, Rav Aharon Kotler was shown a reading book in which a story had a father, mother, and two children. He was very upset, and said “They’re trying to normalize small families in the children’s minds.” What would Rav Aharon say about a current textbook in use in a top Lakewood school, which has a family headed by a father, who does all the chores, and has two children?
Or, in a different example, we were shown material which featured pictures of a large family, needy and unhappy, and in contrast, a small two-child family, living comfortably and content.
(Of course, Rachmana litzlan, these situations do exist in our communities for tragic reasons, but that’s not the point here.)
There are many more, and worse, examples which you will find if you take a look at the books.
One common issue which comes to mind is the disrespect shown to parents by the children in the stories.
What’s going on is that those who want to destroy the traditional family and take the world away from Hashem are trying to normalize single-parent families, population control, changing gender roles, to’eiva relationships, lack of respect for parents, bad middos, and their whole wicked anti-Hashem agenda. As I’ve written before, this comes from the top (the UN/UNESCO and the WHO.)
These subtle influences really do come through and have a tremendous effect on our children’s outlooks.
Although many good schools try to censor the materials, in the words of Rav Aharon Feldman Shlita, you can censor the lines, but you can’t censor between the lines.
As schools modify their materials to meet government guidelines, including restrictions on teaching of religion in Headstart programs, the Limudei Kodesh portion of the curriculum is also affected, and the results are absolutely shocking - the nissim and Emuna are being removed from the Parshas Hashavua! This terrible, terrible thing is happening in HEIMISHE, Yiddish speaking schools.
The pictures of the coloring book below show the original book on the right (an old favorite called A Hilf far dem Kind that teaches Emuna, faithfully retelling the nissim the Torah relates to us.)
On the left is the version that a certain chassidishe school sent home with the kids, which they censored to remove reference to the nissim.
For example, in the above picture of gathering mahn, instead of saying that mahn fell daily in the desert for the Jews to eat (a miracle), they changed it to state simply “the Jews ate mahn in the desert,” and modified the picture to avoid showing that mahn fell in front of each person’s tent.
In the picture of Kriyas Yam Suf, they modified the picture and removed the caption to avoid making obvious this miracle which is a pivotal point of our Emuna.
Above is their “sanitized” picture of Shiras Hayam. No Kriyas Yam Suf apparent at all. Simply a small group of men dancing near a placid lake, with a palace on the opposite shore. Shomu Shamayim!
These last two pictures above, which there was no way to adequately censor, as the nissim were clear from the picture even with the words removed, the school simply didn’t send home with the children at all.
This is beyond scary and horrifying.
Even in schools which have not gone as far to please the government as the one in the above example, very disturbing things are going on.
In government-funded preschool programs, the required “skills” and secular learning curriculum is mixed with the Kodesh, which results in an unavoidable chilul of the Kodesh.
For example, (and this is from the more innocuous happenings, as it’s occurring very innocently in a school which really does have Yiras Shamayim), the newsletter which includes the Parsha questions, also includes a little summary of a non-Jewish children’s book read and discussed that week.
In a different school, a “skills Hagadda booklet” was sent home (in addition to a regular Hagadda) to satisfy the government curriculum. Honestly, it would have been so much better had the “skills” been taught on their own, instead of giving the children the feeling that this is what the Hagadda is about. For example:
Rachtza becomes all about tracing skills! No mention of what it really is.
Bareich is a lesson in how we read a book - open from the front, and turn one page at a time.
Nirtza is about “What can a bird do? What helps it fly?”
Space does not allow the rest of the examples, but this is enough for you to realize that this Hagadda would have found favor in the eyes of the Yevanim and the Soviets. But now, we are doing it to ourselves, for pay.
In another example, an elementary school created an impressive-looking newsletter. The first edition featured a story of a tzaddik. The next newsletter had that same space filled by a gushing piece about inventor Jonas Salk, which highlighted the fact that he was Jewish and had attended university. The obvious message was that the students in this Chassidishe yeshiva could also aspire to go to university and become inventors like this irreligious scientist, and in fact, the newsletter featured pictures of a contest that was held in the school, in which the boys had created inventions and a panel of judges had come to evaluate them.
There is a known klal that a gezeira from the malchus cannot be chal unless we had a weakness in that area to begin with. For example, in the times of the Yevanim, there had already been a weakening in the avoda in the Bais Hamikdash, and that’s why the Yevanim were able to have a shlita.
Clearly, we have a lot to be masaken.
One tragic possible source:
The question was once put to Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal, about whether we should oppose prayer in the public schools, and he replied with fire, “Avada Darfen Zei Davenen”. (“Of course, they must pray!”)
Years later, unfortunately, a Jewish organization was instrumental in the battle against prayer in the public schools, helping to destroy the religious underpinnings of the USA. Hashem yeracheim.
Here are shiurim of Rav Shmuel Eliezer Friedman (in Yiddish) detailing the horrors going on in some of the Heimishe Mosdos:
(Of course, this is all aside from the schools who are so far gone that their required reading for the students this year was a series of novels prominently featuring adultery.
I mentioned that unbelievable travesty in my last article, along with a critical alarm: A “Limudei Kodesh” teacher from one of those schools, by the name of Mrs. Lisa Septimus (whose class for her students on Inyanei Kedusha I personally listened to and found beyond disgusting), stated that she goes into “the most sheltered high schools” in the Heimishe neighborhoods of Brooklyn and New Jersey to give these types of educational talks, and the girls are “so grateful to her for opening their eyes.” Someone has to investigate this and put an end to it before more girls are destroyed, chas veshalom.)
I would like to end with the following piece which I published here last summer:
IS IT HALACHICALLY ALLOWED FOR YESHIVOS TO ACCEPT GOVERNMENT FUNDING? A FRESH LOOK
Did the title surprise you? If you are thinking "Why on earth should we not accept government help?", then you should know that this question was seriously debated by the Gedolim, including Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal, back in 1961.
What would the potential issurim be? The most obvious is the prohibition against putting the chinuch of our children into the hands of kofrim. In general, the rule in life is that whoever pays the bills calls the shots, and there's no way that we could allow the government to have a dei'a in our Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs, which are run according to a sacred, untouchable, mesora.
So how did the heter to take money come about? Some history is in order. The poverty in the community decades ago was a huge issue, and many children would have gone to public school, had there been no loophole to allow acceptance of outside funding.
Even with the specter of Jewish children going to public school for no other reason than lack of funds to sustain the yeshivas, the allowance to accept assistance from the government was still not simple. The book "A Fire in his Soul" details how in 1961, Rav Aharon Kotler zatzal and other Gedolim deliberated for months, and received input from lawyers and other experts. The Gedolim were assured that government interference in the schools was impossible, based on 1) the history of American democracy, 2) the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and American law, and 3) the tolerance and democratic bent of the American people, who would not permit the violation of Jewish religious liberty or the Jews' right to transmit Torah teachings to their children.
Additionally, the Rabbonim based their decision on the fact that the federal aid would give the yeshivos the opportunity to expand and help thousands more children access a Torah education, and that the money to be paid to the yeshivos was not a gift, but rather a payment of a debt owed by the government, for the schools having maintained secular studies departments for decades while receiving zero funding, at the same time as Jewish parents paid property taxes which went towards the funding of public schools.
Only with the firm guarantee that the government would have absolutely no say in the running of the yeshivas, and for the above additional reasons, was the heter given to accept the money. It is critical to remember this.
Subsequent to Rav Aharon Kotler's petira in 1962, the inaugral issue of The Jewish Observer in 1963 contained a long article by Rabbi Moshe Sherer z"l explaining the importance of accepting the government assistance, in order to avoid Jewish children ending up in public school.
Baruch Hashem, there is enough money within the community nowadays, that our own philanthropists and community members are capable of providing for the needs of our yeshivos, and Rabbi Sherer's reason does not apply.
Even more compelling, though, is the fact that it seems clear that the three foundations to the guarantee of governmental non-interference in our mesora of chinuch, on which Rav Aharon based his heter, have evaporated.
The government is currently interfering in the most egregious of ways in the very fundamentals of our Yiddishkeit, right in the hallowed halls of the yeshiva. For example, they mandate a certain amount of hours of secular subjects, which topics, and how they are taught. Not only that, but currently they are seeking to mandate that to'eiva be taught in our schools.
The question begs asking: Would Rav Aharon have given his heter to accept government money if he would be looking at our current situation in 2023?
I will leave it to the reader to use his imagination.
An important note on the topic of government funding is that in Eretz Yisrael, Rav Shach ZTZVK”L would not agree to Chinuch Atzmai receiving more than a percentage of the school’s budget from the Israeli government, so as not to be completely dependent on them.
I would add now, that it is very clear that the ultimate goal of the government is to have us teach the worst to’eiva, and for our very way of life to be destroyed. At some point, we will have to cut our ties with government funding and oversight, and declare ourselves independent. The sooner we wake up and do this, the less korbanos there will be.