New York – Assemblyman Dov Hikind has been spending many sleepless nights in recent weeks, as parents whose children have yet to been accepted into schools turn to Hikind in desperation, after receiving little or no help from their local Rabbonim and community leaders. Hikind estimates that he himself has gotten approximately ten children into school in recent weeks, but that there are still countless children who have no place to go.
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Hikind spoke exclusively to VIN News about this explosive issue, following up a video interview with an emotional phone interview at his office.
“People ask me why I am involved in this issue,” said Hikind. “When a Jew comes to my office for help, I have no choice but to get involved. Where are the Gedolim? The Rabbonim? The community leaders? If they listened like I listen, if they feel what I feel, if they could put themselves in the shoes of these people, they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. And they shouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”
Hikind stressed that many of these children have literally done nothing wrong and are just victims of circumstance. Some attended schools that have closed down. Others are thrown out of school for reasons that defy logic. And while there are some children who have been expelled from their previous school for making mistakes, it is imperative upon schools to give these children a second chance.
“We beg Hashem on Yom Kippur to give us a second chance. We all mistakes. Why else would we be klopping ‘Al Cheyt’ on Yom Kippur?” questioned Hikind. “But we are unwilling to give these kids a second chance. Everyone is worried about the reputation of their school but no one is worried about their reputation with Hashem.”
Watch below exclusive interview by Shimon Gifter for VIN News, talking to the Assemblyman.
Hikind revealed that he has countless hours persuading, cajoling and literally begging schools to take in some of the many boys and girls who sit home every day because no school will accept them. Many do not even leave their homes, afraid to endure the questions and looks they receive as people wonder why they are not in school. Hikind called the rejection and embarrassment these children suffer “a recipe for creating at risk kids, with some of them going off the derech completely.”
Hikind stressed that people shouldn’t just empathize with parents and children involved in this difficult situation.
“People shouldn’t just feel other people’s pain here. They should do something. They shouldn’t just kvetch or write comments on a website. People need to take action, do something. If everyone pretends this is their son, their daughter and then we will get results.”
This issue has reached the forefront in recent weeks, with Rabbi Aaron Krausz of Williamsburg delivering a scathing drasha on Shabbos Parshas Lecha Licha, condemning schools that expel talmidim or only accept top tier students, as reported originally on VIN News. Hikind reports that this is issue is also on the agenda for the upcoming Agudah convention.
“No parent should be sleeping well tonight,” proclaimed Hikind, who called upon community leaders and schools to accept responsibility for all children. “Something is terribly, terribly wrong. We are not talking about kids who got into major trouble who will corrupt the whole class. We are talking about kids who didn’t do anything wrong.”
While Hikind said he understands that there are elite students who need a more rigorous program, he denies the need for elite yeshivos, saying that any yeshiva should be able to accommodate the best and brightest students.
“You don’t get s’char in shomayim for accepting only the best children. You get schar for helping people.”
Where are the Gedolim? The Rabbonim? The community leaders?
Too busy looking for big donors.
what is there to say were are our suposed rabbonim they great talmidie chachomium with there love for their fellow jew answer no were to be found all they are interested in is the bottom line and that they have a round peg ofr a round hole people its their court their rules and its time to chnge that stop supporting our yeshivas until they change
As a child neurologist, with nearly 8 years of experience working in a special-ed school setting, I can state that the great majority of children suspended or even expelled from our schools are educable and should be given a chance. I applaud Dv Hikind for calling attention to this growing problem.
Every child in our community deserves an education.
Dov, Our community can never repay you for everything you’ve done for us. Where
are all the Rabbonim when we really need them? This is a major crisis. As our
communities grow, what are parents suppose to do. The tuitions are a tremendous
strain on families today & no one seems to be addressing the issue.
Disgusting. So many of our yeshivos have turned into money making operations for the Rabbonim instead of the educational centers they should be. As I said before, I substitute at a number of schools in and around Monsey and from what I have experienced, this does not surprise me at all.
Keep it up dov. you have no idea what support this issue has out there. as an elected official you should make sure that schools which don’t accept average kids, shouldn’t receive any government funding. i don’t want my tax money to go to schools that wouldn’t accept my children.
thanx VIN for keeping this issue alive
i dont know about him, but i do know that 99% of rabunim are worthless!!
Mr. Hikind PLEASE ENOUGH!! POST THE NAMES OF THE SCHOOLS AND HANHOLA OF THOSE SCHOOL LET THE WORLD KNOW WHO THEY ARE THESE PRINCIPALS AND ADMINSTRATORS HAVE BLOOD IN THEIR HANDS!!! THE WORLD MUST KNOW WE NEED TO DEMONSTRATE INFRONT OF THEIR HOMES!!!!! ENOUGH!!
it is difficult for me to grasp the reason why no yeshiva would accept children for no good reason they must have very good reasons like the parents cant pay tuition or they are very disruptive
I do not think we could neglect the role of parents’ who only want their child to go to the schools that only accept the ‘best’. If we continue to want our children to get into these places, this system will continue.
finally we have a true hero of the jewish people sticking up for the voiceless!!!!!
DOV! WE LOVE YOU! CHAZAK!!!!!!
As Always, Dov Steps up to the plate going out of his way for the klal.
just wondering whereis our dear councilman REB DUVID GREENFIELD ON THIS ISSUE? i would like to see a little speaking out from him on this issue. unless he is in the pocket of the yeshivas who don’t let him speak out. or mabe he became shy.
I can’t speak up for all the schools but let’s not be so dumb. If there are a number of yeshivos, and a yeshiva feels that the boy won’t fit in their school, either scholastically or financial reasons, which school are you going to force? Are you the ones responsible to keep the schools on their academic levels? Are you the ones collecting the money for the parent which can’t afford it? I agree that the kids NEED to be in school, but why should one school be more burdeded than another? There’s no easy solution and its a problem, but don’t all be such heroes by blaming the schools. Get off your backsides and collect the money for these schools, or get the kids tutors. Big talkers!
Assemblyman Hikind’s dedication never ceases to amaze me. All I can say is, “Thank you.”
No schools throws out children for “NOTHING”, as Dov and these comments insinuate. As long as there is total denial you will never get into any school. First realize that , yes, your shefaleh, the one you as a parent love so much acted and behaved in a manner that if you were the principal you would also not allow him/her to be in school.
I don’t see how the rabunim can be blamed on this sad issue
At least in boro park this is a issue of private mosdos a satmarer a belzer a vizniter won’t be thrown out of the system
Only the parents who don’t belong anywhere and send which is 50 percent of boro park have this serious problem
While this is a very imported issue david greenfield didn’t think yet of sending out press relieses about this
Seems this isn’t press release material I hope dov can help I just wonder how
Going out against rabunin isn’t the way they will listen to him meeting with them or stopping programs might help more
Its NOT the kids who are the issue at hand, its the parents and there behavior and act the way they do NOT ERLICH and then cry foul that the school does not want accept the KIDS. Start being normal and no yeshiva will ever say NO, and the kids suffer because of the parents
What is a Chassidish or Litvish school supposed to do with a girl that was caught reading trashy magazines and books, and was seen “shmoozing” with boys at the 18th Ave park. The mother came to school screaming and complaining that her daughter is great and the best. Do all the other children in the school have to be influenced by this one bad apple. Dear Mommy, where were you in raising this child? Maybe it isn’t your fault but it isn’t the schools either. Don’t dump on everyone but yourself. First admit that there is a problem. It will be much easier to find a solution.
As for you dear Dov. You are always the first one to rant against the liberals who blame everyone but themselves. You say in your interview numerous times that the children were expelled or are not being accepted for “no reason”. That is definately not so. By fooling yourself and hyping up these parents will not get one child into a yeshiva or girls school. There is a very serious problem be serious to solve it
B’H i don’t live in New York. I feel people from N.Y have a different Torah then others living else where.
“Where are the Gedolim? The Rabbonim?”
one must be very naive to ask these questions. who doesn’t know that the so-called Rabbonim & gedolim (with few exceptions) have only one agenda, which is to boost their image and ged kovad. there are very few yeshivas that were opened with the sole purpose of being Marbitz Torah. and i’m not referring to the yeshivas that were opened after WWII when many yidden arrived here and there were very few yeshivas available. i’m talking about yeshivas that opened when every frum kid had a place to learn and here comes a “rav” or a “godal” opens a yeshiva so that the elite bochrim from satmar, bobov or viznitz should come to them. does Hashem need this yeshiva? did they save any yiddish kid from going to public school?
Thank you Dov. this is called yeshiva child abuse. when the child is the innocent victim…Yeshiva’s have been known to make you pay or leave. this is not the way, however there are some yeshivas with a heart and will work with you. Its time to bring this issue and open it up with the community without first intervention of the yeshivas. let there be a town hall meetings in every frum community and then bring the points of discussion directly to the Rabbis and yeshivas to respond to in public.lets not hide thisissue under the rug agin. people are desperate for results!!!!
SOLUTION: Name one yeshiva that does not accept state funding ? Dov you have the power as a N.Y.S. Assemblyman (or for that matter any Parent) to question their fair acceptance clause. Yes under state law any private school receiving any state funding must accept any student regardless of race creed etc.
there are alot of things involved here which people fail to realize. I used to work in a yeshiva, so let me clear some things up. #1 nooobody working for a yeshiva, be it the rebbes, teachers, or administrtation are doing it for the money, most yeshivos don’t pay on time!! I could tell you hwo every month they yeshiva was in a crisis to pay the payroll #2 every yeshiva is equiped to handle a certain amount of kids. that’s how many they take in. what should they do when they’re full?? #3 you’re also forgetting that alot of parents want 2 send their kids to small yeshivos, so what should they do? grow bigger?? #4 Which yeshiva should be the one to take in everyone!? for example, a few years ago, a yeshiva in monsey closed down in the middle of the year of like 40 or so bochrim. ok, so the already full yeshivos who are trying to give their al for each talmid should now what? what should they do? mosdos, rabonim aren’t G-d!! they can’t take care of everyone and everything! I don’t get what you guys expect! please enlighten me
Can he come to monsey next it is crazy what is going on here we need a policeman over the scools chederim and yeshivas
The strongest message to these Yeshiva VADD’S is the fact that a person like Assemblyman Dov Hikind which is a high ranking politician has to be talking about a matter that Rabanim and Roshi yeshivas should be taking care of. “Shame on you So-Called Rabbannim and Roshi Yeshivas and Menhalim, you failed on your job”
Mr. Dov Hikind you are man with a heart and lots of wisdom, WE the people are all behind you and willing to do our best to stop the blood shedding of innocent yiddish soles.
Rather than bemoan a system that is clearly not interested in addressing everyone’s needs, let’s use this a cris-otunity and create something new that will be a boon for everyone. Now is an opportunity to create a charter school for the frum community, for heimishe children to received a solid general education and at the same time, be allowed to use the facilities, under existing laws, for a good religious education as well. We can thus tap into the billions of dollars that are currently being spent on educating our city’s children while at the same time retaining the atmosphere we need to educate our children safely.
I went through all this with my kid. I am old hands on it. I transferred my kid from one yeshiva to another even though they passed him to 7th grade, I had him tested at another yeshiva, and we put him back a year. Schools are money making machines!! They do not care about your kid. They SAY they do when they meet you!! All they like is your money!! My kid did well at the 2nd yeshiva . You have to sometimes just “drop in” unexpectedly, at the yeshiva, == That is what I did. The yeshiva did not mind. — so long as I did not disturb the class and my kid did not see me.
I think it’s unfair to attack the Rebbeim and Yeshivos, as Dov is doing. The vast majority of these people are idealistic and want to do everything possible to bring up a new generation of ehrliche yiddishe kinder.
The problem is they are not equipped to handle difficult children. If they take them in, all the other children will suffer.
That’s why it’s so important to have kehillos. A kehilla is responsible for everyone. It has the resources to do the job. Small private Yeshivas don’t
So, my advice to parents is: Join a kehilla. If there is no kehilla for you to join, start organizing one pronto.
This problem is too big for any individual to handle.
As long as our leaders do not need to be elected, and are not being punished for their bloodshed, this and other cruel behavior will continue. It is about time our leaders have to answer to someone and preferably to voters. The other interesting thing is; when a non-electorate, so-called rabbi is electing out of his self-interest someone to a position, that person will often even act worse than the rabbi himself is. The only solution to this problem is “natural schools” where the only thing being preached is “Hashem” not rabbis. And the government should only pay for these schools.
Deep thinker….
He did not attack the rabbeim or Yeshivos.. What are you talking about? He is bringing attention to an extreemly important issue because he is seeing awful things happening. Gosh… Give him a break every once in a while mr not so deep thinker
I must say as a parent of 5 school children and someone that never argued on tuition cost and always paid on time had a shocker this week when I got a note that my children can’t come back to school cause I’m behind in tuition.
I spoke with the Administrator and explained that I’m out of a job now and for over 10 years I never made a peeps and always helped in every way the school, is this what you are doing? I got real angry and told him I have no problem tell me now that I should keep them home and I will, I’m not afraid to keep my kids home.
Its a chutzpah of what is going on today in the School system!!!
Its time that we take our kids to the City Public Schools and cause the City system to collapse once and for all, then the City will wake up and start giving us vouchers and programs to keep our kids in our school system.
We pay $5000 to $6000 a child and the City cost to educate a kid in the Public School system $12,000, YES I REPEAT $12,000.
Mr. Bloomberg you have 2 options help us pay tuition or we will collapse your whole Public School system and it will cost you double the money to educate our children.
This is an old issue, and whoever states what Dov did publicly gets bashed. There is a serious problem of kids out of yeshiva/school. Some were never accepted, others were thrown out. In reality, some of these kids needed to be expelled, but the achrayus was to help place them elsewhere and push for the kid to get help. Sadly, this rarely happens.
The whole kids-at-risk subject has been batted around here on VIN many times, and it has become clear that there are many factors responsible, including the home/family and the yeshiva/school system. Yes, Rabbonim play a role, and many others, too.
The criteria for expulsion for most schools is “rodef” or “choteh u’machti”. While these do happen, these are not the majority of expulsions. How many Rabbonim (independent of the yeshiva) were consulted to pasken to throw out? The Agudah ruled that three such independents were required. Has this ever been followed? How about even one? If a kid is thrown out because of the menahel’s anger, this is not just unfair but incompetent. Do we have oversight to insure that such decisions are appropriate?
Dov, keep up your holy work.
The following from the Hamodia weeks ago speaks for itself:
The “ben sorer u’moreh”, wayword & rebellious son, is punished “al shem sofo”, as a consequence of his iniiquitous end. He will 1 day resort to murder in order to satisfy his desire. Rather than wait for him to be punished for committing a violent act, he is killed now, so that he dies on a relatively inocent level.
This concept is not consistent with the idea expressed by th Torah concerning Yishmael: Be’asher hu shom, “In his present state”. The angel asserted that the innocent child, Yishmael, should die as a consequence of what his descendants would do to the Jewish people. Hashem responded that a person is judged according to what he “is”, not to what he “will be”. If so why is the rebellious son judged according to the acts of terror that he will commit later on in life? What about his “present state”?
The Kotzker Rebbe, ZT”L, suggests a profound thought to explain this concept. The expression “al shem sofo, translated literally, means “according to his end”.
Please see Realistic 2
Dov Hikind proven once again that all he cares about is the community he has serves for all these years. Whether its doing the job he’s elected for & bring home the bacon or giving his life and personal time to serve the jewish people. Dov is a true leader whether you agree w/ his politics. Dov Delivers delivers results.
I WAS BY DOV JUST THE OTHER DAY AND HE REALLY MEANS IT, HE WAS CRYING ABOUT THIS SUBJECT WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES, DOV YOU ARE REAL WE LOVE YOU!!!
While we interpret this as a reference to what he will do later in life, it may have another meaning. Al shem sofo, “accroding to his end”,refers to the end of his title: ben sorer U’MOREH. The word moreh which we have translated as rebellious, can also be understood to mean “and he will teach”. A moreh is a teacher. A fear is that this rebellious child will not just simply isolate his rebellious iniquity; he will share it with others, teaching them to be rebellious. When the evil is such that it will be spread and develop a following, when it will be spawned by teaching it to others, it must be stopped “NOW”!
“It is important to give a person who is straying a chance to rehabilitate himself, but NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS”.
Unfortunately there definately is a crisis and seperate yeshivas should be opened for these children. No one should be left behind. But just as each one of these same parents want there should be homeless and drug addiction shelters but NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). Likewise…..
To all you know it alls which ignore facts: To say a yeshiva doesn’t have an academic level means your ignorant. Would you send your kid to any school I chose for you? Is Harvard and Yale on the same level as your community college? Does the government tell them whom to take in? They get funding as well! Secondly, if you can’t afford the tuition needed for your child, whom do you think needs to collect the money? SOMEBODY!!!! Instead of all your yeshiva bashing, go out and make a difference by collecting money so the yeshiva can take in your child. Not everyone has the money or connections to get into a school. To sit and blame the schools means your UNEDUCATED in how the system works. If it can be resolved easily, it would’ve been done. Which yeshiva is to blame? They clearly don’t need to take in every student who decides to come unless since their are other schools. Go ahead, open a school and let’s see your miracle system. We’ll see how many people want to enroll in a school which has an open door policy to everyone.
An open door policy to every student sounds great! Open a school with that policy and I’ll come back to you in a few years. You’ll probably be unemployed! I know of a school which basically closed down with that policy. The only way it stayed open was with the owner of the school stepping down. You people are the business men and the schools should be funded but yet there have been so many schools closed down due to lack of funding. Maybe you should give start supporting the schools so we don’t have these problems.
He makes it sound like every yeshiva in Brooklyn refuses to accept a child. There are plenty of yeshivos that have an open door policy and do not care much for academic performance. These yeshivos care about keeping as many kids in schools as they can. I don’t understand where this “crisis” is happening? Is he talking about chassidic yeshivos only? Are we talking about kids who are under-performing, who have learning disabilities or have serious behavior issues or kids whose parents have no finances to keep them in decent schools? There are legitimate reasons why a school might not want a child and there are also illegitimate reasons for rejecting students.
Some of the salaries for the higher ups in SOME of the yeshivas , are exorbinet. To top it off these yeshivas have full time fund raisers, dinners, where’s all the money? I would suggest similarly to R’ Krausz, the next time you are asked for a donation for a school, ask to see the “books”. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. Yes. Yeshivas are sometimes a private entity and don’t need to take in this one or that one, That’s true! But then don’t shnor from the public. And I’m quite positive that if the guest of honor of “that” hotsy totsy yeshiva would be given a list of students that were expelled or not excepted , due to fianancial difficulty– he would be no longer the guest of honor!
To # 44: I think many would agree with you. We pay our taxes to the public schools and get no benefit plus can’t afford this expense. I heard they did do this in monroe and it worked. We must unite in order for this to work. Once they see the masses which are serious about enrolling, something will get done. I can’t figure out why the rabbonim don’t encourage this. Its only getting worse.
aren’t the parents going to be in trouble for keeping their kids home from school? it’s called truancy
Many of us who live outside of New York have no understanding of what all this is about. First of all, those of you whining about paying $5,000 per year for each child in a yeshiva are out of your minds. Outside of New York, the annual tuitions are typically $12,000 to $20,000 annually with a small discount if you have several kids in the school. There are some scholarships available but most parents pay the regular tuition. If for some reason a frum child cannot find a yeshiva/beis yaakov who will admit him/her because of space limitations or the kid has behavioral problems, then its crazy to keep them at home. Enroll them at the local public school so at least they get some education in secular studies and don’t fall behind and then teach them yiddeshe subjects at home until you can find a yeshiva. A parent who keeps their child at home ia abusing the child since its very difficult for them to catch up to their classmates once they return to a yeshiva.
Oh do I love this!!!! Finally, for once, lakewood is not on the cutting block, because at least we, here in Lakewood deal with the issue. There are three vaadim that deal with this. One for elementary school boys, one for girls and the third for high school girls. The fact is that all the schools are packed, but this is not really the issue. Just as not every shoe will fit every person, not every school will fit every child. By having a so called askan screaming that the rabbonim are doing nothing to help these so called displaced kids is ignorant and hurtful. Part of the blame should be with the parents of these children. Parents try to push their kids into schools where they really don’t belong. From personal experience, there was this high school girl that was problematic. Askanim have told the parents that she belongs out of town. The parents were adamant that the girl stay in town and pushed a school to accept her. Within two months, she was kicked out, being caught walking around with pants in the middle of the night but not before she took at least two kids down with her. She was finally sent out of town where she is flourishing. NOT EVERY CHILD BELONGS IN EVERY SCHOOL. I can guarantee you that 99 percent of the displaced children are either issues themselves or the families are issues. Now, that doesn’t mean that they should not be in school. They need to be placed in the right schools and if it is a financial issue then some friends/askonim should help out. The schools are already overburdened with financial difficulties. No school that I know is in it for the money. Teachers/rabbeim get paid very little and no one is getting rich. Get it out of your mind.
I am one of those parents that when my kids school closed we were left with out a school for our 2 kids (our kids are only 5 & 6 years old ) we went from school to school pleading and begging but there was nobody to talk to they all said no no and no again for no apparent reason me and my wife could not sleep at night for endless weeks until DOV and his wonderful chief of staff MARK told us leave it up to us we will take care of it in less the 72 hours my kids were in a school .
Dov keep up the great work
Town hall meetings needed in every frum community to discuss this immediatelly.
Mr. Hikind is correct. There is no excuse for any child in a community to be left without a school. A big part of this problem is the inability, due to inadequate education of school personnel to make an appropriate judgement as to who will not do well in their school environment. I, for one, could not get my five year old into a pre 1A! Three schools turned their noses up at a five year old for no good reason at all. One, who should have known better, simply could not be bothered to find out about him or to do the right thing. Finally, one of the schools accepted him. Guess what, every year his Rebbeim and teachers don’t fail to tell me how much they enjoy having him in their class. When I tell them that I could not get this child into a school, they look at me dumbfounded. Apparently, all the chinuch experts who did not want him had no clue at what they were looking at. Imagine, making such life impacting decisions on the life of another member of klal Yisrael without the educational ability to do so!
Our schools do not answer to any authority and this, quite frankly, should scare us all. Every one of us is vulnerable to becoming a victim this system as it stands now!
We need Trade schools with learning for the boys who don’t fit in at Yeshiva. This is what they do in Eretz Yisroel and it works to keep them ‘on’ the derech! And all cihldren need schools with social workers, guidance counselors and a loving, supportive, and NON-competitive atmosphere. Oh and way more Physical Education (meaning sports and exercise)!!!