בשעת עס איז פארגעקומען די "אגודת ישראל" יערליכע סאמיט מיט די ישיבה אדמיניסטרעיטערס זיי אנצוווייזן וויאזוי מען קען געניסן פון מער רעגירונג פאנדינג, וואו עס האט אויפגעטרעטן אויך קריסטינא קאופיין פון די הויפטן פון די רידזשענטס וועלכע האבן ארויסגעגעבן די גיידליינס פון די גזירת החינוך פארגאנגענעם סעפטעמבער.

דער פראטעסט איז פארופן געווארן דורך די גדולי הרבנים פון איחוד הרבנים ד'ניו יארק וועלכע שרייבן אין זייער קול קורא "השקט לא נוכל נגד השמועה המחרידה על ישיבה סאמיט העומד להתקיים אשר בו נקראו מנהלי המוסדות להתאסף יחד עם העדיוקעישן דעפארטמענט לשמוע מפי גוזרי הגזירות בעצמם איך יכולים להרבות פראגראמען וכתוצאה מזה ליפול בפח יוקשים לתת חרב בידם להשתלט על המוסודות התורה כרצונם

די בריוו וועלכע העסקן הרב הערשל קלאר שליט"א האט געשריבן פאר די פאפולערע צייטאנג די סאן 

Dear Editor,

I read your coverage of our protest with great interest. The article was written in a truly balanced way, reminding me that real journalism still exists in the great city of New York.At the same time, I wish to clarify a statement attributed to me in the article. I was quoted as saying, "We're Jewish, we have to learn only the Jewish things."

What our protest actually meant to bring to the public's attention is that "substantial equivalency"  to New York's public schools is against our religion. There are secular subjects that the Jewish religion allows us to teach, namely, reading and writing of the English language, and arithmetic; and indeed, our schools have always taught these subjects, since their inception in this country.

Substantial equivalency to the public schools is another matter entirely. This requirement was never heard of before some state officials pulled a century-plus-old law off of the shelves six years ago, dusted it off, and used it as a pretext to attempt to gain full control of our schools' curriculum and hiring practices (in other words - to turn them into "public schools that are culturally sensitive to Judaism").

It is this concept, that our schools should cease to be controlled by our rabbis, but rather be required to be substantially equivalent to the public schools, that we protest. It is in order to maintain our independence of the newly established substantial equivalency requirement, as our religion requires of us, that we insist that our children's schools no longer accept any government funding at all. 

Agudath Israel, and its partners from our community, have chosen a different path. They have agreed that Jewish schools could be required to be substantially equivalent to the public schools, but have proceeded to quarrel with NYSED over the details. We firmly believe that they are misguided as to the requirements of Orthodox Judaism, and firmly convinced that their continued acceptance of government funding is the source of that misguidance.

Attached, please find an excerpt of NYSED's response to Agudath Israel's request for an injunction from a State Supreme Court against the new guidelines.

NYSED urges the court to reject the request for injunction because [to paraphrase] "How can you claim to be harmed by having to follow our guidelines, if you are willing to accept them voluntarily, in order to receive funding?"

The protesters last week in Queens, as followers of the Rabbis of the Rabbinical Union, insist that our position is in sync with the requirements of Judaism, and of common sense. Jewish religious schools should be allowed to continue to flourish, unhampered by government oversight, as they have been doing for decades. Religious schools should not be required to be substantially equivalent to the public schools, nor should they be funded by a government who insists that they must.

Very sincerely yours,

Rabbi Tzvi Klar

Williamsburg