Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum Slams NYS Education
Channel: VINnews
Date: 2018-11-29

Wednesday night’s cold temperatures were no match for the scorching words of the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, who hurled fireball after fireball at the New York State Department of Education during last night’s 74th annual commemoration of the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum’s escape from the Nazi regime.

The massive gathering was held at a warehouse in East Williamsburg and Rabbi Teitelbaum spared no words in his approximately 60 minute long address to the crowd, blasting Commissioner MaryEllen Elia for directives issued this week giving public schools the authority to decide if yeshivos were meeting the state mandated guidelines for providing a substantially equivalent secular education, as previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2TVRaEL).

Speaking passionately throughout the entire address, the Satmar Rebbe gave clear instructions to his followers to defy the DOE’s new orders, noting that the yeshiva system’s successes far outweigh those of the public schools and that the state has no right to intervene in the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of religion.

“If the commissioner of education wants to fix education in the State of New York, he can go to the public schools and fix the education being offered there,” thundered Rabbi Teitelbaum.  “We have been living here now for 70 years, which spans several generations and it is clear to see the results of our educational system versus theirs.  We don’t produce killers and others who perpetuate violence.  We don’t have drug dealers and thieves ,and our students are far more successful than public school graduates.”

Blazing ahead in a similar vein, the Satmar Rebbe said that the success of the yeshiva system has been historically proven.

“Look at their graduates versus ours,” continued Rabbi Teitelbaum.  “Who is filling up the prisons and who is filling up the businesses and large commercial enterprises here in New York?  Looking at the percentages, our graduates are making significantly greater contributions to the economy than theirs and that is why they have not interfered in our schools until now, even though they are spending $25,000 per year for every student in the public school, compared to the small amounts they spend transporting our students and on other small expenditures for our schools.”

Drawing parallels to the upcoming holiday of Chanukah, the Satmar Rebbe said that the unthinkable had happened with Commissioner Elia following in the ways of the Greeks who issued decrees prohibiting Jewish education.

“The Jewish nation will not bow or give in to the wicked, not even the commissioner of education,” said Rabbi Teitelbaum.  “We will sacrifice and stand up for our very existence so that we can education our children and provide them with a Torah education.  We have gone through many trials and tribulations for the sake of the holy Torah and now we will go out to war against the commissioner in every way, without any compromise or agreements.”

Rabbi Teitelbaum took the holiday theme one step further, taking aim at newly elected State Senator James Skoufis who blasted Kiryas Joel in his victory speech earlier this month. Without mentioning him directly by name, the Satmar Rebbe described Skoufis as a “wicked and evil man,” the biblical description accorded to Haman in the story of Purim.

Calling for unity among all Jewish groups in the face of the DOE rulings, Rabbi Teitelbaum said that the time had come to put aside small differences in order to achieve a common goal.

“We will not sit with folded hands,” said the Satmar Rebbe.  “We will fight this war to preserve our rights to live according to our religion and with G-d’s help we will nullify this terrible decree and will not accede to the commission in any way.”