Yeshiva Parents Launch “Protect Our Yeshivas” Campaign

Yeshiva parents on Monday begin a “Protect Our Yeshivas” campaign in response to unrelenting attacks against their schools by anti-yeshiva activists.

Hundreds of Brooklyn families and businesses are hanging window signs at their homes and offices and placing bumper stickers on their cars reading “I’m a proud yeshiva parent – protect my right to choose.” The signs feature a yeshiva student with a headline reading “I’m a proud yeshiva parent – protect my right to choose! #ProtectYeshivas.”

The campaign is organized by Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools (PEARLS), a community-based coalition of parents, educators, and religious leaders working to raise awareness of the importance of the yeshiva system.

“We’ve organized the “Protect Our Yeshivas” campaign to say, loudly and clearly, that we’re proud of our yeshivas,” said Rabbi David Niederman, Director of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and a member of the executive committee of PEARLS. “We’re fed up with the attacks on our schools by a few disgruntled graduates while there is overwhelming support for our yeshiva system from hundreds of thousands of successful graduates.”

“Generations of families have made the choice to send their children to yeshivas because of the high-quality Jewish education they receive,” said Rabbi David Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America and a member of the executive committee of PEARLS. “Parents know the educational needs of their children best – not the government.”

There are more than 425 Jewish schools in New York State, with more than 165,000 students. Of those schools, 275, with more than 110,000 students, are in New York City. Individual yeshivas are largely independent in managing their curricula.

Each year, thousands of yeshiva students graduate with the skills necessary to function as successful members of the workforce. Some become entrepreneurs, teachers, and shopkeepers, while others become electricians and plumbers. Many tend to the religious life and needs of the growing Jewish Orthodox community.

For more information or to request a window sign or bumper sticker, please email elyse@kirtzmanstrategies.com