Letters to the Editor 8-28-09

Issue of August 28, 2009 / 8 Elul 5769

Less secular education is the answer

To the Editor:

The article says, “It used to be called Talmud Torah,” he said, referring to the after-school learning program that educated generations of Jews before the advent of yeshivas and day-schools (Tuition or mortgage; August 21, 2009).

Have they learned nothing from history? Talmud Torah education was an abysmal failure in America when it came to producing committed Jews. Indeed, putting one’s child in public school means that he or she absorbs the values of public school children. These values are anything but Torah values.

I live in Brooklyn, and my grandchildren go to Chareidi schools. While I do not know how much tuition is, I am pretty sure that it is nowhere near as high as it is in the Five Towns. The reason is, I believe, simple: Chareidi yeshivas do not give a top-notch secular education.

The schools that my grandchildren attend give an adequate secular education and a first rate, intensive religious education. My older two grandsons who are in high school will get Regents diplomas, but not honors Regents diplomas. They will fulfill the minimum requirements for a regular Regents diploma. Of course, their yeshiva does not have a science lab or computers, etc.

If I had a choice between an intensive religious education combined with an adequate secular education or a public school education supplemented with a few hours of Talmud Torah instruction, I know which one I would choose.

Let the yeshivas in the Five Towns pare down the secular education to minimum requirements and hence save money.

Lest you say that I am anti-secular education, let me point out the I have a PhD and retired in 2008 after teaching mathematics at Stevens Institute of Technology for 40 years. I am a strong proponent of secular education and have written articles about its importance. However, we must keep our priorities straight. If keeping children in yeshiva means less secular education, then this is the way to go.

Dr. Yitzchok Levine

Lighting Candles for Gilad Shalit

To the Editor:

I read Mr. Seidemann’s article (Our very own Jacob and Joseph; August 21 2009) this Shabbos and was very moved by it. I put together a chesed newsletter for the Oceanside community and will include your idea.

Please, please tell the Shalits that the candles I light are surrounded by many photos of my extended family. A photo of Gilad is now among them. He’s a part of our greater family and we will not forget him.

Sheryl-Sue Sober

To the Editor:

I was happy to see David Seidemann’s suggestion for all women to pray for Gilad Shalit when lighting Shabbat candles (Our very own Jacob and Joseph; August 21, 2009). I have been doing this for years as my personal way of trying to show support. As with other people on my list for prayers, I recite the person’s name and his or her mother’s name. Mr. Seidemann’s article didn’t mention this. My prayers include the name as Gilad Shalit ben Aviva. Perhaps you could let readers know this information and Mr. Seidemann could let Gilad’s parents know that their son is not forgotten.

Arlene Anteby

Suggests prevention for eating disorders

To the Editor:

The adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” was never more appropriate than in response to the article addressing the increasing rise of eating disorders in the Orthodox community (Eating disorders in the Orthodox get new emphasis; August 14, 2009).

It is extremely noteworthy and important that the Renfrew Center has responded to the specific needs of Orthodox women and their families by creating a special track to accommodate our cultural mores and beliefs, therapeutic needs and dietary constraints. Nevertheless, inpatient residential treatment remains the most drastic response to a crisis situation.

As a psychotherapist in the Five Towns for the last twenty years I continue to witness the rise in eating-disordered behaviors in the Jewish as well as the pre-adolescent, adolescent and adult female population at large. It is imperative that as parents, educators, and community members raising future mothers and wives, we intervene in this process much, much earlier.

One way of intervening is through prevention and education from as early as age 9 or 10 when these young girls begin to form their sense of self-worth and body image.

There are many ways to accomplish this, primarily by conducting health and nutrition classes at school and encouraging ongoing dialogues about healthy body image and building self-worth, irrespective of body size. Open and frequent discussions between students, teachers and guidance counselors should be encouraged about pertinent adolescent issues. Parents need to be gently educated and involved as needed as they may inadvertently contribute to the child’s problem or actively pressure the child to be thin.

Finally, special tracking of individual children who have been identified as particularly high risk should be placed in the capable hands of guidance counselors to prevent situations from further deteriorating.

Several Hebrew Day Schools have already implemented some of the measures discussed at a recently held Renfrew Conference as a collaborative effort between Orthodox psychotherapists and the Renfrew Center.

Perhaps as we become more open about discussing this insidious problem in our midst we can encourage our daughters and young women to speak of their struggles and angst to love themselves as they are and not measure themselves as a reflection of their size.

Janet Steiner

Hewlett