Is the fix In?Are Governor Cuomo and Agudath Israel plotting the elimination of Vaccine Religious Exemptions???
Something fishy is going on with the recent "sudden" "unexpected" crisis created by the New York State Education Department on November 20,with its introduction of new rules governing secular studies in Jewish parochial schools. This move by the state D.O.E. which is intended to double the amount of time currently allocated for secular studies in Yeshivas, has been met with vociferous opposition from the Orthodox Jewish Community leadership. Agudath Israel has been releasing videos online of various, senior, highly respected Rabbis, decrying the threat this new regulation poses to the autonomy and religious freedom of the Orthodox Jewish Community to educate their children in accordance with their sincerely held religious belief system.
The New York State Department of Education is under the direct control of Governor Andrew Cuomo. I find it difficult to believe that the vaunted Agudath Israel organization does not have someone well connected enough, who can pick up a telephone to call the Governor and resolve this issue without creating a public brouhaha.
So what is really going on here?
It seems obvious that Governor Cuomo likely wants political support for something and he is using the D.O.E. regulation as a negotiating tool to win some kind of concession from the Orthodox Jewish Leadership. It's possible that the whole ruckus was created just to provide political cover to Agudath Israel for a deal that has already been made.
One possible scenario is the elimination of the New York State vaccine religious exemption law.There is rumored to be a planned nationwide legislative and regulatory push to eliminate state vaccine religious exemption laws across the country this spring.
Perhaps Agudath Israel will cut a deal. or has already cut a deal to have the state back off from regulating secular education in the yeshivas in exchange for supporting the end of vaccine religious exemptions in New York State.
Sound far fetched? Not really. The rumor is that Agudath Israel previously negotiated with Andrew Cuomo to get the state to back off from regulating circumcision in exchange for two concessions.One, they agreed to not oppose efforts to legalize same gender marriage and two, they agreed to tighten up enforcement of mandatory vaccination in yeshivas.
The heightened enforcement of mandatory vaccination came with state funding to yeshivas to help pay for the program and presumably Agudath Israel received a portion of those monies for organizing the effort. The seven million dollars in State funding was reported here - https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/1475751/video-agudah-wins-7-million-for-ny-yeshivos-and-nonpublic-schools.html
Also see this link where Agudath Israel boasts about advocating for yeshivas for 70 years and lobbying for "billions" of dollars in government reimbursements for mandated education services and other expenses.
In the current Measles crisis manufactured by the New York City Health Department, thousands of unvaccinated Jewish Children have been expelled from private Jewish Parochial schools throughout New York City for an unspecified duration, at the behest of the New York City Department of Health.
The D.O.H. targeted Orthodox Jewish Children who go to Orthodox Jewish Schools in 9 Zip Codes with no regard for whether there was an outbreak in the school or not. It was simply, you are an unvaccinated "Jewish" child in the "Orthodox Jewish" community, you are expelled from school.
In the month leading up to this order, a group of community doctors softened up the target by getting senior, respected, community Rabbis to issue rulings mandating vaccines according to Jewish Law, and getting heads of schools to voluntarily reject religious exemption claims.
At the same time a media blitz was conducted by all the Orthodox Jewish print and online news outlets, in which Orthodox Jewish nonvacccinating families and activists were castigated, belittled,bullied,and demonized.
All the while, the leading Orthodox Jewish Advocacy organization, Agudath Israel, has been audibly silent on the vaccine expulsion crisis. When nonvaccinating parents called the Agudath Israel office to seek help to enforce their religious exemption rights, they got the proverbial "cold shoulder".
All of a sudden out of "nowhere" a yeshiva education crisis was created by the New York State Education Department and faster than a speeding bullet, Agudath Israel managed to cobble together a sophisticated P.R. campaign to mobilize the public against this threat to religious liberty.
The expression "I smell a rat" comes to mind.
I invite Agudath Israel to defend the vaccine religious exemption laws with the same vim and vigor they are using to fight the New York State Department of Education assault on religious liberty. I also invite Agudath Israel to either confirm or deny the above mentioned rumors about prior mandatory vaccination enforcement negotiations with New York State. Specifically,did Agudath Israel cut a deal to not oppose same gender marriage and agree to tighten up mandatory vaccination in exchange for funding, and for the state D.O.H. to not regulate circumcision????? The public needs to know the truth and the public needs to know why the Agudah organization is not fighting on behalf of the beleaguered Orthodox Jewish families who have a sincerely held religious belief to not vaccinate, and who are unjustly suffering under the heavy hand of the New York City and New York State Health departments.
The New York State Department of Education is under the direct control of Governor Andrew Cuomo. I find it difficult to believe that the vaunted Agudath Israel organization does not have someone well connected enough, who can pick up a telephone to call the Governor and resolve this issue without creating a public brouhaha.
So what is really going on here?
It seems obvious that Governor Cuomo likely wants political support for something and he is using the D.O.E. regulation as a negotiating tool to win some kind of concession from the Orthodox Jewish Leadership. It's possible that the whole ruckus was created just to provide political cover to Agudath Israel for a deal that has already been made.
One possible scenario is the elimination of the New York State vaccine religious exemption law.There is rumored to be a planned nationwide legislative and regulatory push to eliminate state vaccine religious exemption laws across the country this spring.
Perhaps Agudath Israel will cut a deal. or has already cut a deal to have the state back off from regulating secular education in the yeshivas in exchange for supporting the end of vaccine religious exemptions in New York State.
Sound far fetched? Not really. The rumor is that Agudath Israel previously negotiated with Andrew Cuomo to get the state to back off from regulating circumcision in exchange for two concessions.One, they agreed to not oppose efforts to legalize same gender marriage and two, they agreed to tighten up enforcement of mandatory vaccination in yeshivas.
The heightened enforcement of mandatory vaccination came with state funding to yeshivas to help pay for the program and presumably Agudath Israel received a portion of those monies for organizing the effort. The seven million dollars in State funding was reported here - https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/1475751/video-agudah-wins-7-million-for-ny-yeshivos-and-nonpublic-schools.html
Also see this link where Agudath Israel boasts about advocating for yeshivas for 70 years and lobbying for "billions" of dollars in government reimbursements for mandated education services and other expenses.
In the current Measles crisis manufactured by the New York City Health Department, thousands of unvaccinated Jewish Children have been expelled from private Jewish Parochial schools throughout New York City for an unspecified duration, at the behest of the New York City Department of Health.
The D.O.H. targeted Orthodox Jewish Children who go to Orthodox Jewish Schools in 9 Zip Codes with no regard for whether there was an outbreak in the school or not. It was simply, you are an unvaccinated "Jewish" child in the "Orthodox Jewish" community, you are expelled from school.
In the month leading up to this order, a group of community doctors softened up the target by getting senior, respected, community Rabbis to issue rulings mandating vaccines according to Jewish Law, and getting heads of schools to voluntarily reject religious exemption claims.
At the same time a media blitz was conducted by all the Orthodox Jewish print and online news outlets, in which Orthodox Jewish nonvacccinating families and activists were castigated, belittled,bullied,and demonized.
All the while, the leading Orthodox Jewish Advocacy organization, Agudath Israel, has been audibly silent on the vaccine expulsion crisis. When nonvaccinating parents called the Agudath Israel office to seek help to enforce their religious exemption rights, they got the proverbial "cold shoulder".
All of a sudden out of "nowhere" a yeshiva education crisis was created by the New York State Education Department and faster than a speeding bullet, Agudath Israel managed to cobble together a sophisticated P.R. campaign to mobilize the public against this threat to religious liberty.
The expression "I smell a rat" comes to mind.
I invite Agudath Israel to defend the vaccine religious exemption laws with the same vim and vigor they are using to fight the New York State Department of Education assault on religious liberty. I also invite Agudath Israel to either confirm or deny the above mentioned rumors about prior mandatory vaccination enforcement negotiations with New York State. Specifically,did Agudath Israel cut a deal to not oppose same gender marriage and agree to tighten up mandatory vaccination in exchange for funding, and for the state D.O.H. to not regulate circumcision????? The public needs to know the truth and the public needs to know why the Agudah organization is not fighting on behalf of the beleaguered Orthodox Jewish families who have a sincerely held religious belief to not vaccinate, and who are unjustly suffering under the heavy hand of the New York City and New York State Health departments.
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