Agudath Israel Asks Jewish Groups to Drop Court Action Against State-aid School Bill

A call to ten Jewish organizations to drop their announced plan to bring legal action against the Mandated Services Bill which the New York State Legislature passed last month to provide limited financial assistance to non-public schools, was issued today by Rabbi Moshe Sherer, executive president of Agudath Israel of America. The organizations, which belong to PEARL, a group which opposes government aid for religious schools, were asked by Agudath Israel to “place our educational interests–the only guarantor for Jewish survival–above outworn extreme application of the church-state separation dogma to every minimal form of government support for Jewish day schools.” Among the Jewish organizations to which Agudath Israel appealed to drop their announced court action are the American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith. Agudath Israel has estimated that New York’s Yeshivos will receive $1.50 million annually from this Act. In his statement Rabbi Sherer declared, that the appeal to the Jewish groups stems from “Our concern (that) the ‘Chilul Hashem’ (desecration of God’s name) caused by Jewish organizations fighting obstinately against even minimal aid to religious schools, and the flames of anti-Semitism which they are unnecessarily fanning by their widely-publicized position.”