Spokesmen for leading Jewish education and religious groups protested today a proposed amendment to the city’s zoning regulations whose effects, they charged, would endanger the lives of some 65,000 Jewish children attending after-hour Jewish schools. Testifying at a hearing held by the City Planning Commission on a proposal to amend Section 21-A of the city’s zoning regulations, Leo Pfeffer of the American Jewish Congress, serving as attorney for the objectants, declared that the proposed amendment discriminates against Jewish children.
Section 21-A, as it reads today, prohibits the operation of garages or gas stations on the same street as public, private or religious schools. The proposed amendment would, in effect, continue protection to children attending public schools and all-day parochial schools, but would permit operation of garages or filling stations adjacent to Hebrew schools. Talmud Torahs, Sunday schools and Yiddish culture schools, all of which hold sessions after public school hours.
In a statement submitted in behalf of the American Jewish Congress, the New York Board of Rabbis, the Jewish Education Committee of New York, the Hebrew Principals Association, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the United Synagogue of America, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, as well as more than 50 individual Jewish religious and cultural schools, Mr. Pfeffer pointed out that the proposed amendment would directly affect some 450 Jewish schools which meet after regular public school hours or on Sundays.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
