Victory for New York yeshivos: How rabbanim and advocates fought the progressive establishment to preserve pure chinuch
At the center of the push to reform yeshivos is the “substantial equivalency” provision of New York’s education law regulating instruction at nonpublic schools, which dates back to the turn of the 20th century.
A century and a quarter after the provision was first enacted, activists — many with personal vendettas against their former yeshivos and chassidic mosdos — used the law as a means of having the government dictate sweeping changes in yeshivah curricula.
When the saga first began, it was hard to imagine that the movement would gain such traction. After all, America’s robust protection of religious rights, and the thrust of liberalism itself that stressed the right of minorities to live life in their own way, militated against the success of any push to interfere with yeshivah education.
Add to that the fact that the challenge emerged in New York of all places — a city with a strong Orthodox presence and commensurate influence in government.
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