North High School principal Bernard Kaplan’s efforts to warn parents about students’ attendance of an orthodox Jewish instructional program during the school’s open-campus lunch period sparked a heated debate at Monday night’s Great Neck school board meeting and has drawn criticism from the Anti Defamation League and on Facebook.
The debate at the school board meeting saw parents spar over the ethics of the temple offering the program, whether a letter Kaplan sent to parents about the program was appropriate and the motives of people questioning the program.
Kaplan had sent a letter on Jan. 31 to parents, warning that Congregation Torah Ohr – a Middle Neck Road temple – was enticing students with free food and then “proselytizing children” during the open period. Kaplan wrote that the temple’s rabbi had declined requests to require parental permission slips for the study sessions, and that the school had contacted police who said they could not do anything to stop or change the program.
“Upon hearing about the situation, we visited the temple ourselves. The visit was unsettling,” wrote Kaplan. “There were at least several dozen of our students sitting at long tables in a room that had to be entered through a side door. They were quietly eating while a man was instructing them in orthodox religious beliefs. There is no sign on the building even identifying it as a temple.”
“We have consulted many other local clergy, and they don’t agree with the practice either. These are children, not adults,” Kaplan wrote.
The Anti Defamation League’s New York office sent a letter to Kaplan and the school board on Feb. 7, criticizing Kaplan’s response as possibly unconstitutional and hurtful to the Jewish community in its depiction of the congregation.
“The law is clear: as the principal of a public school, you cannot endorse or interfere with religious practice,” wrote the ADL. “Despite good intentions, your actions here were highly inappropriate and could constitute unconstitutional religious entanglement.
Kaplan, who drew praise for his handling of the SAT cheating scandal last year, walked back his criticism in a Feb. 8 letter, in which he apologized for an “unintended infringement on students rights” in his previous letter.
“The principal of a public school cannot interfere with religious practice conducted outside of the school’s purview,” Kaplan wrote. “The open-campus policy at North High School relies on the judgment of students and their parents to make properly use of the time allotted during the lunch period. Accordingly, my letter was inappropriate and should be disregarded.”
A Facebook group protesting Kaplan’s response, titled “Let my people eat and learn,” has attracted over 1,200 members after its creation on Feb. 5.
Bernard Davidovics, who has a child in elementary school, strongly criticized Kaplan’s first letter during the meeting’s open time as an unfair attack on what he described as a wholesome and beneficial program.
“Any objective person who reads that letter can see that it’s deliberately derogatory,” said Davidovics in an interview on Tuesday,. “It’s hard to reconcile the wording of that letter with what they were saying {at the meeting}, that he was just concerned about the kids, etcetera etcetera.”
Davidovics said that while he understands the desire for parents to know where their children are while off campus, the responsibility lies with parents and the school – not with the temple, which Davidovics said had no obligation to inform parents or require permission slips.
“The temple has done nothing wrong,” he said. “I would appreciate you making me aware that my son is going to a mosque or a reform temple or a church. But that’s where your responsibility is.”
Rabbi Michael Klayman, the president of the interfaith Great Neck Clergy Association, said in an interview that regardless of the legal aspects of the dispute, the practice of approaching children for religious instruction without parental consent is unethical.
“I know that for me as a rabbi, I would be very vigilant if I found out that any of our students were being approached by Christian missionaries,” Klayman said. “We thought as a clergy association it’s inappropriate and should be discouraged, at least to encourage that rabbi to offer permission slips.”
Klayman said that regardless of the religious group involved, using free food to “entice” children into what he termed “indoctrination” was inappropriate.
“I think it was the feeling of the clergy association – what resonated with us was that it was a cult-like quality to doing this,” Klayman said. “As a Jew, it’s not how I want to promote Judaism.”
Davidovics took issue with the tone of the letter and said the objections raised by those opposed to the temple’s program smacked of religious intolerance.
“It’s a fear of religion, a fear of truth, a fear of morality,” Davidovics said. “It’s a deliberate attempt by the community to attack the orthodox community here.”
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Dolan said Kaplan did not consult with legal counsel prior to writing his first letter, and that the district wants to resolve the situation without further controversy.
“Parents expressed concern to us that some students were returning to school late after having lunch at the temple. I spoke to representatives from the temple and we were able to resolve the matter at that time. And when we met I expressed my concern that not all parents knew their children were having lunch at the table,” Dolan said.
“This year the matter was brought to us again, and some parents were still concerned that they did not know where their children were having lunch,” Dolan continued. “At this point our sole request is that the temple notify parents of children who are having lunch there, in whatever form they would like, in order that a parent might know where their child is taking part in this ‘lunch and learn’ program.”
Resident Bali Lerner spoke in support of Kaplan and expressed concern over the temple “bribing” children with food in order to attract them inside.
“Thank god for Bernie Kaplan,” Lerner said. “When I saw that letter, I was like wow, this is the reason I live in Great Neck.”
Ann Lesser, who served with Lerner as co-president of the North MIddle PTSA, expressed concern about unknown adults speaking with children and giving them religious instruction without parental consent.
A representative for the congregation could not be reached prior to publication.
