On Tuesday, March 13, 2018, more than 1,000 New Yorkers joined the Orthodox Union and went to our state capitol in Albany. We joined the OU’s mission to lobby our elected officials and discuss the tuition crisis affecting parents of children in private schools. I learned of the mission from Simcha Musheyev, a member of the ABA and one of the lay leaders of my synagogue, the Beth Gavriel Bukharian Jewish Center in Forest Hills.
I am a father of two young daughters, ages 3 and 1. I am not paying for yeshivah tuition yet, but the thought of paying more than $10,000 a year per child in a year from now frightens both me and my wife. We both recently received our master’s degrees and are beginning our careers in our respective fields. We were always aware that living an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle would be more financially demanding compared to a secular lifestyle; however, a secular lifestyle was not an option for us.
As children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, our parents worked and are still working extremely hard to maintain an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. I recall my father once telling me that he would do everything in his power to keep his children in yeshivah, even if it meant not having food on the table. My mother used to tell me how so many of our secular relatives had large houses, luxury cars, and went on multiple vacations every year because they did not pay for yeshivah. However, for my parents, sending their children to public school was not an option. I have often heard them tell me they do not regret their decision to send their children to yeshivot. Unfortunately, we have many secular relatives who went to public schools and are not familiar with mitzvot that most Orthodox Jews find elementary.
For Orthodox Jews, sending their children to yeshivot is not a choice – it is an obligation. Public schools are not an option for our community. Organizations such as Chazaq, Oorah, and Chabad, to name a few, will help families struggling to pay for yeshivah tuition. Many local philanthropists whom I personally know pay for the tuition of children in yeshivot whose parents cannot afford the payments. Many schools offer various tuition assistance programs to aid families that cannot make their tuition payments.
The tuition crisis is not just an issue for those who are not making “ends meet”; it is an issue for the entire New York Jewish community.
Representing our community in Albany were Jews from all walks of life. I met prominent businessmen, lawyers, teachers, rabbis, school administrators, administrative directors of large non-profit organizations, office workers, volunteers, and people who are currently unemployed. All of us echoed the same remarks – that the rising cost of private school education is unbearable. It impacts all social classes, wealthy and poor. During meetings with elected officials we explained how yeshivah tuition exceeds our mortgage and rent payments. We explained that many of us needed to take additional part-time jobs to help pay for yeshivah tuition. Some of us remarked on the common Jewish joke that currently has a lot of truth to it – “The most effective birth control for a religious family is tuition.”
Consider the fact that taxpayers who send their children to private school make up 15 percent of the revenue that the state receives for education. Yet, we only receive 1 percent of the funding from the government. The Orthodox community is asking for an equal share of a program that all New Yorkers pay into: the education of our children.
If the government could support funding for science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) as well as paying for the security needs of yeshivot, it is possible that our tuition expense could be cut in half. Teachers would be paid on time. Parents would not have to be humiliated to ask for tuition assistance every year. Furthermore, consider all the extra money that foundations and philanthropists currently helping with yeshivah tuition assistance can reallocate. Organizations like Hatzalah, Tomchei Shabbos, Chickens for Shabbos, and our local shuls and mikvaot will be better funded.
I truly thought it was a Kiddush HaShem to relate our concerns about the tuition crisis to our elected officials. Even if you did not attend the mission to Albany there is still a lot you can do. Write to and call your state assemblyman, state senator, and governor. The more the Jewish community talks about it, the more the politicians will understand that to get our vote, they need to listen to our needs. Continuing the foundation that our parents have laid for us, it is imperative that we do everything in our power to make yeshivah tuition affordable for every Jewish child.
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Alliance of Bukharian Americans (ABA) for raising this issue in our community. The ABA sponsored the transportation of a packed bus of adults and students from Yeshiva Central Queens to Albany as well as provided all the passengers with delicious snacks for the long commute. The ABA is at the forefront, dealing with our elected officials on a range of issues concerning the Jewish community. Their work is greatly appreciated.
By: Avraham Davidov
Joining The Alliance of Bukharian Americans (ABA) On The Historic Mission To Albany With Teach NYS A Parent’s Perspective
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