In a move that has sparked outrage among many in the Flatbush Jewish community, the New York City Department of Education has set into motion the opening of a Truancy Center at 1780 Ocean Ave., corner of Ave. M. The location is just yards from Yeshiva Shaarei Torah, a girls’ high school.
There is an old rabbinic anecdote about a rabbi who was called on to deliver a eulogy for someone who had no redeeming social value whatsoever. The rabbi was hard pressed to think of anything positive to say about this person. So when he spoke he solemnly pronounced: “No matter how evil the deceased truly was, he was still a far better person than was his brother!”
It will take a major change of mindset in the religious world before we are able to face down the extremists and not merely be silent in the face of such desecration of the Torah and God’s holy name.