2– saw an interesting letter in response to the Ami editorial slamming the medina. in response to a dan-the-medina-lekaf-zchus letter, someone wrote that there is no inyan of hakaras hatov for the backroom payoffs of political haggling ie if the haredim in Israel since Begin depend on govt aid to them and their mosdos as a lifeline, this is just bakhshish that either Labor or Likud made as payoffs to UTJ and Shas, and therefore no gratitude is needed. these are truly one dimensional parties–if haredim had unlimited funds and the medina would let them sit there as non-citizens and leave them alone, there would be no need for any haredi party… they are the epitome of JFK’s line —> ask what your country can do for me ….

Ori: Doesn’t that mean the laws were superfluous, and your father would have hired those minority assistant anyway because they were the ones who wanted the jobs?

I’ve reread the piece and I’m still having a hard time finding any suggestion that the Charedi world needs to reevaluate its goals, which is the Mussar that I was looking for. What Mussar is there here? That spite towards the Charedim might not have been the sole impetus behind the expanded coalition? That Charedim should daven extra-hard that their political leaders should have the wisdom to use more refined tactics to perpetuate draft-dodging and economic dependence on everyone else? The former is at best an accurate political analysis, which might not be completely obvious to members of the Charedi world, and the latter is more of the same old story

I agree There were other alternatives to Brooklyn College Jerry could have considered. I cannot tell you if he did make such appliciation. I shared this true story as I felt it was a side of affirmative action that needs to be considered as reflected in the upcoming case before the Supreme Court I mentioned in my article.

Though even fifty years later my heart aches for the sad tale of Jerry, one tragic anecdote doth not a national policy make. I’m certain that for every Jerry of those days there was an equal black student who–had affirmative action NOT let him into the higher education system–could also have ended up dealing drugs and taking his own life. The difference is–Jewish families like Jerry’s did not have the same systematic disenfranchisement that black Americans had (note: I said the _same_. I would never deny the centuries of antisemitic preferential treatment in America). The black version of Jerry, in general, would have started being dealt an even LOWER hand than the poor, child of an alcoholic ex-prostitute Jewish child.

This is not to defend every aspect of the original implementation of Affirmative Action. Clearly it was flawed, and the past fifty years have seen further refinements, and the next fifty will likely see more. However, it is unfair and unreasonable to fail to see any positive in these wide-ranging programs, simply because of a single negative (however tragic) case. Policy can not, and should not, be wholly decided based on single anecdotes.

It’s actually a possuk. Al tivtechu bi’nedivim, ub’ven adam asher ein lo teshuah.

I was thinking of a different pasuk:

הַאַחֵיכֶם, יָבֹאוּ לַמִּלְחָמָה, וְאַתֶּם, תֵּשְׁבוּ פֹה

And then I would also like to pose what should be a rhetorical question, namely, what is more crucial to the survival of our society, medicine or sports? Obviously medicine is, as it saves lives. And yet, when it comes to basketball, which is so completely dominated by one racial group, there is no serious talk about implementing affirmative action. I see no short, handicapped players mandated into playing on those basketball courts. Being that saving lives is just a bit more important than any basketball game, why then are such policies mandated when it comes to medical school? I find myself not trusting doctors belonging to some minority classes, as I suspect them of becoming doctors not through their abilities, but through government mandated affirmative action.

Such policies need to stop. We need to judge people on their individual merits, and not on factors beyond their control, such as which group they happened to be born into. This is still America, not some repressive totalitarian regime.

I think there are many possible solutions to the yeshiva student draft issue, and reasonable negotiation could lead to a solution that should satisify most parties. For example, why could the yeshiva students not be inducted for basic training during bein hazmanim, maybe a longer period, but a period that would not be overly burdensome to their learning? They could do reserve duty every year during bein hazmanim, and be available to serve in case of emergency. I think something along those lines would be a satisfactory way of “sharing the burden,” to use the currently popular phrase, without more than a small disruption at most of the learning. Good faith negotiations, such as this article encourages, could lead to a solution like this.

“In the 60s that community had largely disappeared. Yet from Stillwell Avenue to Seagate there were still several Synagogues, most with part-time Rabbis. The majority of the population of Coney Island was African American and Puerto Rican”.*****

I had to reread the Coney Island Memoirs three times to make sure that I was reading correctly. I grew up in Coney Island (where my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Schumsky still live on Neptune Ave.) and in the 1960 was attending the growing and flourishing Yeshiva Sharei Zedek on Mermaid and W. 23rd St. The principal was Rabbi Brun, a Talmid Chocham and dean was Rav Mallin Galinsky who was also the Rav of Cong. Sharei Zedek a huge shul which housed close to 250 people on Yom Tovim. In the mid 1970, both of these Rabbanim made aliyah and the school continued under Rav Elochonen Sheinerman. My grandfather, Mr. Desick owned a kosher fish store on Mermaid avenue which served the families who desired kosher fish. During the summer months, the families of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l vacationed in bungalows on Surf Ave. and purchased fish from my grandfather. My family attended the Young Israel under the tutelage of Rav Kurzrock, my dad was president for years while my uncles were the kohanim and grandfather the Levi. Among the congregation were professionals, businessmen, storekeepers, etc. I recall Rabbi Langer, (Moshe Scherer’s son in law)a shul regular, who was finishing his college courses at that time. There was a shabbos and daily minyon and in the early 70s I ran the youth/children’s minyon, when Rabbi Goldman took over the shul. Chanukah and Purim, we had special parties for the Yeshiva Sharei Zedek & talmud torah youth. There was also a large amount of Jews living in Sea Gate who attended the Yeshiva and participated in Shabbos Groups at the YI and Sea Gate Shul. Yes there was a large population of blacks and PR all living peacefully with each in the 1960-1975.

Regarding Affirmative Action: My father worked in the field of plumbing, heating and contracting and was bound to the laws of Affirmative Action. He hired many minority males who learned the trade, gained employment, started business of their own and took their families from poverty to a middle class life style. There were not many middle-class whites (for sure not Jews)who inquired or were interested in this field of work.
Very sorry to hear this story about Jerry….there were chesed programs and individuals that were pro-active with the Youth even then. He slipped between the cracks and had a sorrowful ending.

****Articles and Posts are written according to how an Author viewed the world events of the time, not always with the facts & accuracies that others lived, recalled or experienced the same time plan.

While I agree the laws have changed, the advantage of affirmative action is now offered to many other groups as well, it would still not be available to Jerry as he was Jewish.

There is no arguing with the need for more drug treatment and suicide prevention. I would suggest that Jerry, who was able to cope with a very difficult life, would not have ended his life as he did were it not for the devestation he felt by the rejection of Brooklyn College. I knew him well. He was a well grounded individual.

And the current laws governing affirmative action would not allow the kind of scenario that you describe in this article. Race is only permitted to be one factor of many in a school’s decision. It cannot be the deciding factor.

Yet the truth is that affirmative action really matters very little to most academic admissions. Most undergraduate colleges accept every single applicant whom they think has the capability of doing the work. And for the truly selective colleges, they turn down most applicants and have difficulty distinguishing between the thousands of students applying with perfect or nearly perfect SAT scores. Graduate school is even worse — most graduate programs are absolutely desparate for US Citizen graduate students. Medical school is the opposite; most students who could do the work in medical school and who make good doctors do not get accepted. And you don’t want the only qualification to get into medical school to be simply mastery of standardized tests!

It’s actually a possuk. Al tivtechu bi’nedivim, ub’ven adam asher ein lo teshuah.