Please share this information with family or friends who do not have email or internet access.
If you, a family member, or friend would like to receive emails from the Agudah email reception@agudah.org. | | July 9, 2020 - 17 Tamuz 5780 News from the Agudah:
- It wasn't only the religious freedom aspect of this week's ruling on the camp issue in New York that was troubling to the Agudah. Please see below for thoughts from Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel on the issue.
- The Midwest Agudas Yisroel Council of Synagogue Rabbonim is pleased to present a sefer on the halachos of Shiva Asar B'Tamuz, the Three Weeks, and Tisha B'Av. The Kuntres covers a wide-range of topics and halachos that occur over this time period. The content for the sefer was compiled and written by Rabbi Yaakov Robinson, Executive Director, Midwest Agudas Yisroel Council of Synagogue Rabbanim, and reviewed by Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst, Dayan, Agudas Yisroel of Illinois. You can download a printable PDF here.
- This Sunday, July 12th, Agudath Israel together with Refuah Health and Mt. Sinai, will be hosting a COVID-19 plasma drive in Fallsburg, NY, where you can be tested for antibodies to determine if you can be a blood plasma donor. Please see below for more information.
- Agudath Israel welcomes yesterday's Supreme Court decision which was a ruling in favor of greater autonomy for religious institutions. This decision is victory for religious freedom. A "friend of the court" brief was submitted on behalf of Agudath Israel of America and other national Orthodox Jewish organizations. Please see below for more information.
- We'd like to share an article with you from the Ami Magazine about the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding religious schools in which they interviewed Rabbi AD Motzen, our National Director of State Relations. You can view the article here.
- The Commission on Torah Projects is pleased to announce that the annual Summer of Torah Lecture Series will begin this coming Monday morning in Regency Estates. In an effort to ensure all participants' safety and wellness, in-person attendance is being limited to enable proper social distancing. Please see below and RSVP if you plan to attend in person. We will be broadcasting the shiurim live in partnership with Torah Anytime as well, see link below to tune in.
- The Iyunim B'Hilchos Shabbos program continued today with a shiur from Rabbi Yitzchok Sorotzkin on Eino Miskavein U'mikalkel , and there will be a chazarah shiur at 8:00 pm EDT. Please see below for the call in information.
Have a healthy and meaningful fast! | | Staying On The Playing Field | | By Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America
The unhappy news arrived late yesterday afternoon that a federal judge had denied a motion to prohibit Governor Andrew Cuomo from closing down overnight camps across New York State, thereby putting the proverbial nail in the coffin on this summer's overnight camping season in New York. While it is true that some of the overnight camps have relocated to other states, and that some others have recreated themselves as day camps, the bottom line remains that hundreds- if not thousands -of children whose parents were counting on having them spend the next weeks in overnight camp now face the prospect of having no structured program for the hot summer months ahead. To these families, yesterday's court ruling is an absolutely crushing blow. The pill was difficult to swallow for us at Agudath Israel as well. Not just because of the displacements suffered by the Agudah's renowned network of "Ruach Country" summer camps – though those displacements are substantial. And not just because we have had to disappoint many families that have been longtime Agudah camp "customers" – though the disappointment was palpable. What made the court's ruling especially painful to Agudath Israel was the fact that, at the urging of our rabbinic leadership and other prominent menahalim and mechanchim, we had placed special emphasis in our advocacy efforts on getting the camps up and running. To be sure, overnight summer camps have always played an important role in the ruchniyus'dig development of our youth. This year, however, after three difficult months of yeshiva shutdown, the urgency of getting children into immersive 24/7 structured camp programs was greater than ever. Recognizing this, Gedolei Yisroel, Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbonim charged the Agudah to take an active role in persuading Governor Cuomo to allow overnight camps to open. We faithfully tried to meet that charge. Under the banner of AJCO (the Association of Jewish Camp Operators – an umbrella group formed by Agudath Israel to represent the interests of the Jewish camping community), our group developed a detailed plan, endorsed by a group of prestigious infectious disease specialists and other prominent medical professionals, that would enable the camps to open with the safest possible environment for children. Under the leadership of Agudath Israel's board chairman Shloime Werdiger, with the help of Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein who played a major role in the advocacy efforts, and with the participation of representatives from across the broad spectrum of the Orthodox camp universe, we arranged no fewer than three meetings with the Governor's top staff. And then, after the Governor finally announced his decision to shut down the overnight camps, we convened with the camp representatives and decided to go to federal court in a last ditch effort to vindicate our community's rights by obtaining a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) preventing the Governor from shutting down the camps. We did so with great reluctance – the mesorah of Agudas Yisroel is that suing a government official is always a last resort option, to be exercised only in exceptional situations – but this clearly qualified as such a situation. And so, we were deeply disappointed when news of yesterday's ruling came in. We were reminded, though, of a letter of chizuk that the Rosh Hayeshiva Rav Yitzchok Hutner zt'l wrote some 50 years ago to legendary Agudah leader Rabbi Moshe Sherer z'l after the Supreme Court had rejected an important argument we had advanced regarding a matter of great importance to the community. The Rosh Hayeshiva told Rabbi Sherer that there was no reason to be down, for our job in this world is to do, not to accomplish; only Hashem accomplishes: tzu tuhn, nit tzu oiftuhn. In truth, despite our loss in court, we also achieved a great victory, a victory for kvod Shomayim. As the court noted in its ruling, by the time Governor Cuomo issued his decree in the last days of June shutting down overnight camps, virtually the only camps that still wanted to open this summer were the Jewish camps. And the only camps that felt so strongly about opening that they were prepared to challenge the Governor in court were the Jewish camps. Which tells the world something very special about the Jewish camps – and the Jewish People. To the world, summer camps may be about children swimming and playing baseball and hiking. To us, summer camps are about children learning to connect to Hashem, to develop their spiritual selves no less than their physical selves, to experience the joy of total immersion in Torah learning and Torah living. Those are things worth fighting for, even after everyone else leaves the playing field. | | Agudath Israel, Refuah Health and Mount Sinai Partner to Host COVID-19 Plasma Drive in Fallsburg, NY | | Unfortunately, COVID-19 hasn't quit. And neither have our efforts to combat it. Continuing their coordinated campaign to bring life-saving antibodies to COVID-19 patients in need, Agudath Israel of America, Refuah Health Center and Mount Sinai Hospital are partnering with the Town of Fallsburg to host a COVID-19 Plasma Drive. The Plasma Drive will take place this Sunday, July 12th, 10 AM – 2 PM, at the Fallsburg Senior Center. Schedule an appointment today at www.covidserum.com and select REFUAH HEALTH on the left side as the location. If you are 18 years of age or older and had or displayed symptoms of COVID-19, and are now recovered, this event is for you. At the event, you will receive free antibody testing to determine if you are an eligible plasma donor. Special thank you to Gombo's Heimishe Bakery for providing refreshments. You can be of vital assistance to those struggling with this dreadful disease. | | U.S Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Greater Autonomy for Religious Institutions | | In a much-anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled yesterday that, under what has come to be known as the "ministerial exception," courts may not interfere in employment disputes that arise between employees who perform vital religious duties and their faith-based employers. In consolidated cases involving elementary school teachers who were terminated by the Roman Catholic school that employed them, the Court asserted that what matters is what employees do, regardless of their not having formal religious titles, and that the teachers in these cases performed responsibilities that were essentially religious in nature and not subject to a court's scrutiny. The two consolidated cases are Our Lady of Guadalupe School v Morissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel. Writing for the majority in the 7-2 reversal of the federal appellate court's decision, Justice Samuel A. Alito made multiple references to Jewish institutions and practices, and cited the amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief, which was submitted by the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs ("COLPA") and authored by noted constitutional scholar, Nathan Lewin. That brief was filed on behalf of several major national Orthodox Jewish organizations, including Agudath Israel of America, Agudas Harabbonim of the United States and Canada, National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, the Rabbinical Alliance of America, the Rabbinical Council of America ("RCA"), and Torah Umesorah, the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools.
The COLPA brief argued that the lower court's ruling was "hostile to religious freedom in the United States" because it allowed the courts to intervene in determining that even though a teacher had substantial religious responsibilities, she was not determined to be a "minister." The Supreme Court rejected such intervention and decided that the teacher's vital religious duties brought her within the scope of a "minister" and that her relationship with her religious employer was, under the "ministerial exception," a private ecclesiastical matter beyond the reach of the courts. "The importance of religious autonomy, particularly in the context of religious schools, cannot be overemphasized," noted Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel of America's Vice President of Government Affairs and Washington Counsel. "The hiring rights of these institutions is so fundamental to their character and mission that government interference in these matters could undermine the very purpose for a religious entity's existence." Mr. Lewin's brief presented a uniquely Jewish perspective on the issue. It provided the Court with a detailed historical exposition of the importance of preserving the Jewish community's autonomy, including with regard to defining what constitutes "ministerial" positions and activity. This was indeed noted in the Court's decision, which found that requiring an employee to have the title "minister" cannot be a necessary requirement for the "ministerial exception," as the term "minister" encompasses in Judaism, for example, an extensive breadth of religious functionaries. Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America, thanked Nathan Lewin for his work and noted Mr. Lewin's long association with Agudath Israel. "We thank Nat Lewin not just for writing this very important brief in this major case for religious freedom, but for his many decades of advocacy at the highest levels on behalf of the Jewish community." | | Summer of Torah: Women's Lecture Series Begins Monday | | Over the last couple of months plans for the summer were unclear. Vacations, camps, and exciting trips have been put on hold due to the uncertainty this unstable pandemic has thrust upon our lives. Thankfully, Agudas Yisroel's Torah Projects Commission will stop at nothing to ensure ruchniyos thrives with the return of their popular Summer of Torah Women's Lecture Series.
The series will begin this Monday, June 13th, 10:15 AM at the Beis Medrash of Regency Estates, 52 Silver Lake Road, Woodridge NY. The program will run for four consecutive weeks beginning with Rabbi Yehuda Yona Rubinstein followed by Mrs. Chani Juravel, Mrs. Esther Wein, and Rabbi Jonathan Rietti.
For the health and safety of all those involved, this program will be enforcing social distancing requirements. As such there will be limited in person capacity and pre-registration will be required.
Due to these unusual new circumstances, we are excited to announce that we will be partnering with Torah Anytime to broadcast this program live for all those that are unable to attend in-person.
To register for this event, click here.
Or click here to watch live on Torah Anytime.
For questions or to sponsor a shiur contact Faigy Ackerman at 917.804.8428. You can also email Torah Projects at torahprojects@agudah.org. | | | | | | |
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