Religion & Beliefs

NCSY Expounds On Using Their “Cultural” Groups to Recruit Public School Students to Orthodoxy

In an Orthodox newspaper, NCSY dropped pretense of ecumenical goals of “cultural” clubs, and detailed their “kiruv” (Orthodox recruitment of non-Orthodox Jews) efforts in our public school system. Let’s compare NCSY’s public message and agenda (or lack there of) with that detailed … Read More

By / October 18, 2009

In an Orthodox newspaper, NCSY dropped pretense of ecumenical goals of “cultural” clubs, and detailed their “kiruv” (Orthodox recruitment of non-Orthodox Jews) efforts in our public school system.

Let’s compare NCSY’s public message and agenda (or lack there of) with that detailed in The Jewish Star.

In the “about” section, the NCSY-controlled Jewish Student Union (JSU) declares,

The mission of Jewish Student Union is to get more Jewish teens attending public high schools to do something Jewish! That’s it! It’s that simple!!!

 

But it isn’t that simple at all.

And that is certainly not what most JSU chapters run by the same NCSY regional directors say to their own.

In this week’s Jewish Star, an Orthodox newspaper based on Long Island, Michelle Bortnik interviews Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, the regional director of New York NCSY, and NCSY international director (and JSU’s "dean") Rabbi Stephen Burg, and it reveals what we all know, and what NCSY continues to deny. Deny to us, that is, not to their own community.

 Amid college fairs, SATs, football games and parties, high school presents kiruv (Jewish outreach) professionals what is perhaps their best opportunity to reach unaffiliated Jewish students, who otherwise might never be exposed to Torah Judaism.

 

What is “Torah Judaism” for these “outreach professionals”? ORTHODOX Judaism.

How do they measure success? Two ways…the first normal, the second more troubling.

 Rabbi Lightstone became the regional director for Long Island NCSY in 2006. On his watch, three public school clubs grew to 18, and the organization went from having 100 kids at events to between 400 and 500; from sending two or three kids to Israel each year to sending close to 25 [...] The decision to merge both regions, whose offices were twenty minutes apart, made both financial and practical sense to NCSY and to the Orthodox Union, the parent organization that provides most of the funding.

 

This is troubling not because they send kids to Israel, but that NCSY is unwilling to set guidelines about which institutions are acceptable to partner with in a recruiting fashion, and which ones are not. 

For NCSY, which ones are acceptable? Those institutions that are Orthodox. Which ones are not? Secular institutions.

This is a much bigger problem than Orthodox or secular because for decades, NCSY has prided itself on predominantly sending those young people from the public schools interested in a more traditional lifestyle to predominantly haredi institutions, the only institutions that were available to public school graduates for a year (or several) in Israel. NCSY has also demonstrated particular nachas when public school graduates gave up their opportunity to the best schools in the nation.

And at the core, not much has changed. Though the Orthodox Union does offer services on some secular college campuses now, the right-wing Modern Orthodox (RWMO) preference was always and remains that the young person not attend a liberal arts college, but should instead attend only Orthodox colleges, such as the dismal Touro College.

NCSY has a long history of deception and concealment, and outright dishonesty about its agenda. The Jewish community needs to demand not only that NCSY be forthright about all of its various goals for our youth, but NCSY needs to be transparent about the details. Especially because NCSY quietly continues to send public school students to not only ultra-Orthodox institutions, but hardline haredi ones, we have a right to know how this happens, and how NCSY assesses whether or not an institution is acceptable for recommendation to a student. The usual blather of "it depends on a person’s specific needs and his/her advisor" is insufficient, and in light of NCSY’s past, we should be suspicious that it actually sometimes means, "as Orthodox an institution as the young person will agree to."   

I would note that Jewish Star’s Orthodox readership will not have a problem with NCSY’s dishonesty and lack of boundaries. Read the story in light of the JSU’s actual claim. Lightstone is nevertheless presented as heroic. They don’t care about the lies or the deception. They are Orthodox, and this is Kiruv.

If the traditional secular and Liberal Jewish community raised its voice loudly and coherently, NCSY would change. But for now, NCSY clearly assesses that there is no reason to do so beyond a couple of Modern Orthodox institutional additions. For their public school graduates, that is.

NCSY’s pipeline from the public school to frumville continues to expand at a rapid clip. The few voices shouting for oversight, monitoring,and negotiations, are a whisper among the storm of mainstream Jewish organizations obsessed with “engagement.”

There are over 250 JSU programs in the country. Most of them are overseen and operated by the local NCSY regional director. These programs are servicing our communities, in our public schools.

Update: As Mike Winddale noted, the major problem is that the JSU does not reveal its ties to NCSY or to the Orthodox Union. Rather, the JSU feigns non-denominational goals and ties, most strikingly, to Liberal Jewish organizations.

In addition to the problems of Kiruv, we have a problem where Jewish-identified students of patrilineal descent appear to be refused entry to off-campus programs which are pitched on the public school premises to club members.

As The Jewish Star noted,

When she inquired about becoming Jewish, Rabbi Lightstone told her that while she was welcome in the club, he couldn’t teach her more about Judaism unless her parents gave explicit permission, something they expressly refused to do.

The girl was dejected and spent the following Christmas break with her maternal grandparents. Seeing she was unhappy, the girl’s grandmother asked why. She wanted to learn more about Judaism, the girl said, but couldn’t since she wasn’t Jewish.

“You don’t have to convert,” her grandmother explained, “I’m Jewish and so are you.”

There problems with misrepresentation of self are manifold. The problems with misrepresentation of self when dealing with an underage population are particularly egregious. 

  • Michigana

    Okay, so I understand your issues with the organizations, their ties, etc.

     

    What is confusing to me is the last portion of your update. Why do you assume that the organization turned away the student specifically because their mother wasn’t Jewish? I would have to assume that their response, ie, "We’re not going to proceed with this unless you have your parent’s permission," is something that they would say to any student (just matrilineal, patrilineal, or simply not Jewish at all). 

    Given your bent towards NCSY, it would seem appropo that you should be applauding them for not trying to "convert" people. You somehow have twisted it around, and I don’t think it really makes sense. 

  • Shmarya Rosenberg

    Um, Emily, JSU and NCSY are essentially the same organization. 

    To put this in Orthodox terms for you, the deception is done with the daas of both parties: JSU and NCSY.

     Translation: Both JSU and NCSY are in on the scam. 

  • Emily Goldsher

    Ok, thanks for the update — you’ve made your point much clearer, and I
    see your frustration with JSU.  Though, I wish you wouldn’t so harshly
    vilify NCSY — they aren’t forcing JSU to keep their close relationship
    quiet. 

    Perhaps I might be more open to your logic here if you spent more time
    deriding JSU for being deceptive and not NCSY for being Orthodox.  

  • David Kelsey

    Updated, thanks Mike.

  • mikewinddale

    Doesn’t every rabbi use timely news as a pretext to make their homiletical points? And didn’t every Mishnaic and Talmudic homilist take verses out of context in order to make their homilies? (Rambam and his son; Rabbis Eliezer Berkovits, Isaac Herzog, and Hayyim Angel; and Professor G. F. Moore all explicitly note how Hazal took verses out of context.)

    So what’s wrong with what David Kelsey did?

    And frankly, given that I’m Orthodox and completely agree with Kelsey, I fail to see how he wrote a "a hateful rant against Orthodox Judaism".

  • mikewinddale

    I see that the JSU site also mentions nothing of its connections to NCSY. I see your point.

    IF JSU admitted its ties to NCSY, then everything I said above (both points one and two) would apply. But if JSU hides its ties to NCSY and falsely declares itself non-denominational, then my first point is no longer true (my second point would still apply).

    Perhaps you might edit this post of yours and make it more explicit that JSU is not openly declaring its ties to NCSY. Since your post noted the connection, I assumed JSU themselves did as well, but now I see that is not true.

  • David Kelsey

    Aren’t you a writer? If so, perhaps you could be more specific in your criticism? What facts about this piece do you disagree with?

     

     

  • bb

    My daughter went to public high school and was actively recruited by Christians evangelists: in a NJ town that’s over 40% Jewish and has a large Orthodox population to boot.  Administration did not care.

    Yasher koach, NCSY.

  • Emily Goldsher

    Wow, David Kelsey disguising a hateful rant against Orthodox Judaism as some sort of relevant piece of news?  I didn’t see that coming!

  • David Kelsey

    mike, go to this part of the About section of the JSU and you will see what is problematic with your explanation.

    There, you will see links to NFTY and USY, denominational youth groups outside Orthodoxy.

     NCSY presents itself as ecumenical in terms of "doing Jewish." And that is deceptive and dishonest.

  • mikewinddale

    I think we should avoid obfuscation, and make it clear that there are two distinct issues in question:

    (1) NCSY says, "…to do something Jewish! That’s it! It’s that simple!!!". Then you say, "What is “Torah Judaism” for these “outreach professionals”? ORTHODOX Judaism."

    So far, I see no problem. Obviously, for NCSY, "something Jewish" = "Torah Judaism" = "Orthodox Judaism". For NCSY, "Torah Judaism" (which is identical with "Orthodox Judaism" – this is a tautology) IS "Judaism". Anything Reform/Conservative that differs from Orthodoxy is for them not Jewish, period.

    One may disagree with NCSY on this, but I don’t think this is dishonest. NCSY is an Orthodox organization, so of course the kind of Judaism they push is Orthodox! Similarly, if HUC or JTS sponsored kiruv, I’d fully expect that for them, "…to do something Jewish!" would mean Reform or Conservative Judaism.

    (2) "… to predominantly haredi institutions…", "to not only ultra-Orthodox institutions, but hardline haredi ones", etc.

    Here, precisely here, and only here is the issue.

    It is one thing for NCSY to identify as Orthodox (more precisely, Modern Orthodox) and as "Torah-true"; everyone knows this, and it shouldn’t constitute a scandal when this revelation is discovered.

    But it is something entirely else when an ostensibly Modern Orthodox organization funnels its students into Haredi institutions.

    And one cannot even claim that Haredim are "Torah-true". The phrase "Torah-true" is a literal translation of the German phrase used by the German Neo-Orthodox, who modelled themselves after the Spanish Jews. So while those who follow Torah im Derekh Eretz and/or the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) approach may call themselves "Torah-true", for a Haredi to call himself "Torah-true" is outright falsehood and deception.

    Thus: the issue is NOT that NCSY is Orthodox; this is no revelation. The issue is that despite calling themselves Modern Orthodox and "Torah-true" (i.e. German Neo-Orthodox and/or Turkish/Balkan Judeo-Spanish), they funnel students to non-Torah-true Haredi institutions.