(RNS) – Agudath Israel of America, a lobby group on behalf of Haredi Jewish synagogues and schools, has launched an aggressive media and billboard campaign to respond to a New York Times investigation into New York State’s private yeshiva schools .
The campaign, which has a new website and at least three billboards in Manhattan, accuses the newspaper’s investigation of endangering the safety and way of life of Haredi Jews at a time when anti-Semitism against Jews is rising.
A prominent poster contrasts two panels. “2x Antisemitic attacks in New York City doubled,” reads one. The other side reads: “12 New York Times articles against Orthodox Jews in 3 months.”
“We believe their reporting is unfair and in many cases biased,” said Rabbi Yitz Frank, Ohio director of Agudath Israel. “It creates a negative public tone about our community. That’s what we’re worried about.”
A billboard created by Agudath Israel of America near the Lincoln Tunnel in Manhattan. Photo of Naftoli Gold Tomb, courtesy of Agudath Israel
The new website, called KnowUs.org, points to the increasing violence against Orthodox Jews in New York enclaves and concludes: “A major newspaper that launches a campaign against a minority is always wrong. In this climate, it is deeply worrying.”
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The New York Times investigation of the schools, which began a cover story in September, found that New York-area yeshivas deprive students of secular education, such that at one school every 1,000 students failed standardized tests in reading and math .
The stories reported that some students were being physically abused by underpaid, unqualified teachers. Meanwhile, the newspaper reported, these yeshivas have collected more than $1 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in the last four years alone.
Members of the ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities protest outside of New York September 12, 2022 before a Council of Regency meeting to vote on new requirements for private schools to teach English, math, science and history to high school students at the State Education Department building in Albany, New York. (Will Waldron/The Albany Times Union via AP)
Shortly after the first story was published, the newspaper reported that the largest such yeshiva in New York state, Central United Talmudical Academy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had agreed to pay fines and damages totaling more than $8 million pay for paying teachers off the books and asking for student meal reimbursements it never actually provided.
A Times spokesman said the newspaper is confident in the accuracy of its reporting.
“Our reporters have spent months helping readers understand what goes on in some of New York’s underperforming schools and have spoken to hundreds of parents, students and educators to explain the inner workings of Hasidic Jewish religious schools , which receive significant amounts of public money,” the spokesman said in an email.
Rabbi David Onion, executive vice president at Agudath Israel, declined to disclose how much money it spent on the campaign.
Agudath Israel is New York State’s third-largest education lobbyist (behind the New York State Association of Independent Schools and the New York State Catholic Conference).
Beatrice Weber. Photo by Randi Childs Photography
A nonprofit founded to challenge yeshivas to improve secular education said the campaign was misguided.
“They are a multimillion-dollar lobbying firm that invests heavily in raising funds for these schools,” said Beatrice Weber, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education, or Yaffed. “They feel incredibly threatened by these issues.”
Weber, whose organization is cited on the Know Us website as a source for the Times’ criticism of Haredi schools, said it was dangerous for Agudath Israel to link rising anti-Semitism to the New York Times investigation.
“Real anti-Semitic things are happening, but it’s not New York Times investigative reporting,” Weber said. “There is no anti-Semitism there.”
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